Agreed. This is a good album.
― Benjamin-, Saturday, 3 September 2011 18:24 (twelve years ago) link
It's a good album but it didn't make me feel like buying it. Hell, it's only a first listen. Let's see.
― Shin Oliva Suzuki, Saturday, 3 September 2011 18:26 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, good point. I just finished my first listen. Perhaps I'm just pleased that I don't hate it. I'll give it another shot tonight.
― Benjamin-, Saturday, 3 September 2011 18:28 (twelve years ago) link
Stream isn't working for me, just keeps saying "Loading Tracks", have tried about four times and it just sits there.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Saturday, 3 September 2011 18:29 (twelve years ago) link
Wilco doesn't like you
― Shin Oliva Suzuki, Saturday, 3 September 2011 18:31 (twelve years ago) link
Its not just me, tons of people now complaining on their Facebook page. Guessing it got overloaded?
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Saturday, 3 September 2011 18:32 (twelve years ago) link
Yep, they just posted a message on Facebook "Server overloaded - thanks for your patience - we'll get it back up."
Not a big deal, just kind of amazes me that in 2011 people still really don't have a handle on how to anticipate the traffic a big announcement or whatever will bring.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Saturday, 3 September 2011 18:35 (twelve years ago) link
I'm listening to it fine here in the 3rd World.
― Shin Oliva Suzuki, Saturday, 3 September 2011 18:35 (twelve years ago) link
glenn kotche and john stirratt are definitely the heroes of this record. the most interesting stuff here is rhythmic.
also tweedy seems to be writing hooks again.
― mutant slow drum (BradNelson), Saturday, 3 September 2011 18:53 (twelve years ago) link
I dig the pedal steel in Black Moon
― Shin Oliva Suzuki, Saturday, 3 September 2011 18:59 (twelve years ago) link
Seems to be working now, I really like this. Although I haven't been as down on the last couple records as most of you guys seems to have been. The last one was definitely the worst yet, but still a handful of salvageable tunes. Very encouraging first listen.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Saturday, 3 September 2011 19:06 (twelve years ago) link
Well, it crashed before I got to hear the final four songs, but I really liked what I heard!
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Saturday, 3 September 2011 19:19 (twelve years ago) link
i'm in the middle of listening to this now -- it might end up being their best studio record in seven years
― markers, Saturday, 3 September 2011 19:41 (twelve years ago) link
it's probably more interesting than the last two, at least
i'm not listening on headphones, but i probably should be -- there are details here and there
― markers, Saturday, 3 September 2011 19:42 (twelve years ago) link
this isn't prime wilco (a ghost is born, yankee hotel foxtrot, and summerteeth) good though
― markers, Saturday, 3 September 2011 19:46 (twelve years ago) link
first few songs are shockingly great.
i don't hear more "hooks." i hear a tougher, more free-spirited, more confident rock record.
― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, 3 September 2011 19:48 (twelve years ago) link
yeah, "art of almost" is their best opener since "at least that's what you said"
― markers, Saturday, 3 September 2011 19:51 (twelve years ago) link
i don't really see this as a record filled with hooks either
― markers, Saturday, 3 September 2011 20:01 (twelve years ago) link
the last record where that was the point was, like, summer teeth
fuckin autocorrect, summerteeth
as a record filled with hooks either
eh, my complaint with the post jay bennett records is that tweedy seemed to half-write the songs, subtracting the, you know, relatively rewarding choruses that are littered througout being there summerteeth and even yankee hotel foxtrot. for instance: wilco (the album) was a lot like summerteeth but minus all of the sharp songwriting, and this new one seems to regain some of that sharpness, to my ears
― mutant slow drum (BradNelson), Saturday, 3 September 2011 20:10 (twelve years ago) link
don't know why i quoted half of your sentence there markers; it is saturday
― markers, Saturday, September 3, 2011 9:46 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark
otm... BUT this is fab Wilco after the last two dire albums. Feel like my Wilco is slowly returning to form! Yay!
― Vision Kreayshawn Newsun (Le Bateau Ivre), Saturday, 3 September 2011 21:43 (twelve years ago) link
I like this a lot, but I liked the last two, too. I guess this is a more overt return to "weird" form who didn't recognize that the lack of weirdness of the last two was sort of weird in and of itself. But, yeah, the band's boutique "weird" pedal is clearly back from the shop.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 3 September 2011 21:57 (twelve years ago) link
It doesn't sound obliquely "good because it's weird" to me at all, rather that the band is actually trying again, looking for new ways, treading new paths.. The last two Wilco records were numbingly dull for me, because every notion of experimentation seemed off limits. Whereas I loved the three records before them just because they mixed the known with the unknown, with such surprisingly great results. Maybe I did miss them pushing the "weird" pedal, but it sounds like they are unified and willing to look for new sounds again, instead of making dull americana records like the last two. I've long given up on Wilco making another YHF of 'Ghost', but this is definitely closer to the two than the last two albums they churned out.
― Vision Kreayshawn Newsun (Le Bateau Ivre), Saturday, 3 September 2011 22:14 (twelve years ago) link
sky blue sky tried, and i thought it succeeded. i would have been happy if it ushered in a new era of tuneful west-coast soft-rock. but there were dull spots on it. this seems more confident and swaggering and, yeah, weird.
― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, 3 September 2011 22:47 (twelve years ago) link
Honestly, I think those last two were pretty important artistic steps, at least in terms of Tweedy learning how to write a clearer, more straight-forward way, post-Bennett, post-rehab and post nonsense "Ghost" lyrics. Which is why I consider them experimental records, at least in the context of Wilco. They were trying something different, which in their case meant trying something that wasn't trying so hard to be different. I talked to Tweedy once or twice over the past few years about how funny it was that not including 20 minute drones or strange sounds or freakouts was the band's first divisive, controversial move.
Anyway, what really sold it to me was the band live, when none of the stuff from the last two records seemed the least bit boring or out of place.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 4 September 2011 00:59 (twelve years ago) link
good, but Tweedy's songwriting still isn't so great since Ghost Is Born, for most of the tracks.
― nostormo, Monday, 5 September 2011 11:15 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTqEB0MyGdY
― markers, Wednesday, 7 September 2011 17:42 (twelve years ago) link
Tweedy is such a horrible singer now. He can keep his guitar but just step away from the mic please.
― Anakin Ska Walker (AKA Skarth Vader) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 7 September 2011 17:44 (twelve years ago) link
i dunno he seems about the same to me
that song is pretty nice
like the end jam out a lot
― the 500 gats of bartholomew thuggins (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 7 September 2011 17:59 (twelve years ago) link
owww my earrrs
― rip van wanko, Wednesday, 7 September 2011 18:21 (twelve years ago) link
good point, rip
― markers, Wednesday, 7 September 2011 18:22 (twelve years ago) link
too bad most of the tracks arent as good as Born Alone
― nostormo, Wednesday, 7 September 2011 18:42 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3PRmu0tr6k&feature=player_embedded#!
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 7 September 2011 18:54 (twelve years ago) link
he was quite funny the 2 times i saw them
― nostormo, Wednesday, 7 September 2011 18:57 (twelve years ago) link
― Anakin Ska Walker (AKA Skarth Vader) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, September 7, 2011 11:44 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark
Yeah, is it just me or are his vocals weak as fuck on this record? It sounds like his lungs are hooked up to a breathing machine.
― "I know its hard to hear but I'm a Realest." (rennavate), Wednesday, 7 September 2011 19:33 (twelve years ago) link
This guy has sung like a dead cat since 2002, but now it's metastazized.
― Anakin Ska Walker (AKA Skarth Vader) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 7 September 2011 19:40 (twelve years ago) link
I know most of you guys have no idea who is Alceu Valença but I was struck by the similarity between ‘One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend)’ and Valença's'Anunciação'.
By the way, Alceu Valença >>>>>> Wilco
http://www.mixcloud.com/shin-oliva-suzuki/alceu-tweedy/#utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=flash_links
― Shin Oliva Suzuki, Sunday, 11 September 2011 11:43 (twelve years ago) link
I'm happily surprised by this--high quality, nice songwriting, not afraid of a little more adventurous production. Much better than anything I've heard since 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'. Not as much of a surprise as Portishead's '3' or Flaming Lips' 'Embryonic,' but very good. Loved this band circa 'Being There,' and enjoyed watching their progress over the next two albums. But the "dad rock" dismissal seemed mostly accurate after that--a krautrock jam or two notwithstanding.
As for the similarity between that track and the Alceu--got to imagine that's a coincidence, as the chord progression and arpeggios aren't exactly rocket science in either case. It's a very natural set up and resolution. Gotta say, the production values alone give a major edge to the Wilco approach, there.
― Soundslike, Sunday, 11 September 2011 15:25 (twelve years ago) link
The four songs I like on this are really awesome. Absolutely despise the Radioheadishness of the first track and the Wilco: The Musical-sounding "Capitol City." Last song is their "I Dream A Highway" - beautiful. Also, tracks 5-7.
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Wednesday, 14 September 2011 17:24 (twelve years ago) link
after the first listen i am positively surprised. the experimentalish opener is very promising, the album cannot hold that level (of abstraction) but it is still pretty solid. it could have been shorter though. the last song is nice to fall asleep to. or to wake up to.
― alex in mainhattan, Monday, 19 September 2011 20:21 (twelve years ago) link
listening now. i've always been slightly annoyed when people call wilco the "american radiohead" -- did not seem otm to me -- but uhh this first song does sound quite a bit like radiohead.
― tylerw, Monday, 19 September 2011 21:44 (twelve years ago) link
sounds ok though!
clien freakout is cool. i guess this is their way of answering people who complained that they haven't let nels wail on record yet.
― tylerw, Monday, 19 September 2011 21:47 (twelve years ago) link
*cline* i mean
hey homies it's up on npr http://www.npr.org/2011/09/19/140476897/first-listen-wilco-the-whole-love
― markers, Thursday, 22 September 2011 04:37 (twelve years ago) link
It's on NPR? That's weird.
― boxall, Thursday, 22 September 2011 04:43 (twelve years ago) link
r u being sarcastic
― markers, Thursday, 22 September 2011 04:48 (twelve years ago) link