Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

why do wilco members wear long sleeve shirts, and sometimes even a suit above it on their live performence, for example yesterday,in this hot crowded venue at the end of june?
just wonderin'..

just to enhance the visual chemistry on stage i guess.

works nicely for me

The best thing about this album is the guitar solos. I've been wondering lately whether I might have a secret, as-yet-untapped jam-band love considering how much I like it when Wilco and Sonic Youth get all mellowed-out and jammy.

Well, what do you think of the Dead?

This album kind of rules. I bought the vinyl, which sounds soooo amazing. It's the first Wilco album I've ever bought (maybe the first one I've ever heard all the way through?) I bought it cuz I kept hearing them performing the songs on all these radio shows .. i think it was the 'Prarie Home Companion' set that sold me. but anyway, Nels Cline is seriously the star. there are points where he sounds just like my hero John Cipollina but in general he just brings some bite to this band. Tweedy still bugs me -- though sorta hafta admire just how well he has the Lennon phrasing down on this record -- but the band and music really shine.

and yeah, the "Brontosaurus" rip in "Hate It Here" is funny and great.

"The best thing about this album is the guitar solos"

OTM.it's Cline at the peak of his powers,Tom Verline style..
i'd say this:
best album - being there
best production - ghost is born
best playing - sky blue sky (though it has the weakest songs)

I reckon it's a lost John Lennon album from his Wilderness Years.

(That's the second half of the 70s, not 1980 - present day).

Well, what do you think of the Dead?

I haven't heard much of the Dead, although the little I have heard has them noodling over pretty basic three-chord blues progressions, so I haven't been too enthralled.

Tom Verlaine is another good example of a jammy guitar soloist I like.

Nice to see people coming around to this disc. Bee OK (who sounds like he or she might be affiliated with Wilco's management team, but I'm guessing) said upthread that BSB is "a very good album." That's right. And it's really the perfect compliment for this record: Humble, succinct and accurate.

Oops, I meant "SBS." Sorry.

Bee OK (who sounds like he or she might be affiliated with Wilco's management team, but I'm guessing) said upthread that BSB is "a very good album." That's right. And it's really the perfect compliment for this record: Humble, succinct and accurate.

haha, no i have nothing to do with Wilco, Nonesuch, WB or anything else having to do with the business. i'm just a music fan.

Fair enough. And it is a very good album.

From FLUXBLOG today:

Some people seem a bit surprised when I tell them Sky Blue Sky is one of my top favorite records from 2007, and maybe a lot of that has to do with the fact that I've barely written about it. It's been a fairly private pleasure for me, particularly over the summer when its calming chords provided some relief from stress and worry. This isn't to say that Sky Blue Sky is an entirely relaxing set of songs -- if anything, I kept going back to it because its emotional state so neatly echoed my own experience of trying to stay cool and collected while quietly freaking out. Most of the worst reviews for the record glibly dismissed the music as "dad rock," which is sort of aggravating because I think that the epithet accidentally touches on the stoicism and maturity that is key to the record's appeal, but favors a kneejerk appreciation of less emotionally (or musically) complicated music. Also, it's a huge mistake to write it off as an album full of wanky, meandering guitar solos. Yes, there's a lot of solos, but they are part of dynamic, meticulously crafted instrumental sections that carry a great deal of the record's emotional weight. The words are fine, and as usual, Tweedy's voice is extremely charismatic and expressive despite his limitations, but for the most part, the major action on the record happens in the instrumental sections -- the climax, the resolution, the postscript. It's both the feelings buried underneath the surface that you can't quite let out, and the things you just can't articulate with words for one reason or another. It's a very sophisticated and subtle work of art, and though it is understandable why so many people would either neglect or dismiss it for not automatically revealing its charms, I promise you that the album has quite a lot to offer.

Yeah!

"Impossible Germany" is one of my favorite songs of the year.

Then again, Wilco is my favorite band.

Wow Daniel, thanks for posting that Fluxblog piece. Matthew is OTM.

He is. I like how he describes Sky Blue Sky as "a work of art." That's totally OTM and it makes the rockist in me happy.

What some people miss about this disc is how great the performances are, especially by Nels Cline. The DVD included in the deluxe version of Sky Blue Sky makes this clear; Cline's solo on Impossible Germany (also one of my favorite songs of the year) is breathtaking and dynamic.

sky blue sky -
songwriting - mediocre.
instrument playing and production - superb.

I like this. I'll probably never not like anything they do though.

Daniel, have you seen the ACL performance of IG or heard the live version on the Sky Blue Sky Bonus EP? Nels shines on both of them (as usual).

i saw the ACL performance of Impossible Germany IN PERSON BABY

zomg

seeing wilco live some months ago was the best show ive seen last year i think.

Daniel, have you seen the ACL performance of IG or heard the live version on the Sky Blue Sky Bonus EP? Nels shines on both of them (as usual).

Live version on the DVD that came with the deluxe version of Sky Blue Sky. Not sure if that answers your question. But yeah, Nels Cline is a monster on the DVD version.

"Impossible Germany" is one of my favorite songs of the year Then again, despite the fact that Wilco is far from my favorite band.

Here's the version of 'Impossible Germany' I saw. So so so so good.

Nels Cline is so fucking ace on this record.

it's year in review time so i have been listening only to 2007 albums. this album has shot into my Top 5, outstanding!

On & On & On is also one of my favorite songs of the year. Those guitars! That keyboard sound! Tweedy's vocals! Incredible.

jaymc otm

*old person voice* this is the best wilco album and it's not close

"walken" is the best wings song i've ever heard

agree with you here, brad. this album is on another level.

I need to try this again. I remember liking most of it well enough but there was some song in the middle that I hated so much it retroactively made the songs before it suck.

another Sky Blue Sky fanatic over here. it is my fav of theirs though i always have to stop and think about it when i look at the Summerteeth tracklist and just see one killer song after another. The clean yet full production on Sky though is some sort of platonic ideal for me

You Are My Face is probably my favorite Wilco song.

Have they ever been polled?

another Sky Blue Sky fanatic over here. it is my fav of theirs though i always have to stop and think about it when i look at the Summerteeth tracklist and just see one killer song after another. The clean yet full production on Sky though is some sort of platonic ideal for me

― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Thursday, January 27, 2022 9:18 PM (fifty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

summerteeth would prob be no. 2 for me, just too many jams

Don't know where I would rank it, but Sky Blue Sky is the last Wilco album with more than one track I can recognize by name.

Josh, have you checked out the Whole Love? not as consistent but has some great ones. If you like noisy angsty YHF/Ghost era Wilco, the opening track Art of Almost is a welcome return, followed by a banger in I Might. The ballads are not as memorable as on the previous few albums, but I swoon big time for the title track

Oh, I have heard them all, except for maybe the last two, or at least the acoustic one? Anyway, they're always great when I'm listening to them, or when the songs are being played live. I just can't remember any of the songs after.

I need to try this again. I remember liking most of it well enough but there was some song in the middle that I hated so much it retroactively made the songs before it suck.

― Cow_Art, Thursday, January 27, 2022 8:12 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

couldn't Shake If Off, eh?

xxp I agree, The Whole Love is a better album than Sky Blue Sky, which is a bit too conservative for my tastes. Having said that, the last studio album I still listen to in its entirety is A Ghost Is Born, and even then that has a few tweaks (edited down the noise on "Less Than You Think" to about 15 seconds rather than 12 minutes, added "Panthers" after the opening track, added "Kicking Television" after "Less Than You Think"). I still have Being There through A Ghost Is Born, but I condensed the rest of their catalog into a compilation I made for myself.

I do wish "The Thanks I Get" had made it on to Sky Blue Sky. That leads off the compilation I made for myself.

I’ll have to revisit this album at some point. It’s hardly unlistenable but at the time it was where I got off the Wilco train, returning around Star Wars.

conservative my ass

nothing conservative about the dope ass playing on this record

i also find the directness of this record absolutely disarming and daring

LOL, well, compared to the what I liked before, and not politically, musically. (Except for "Impossible Germany," that was definitely a keeper.)

(Brad got what I meant, I just added "politically" in case there was any confusion for anyone else)