Wilco: A Ghost Is Born poll

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Don't really know how anyone could choose anything other than At Least That's What You Said

less than you think is pretty great too. the wire review at the time said it was challenging *in the context of the album* which makes sense to me and I totally buy into LJs position on it

at least that's what you said.

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missed this poll. would have gone for either At Least That's What You Said for awesome guitar action or Wishful Thinking

yay ILM in OTM shocka

And I didn't vote coz of some mod glitch so it's really 11

nice to see the two most pointless tracks getting 0 votes

the chances are probably pretty low that they'll ever make another record as good as this

true, although One Sunday Morning is still their best song by suuuuch a long way (imo of course)

Wilco's best song is Hey Jealousy

Top result is right

i wouldn't have voted for it. probably "at least that's what you said"

not that it's bad.

feel like "i'm a wheel" would've come in last for me

"I'm a wheel" comes last in nearly every poll I can imagine.

it's just slight compared to everything else. like "i might" on the last record

There's a great, early, slow Neil Young-ish version of Late Greats performed live but I can't find it...

"less than you think" is such an amazing piece

wishful thinking is so good

less than you think is also amazing. the long outro of gentle noise is good, especially when capped off with the light, philosophical "the late greats".

this is the best wilco album

i think that goes to Sky Blue Sky but i know that is not a very popular opinion.

having a really great time listening to "less than you think" tonight

this album suffered a fair bit from its studio construction, someone in one of the other wilco threads recently said it's too sterile and i totally agree. i only want to really come back to "at least that's what you said" and "spiders (kidsmoke)" from the studio tracks, but pretty much all the live tracks from kicking television are really compelling. a lot of the album is fairly mellow with tracks just having some cool atmospheric guitar part be the most interesting thing going on, while live there's more energy & real dynamics added & cline's playing especially elevates things.

also the sequencing is just generally odd idk, really weird flow to it

I had bootlegs from their YHF tour where they did some cuts - "Spiders" was definitely one I remember - and when the album finally came out, I was kinda stunned how it went much further in a Krautrock direction. I can see how one would call it sterile, but I didn't partly because I just started listening to Kraftwerk around the same time, and I was still making the effort to "get" their music. Two close friends with similar musical tastes were huge Kraftwerk fans, and I think for that reason I didn't doubt I was missing something - so when this album came out, I approached it with a similar mindset, just something that was new to me but probably familiar and more appreciated by other people who understood the music better.

Anyway, it did grow on me, but as mentioned in another thread, I tweaked it. IIRC, there was a free downloadable bonus EP that had a few live tracks plus the studio versions of "Panthers" and "Kicking Television." I added those two studio cuts to the album. Plus I never got the appeal of having the noise at the end of "Less Than You Think" go on for 12 minutes, so I applied a slow fade early on. Result was:

1. "At Least That's What You Said" – 5:29
2. "Panthers" – 3:49
3. "Hell Is Chrome" – 4:33
4. "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" – 10:41
5. "Muzzle of Bees" – 4:51
6. "Hummingbird" – 3:06
7. "Handshake Drugs" – 6:02
8. "Wishful Thinking" – 4:37
9. "Company in My Back" – 3:42
10. "I'm a Wheel" – 2:33
11. "Theologians" – 3:31
12. "Less Than You Think" – 3:10
13. "Kicking Television" – 2:49
14. "The Late Greats" – 2:30

Total run time comes down to 62:14

To be fair, I'd dig it if "Less Than You Think" was the B-side of, say, a 12" single. On its own I can lock into all 12 minutes of it, but not when it's shoved into an hour-plus album.

the krautrock influence isn't really what i mean by sterile or anything - the studio version of "spiders" is one where it's not much of an issue. just most of the performances on the album are fairly lifeless, lacking in energy etc.

I think they'd have gotten a lot less criticism for "Less Than You Think" if they hadn't included "The Late Greats" in the track list. Keep the song where it is, but let it be a hidden bonus track.

I go in knowing it's a 12 song album. Five minutes into track 11, it dawns on me that they're just going to drone for another 10 minutes, and it feels like the band is deliberately wasting your time . Especially when "The Late Greats" is nothing particularly special and now I'm pissed. (It's like when Prince released Lovesexy as one long track--I was viscerally angry at that CD for weeks.)

If I didn't know another track was coming, the album would have a proper-if-lengthy ending, and "The Late Greats" would be a little surprise.

If "The Late Greats" was a more substantial song that began like "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" by slowly assembling itself out of the drone haze, and ended suddenly and apocalyptically like "Poor Places" (#onethread), I might have begrudgingly given them credit for ballsiness.

“the late greats” is awesome wtf. i don’t think “adding more songs and keeping the album at an hour-plus” is the interesting way to play god here but whatever

the studio versions of these songs suit the material. while i love what cline brings to it live, tweedy’s spikey, ruminative, neil young-ish playing really puts you in the anxious and restless feeling that pervades the record

i think my favorite region of this record is “handshake drugs” -> “wishful thinking” -> “company in my back,” like the world shuddering to a halt when you’re coming off speed

The roominess and scope of this album is its key selling point; you don't listen so much as wander around in it. Less Than You Think into The Late Greats is a fabulous ending gambit. Handshake Drugs is the best song though imo

+1 for "Late Greats", one of my fav songs on this record. "Theologians" is my #1.

As a Bennett stan I might have been bringing my own baggage to this album but "Less Than You Think" and the studio version of "Spiders" both seemed like very clumsy & deliberate moves to me at the time, playing to critics who were showering them w/praise for transforming into a challenging art rock band. Its easy to forget at the time how ott some the praise for YHF's weirdness was. And it obv is a weird arty record, but I think the fact that it was Wilco doing it (who still coded to many critics as alt-country), some people were wrote about YHF like it was Amon Duul II or something. "Less" felt like Tweedy noticing how much attention the noise parts of YHF got and trying to do it again, but with less of an idea.

fwiw my cat has serious issues with "Less Than You Think."

This whole album is great, the pre-nels space filled in with piano. The singing on some tracks (Theologians) is lifeless, but I don't see how it applies to the playing.

i think my favorite region of this record is “handshake drugs” -> “wishful thinking” -> “company in my back,” like the world shuddering to a halt when you’re coming off speed

I feel this. Ghost is one of my favorite hangover albums. Sonically all the rough edges are sanded off, even on the noisy parts like the second half of "At Least That's What You Said," giving the whole record a gentle, cozy warm-blanket vibe. "Hissing radiator tunes." And the drums have that dry, muted thump characteristic of Jim O'Rourke's productions, and it suits the mood perfectly here. It's really obvious this record was made in the depths of Tweedy's opioid addiction--it sounds like being hungover and popping a few vicodin and feeling the edge come off. I'm really glad he got clean after this, but I'm also grateful he was able to produce this beautiful work of art under those unfortunate circumstances. Still my favorite Wilco record.

otm, used to play this a lot on "the morning after" in my heaviest drinking days. felt very comforting at the time, but probably explains why i don't revisit very often these days lol. to learn that jt was dealing with substance issues during its creation was an odd feeling. at the time, i thought it was an upgrade over yankee hotel foxtrot by just a bit, but i've cooled on it somewhat since. some absolutely gorgeous music on here, but nothing will ever top "theologians" for me. when it's all said and done, that's probably my favorite wilco song.

also i hate "i'm a wheel." just . . . ugh, no. stop being a wheel, it's not working.

Dang yall hungover people really started your day with the piercing guitar freakout on track 1? I would absolutely be skipping to "Hell Is Chrome" on a morning like that.

^lol yeah I should have clarified I usually do exactly this in that situation. Though I maintain that the first track is still easier on the ears than most piercing guitar freakouts

"I'm a Wheel" is the most B-side-sounding piece of garbage. I kinda like the start of the verses, but then it...turns.

i lol at "once in germany someone said 'nein' / one two three four five six seven eight nine" every time

it'll never be anyone's favorite track on the record but i'm glad it's there

listening to it feels like hanging out with a couple engaged in gross PDA and pet name calling. but you're hanging with jeff and his song. the PDA is counting. the pet names are puns.

I could see the opening track working - it’s got that peaceful intro before coming in to jolt you back as a reminder you still went overboard the night before.

I enjoy the octave harmony on Theologians. the main vocal sorta talks the lyric. the harmony vocal is lower volume but has more tone* -- jeff's soul. you can picture cartoon casper jeff tweedy singing that harmony, always in sync with the jeff of this world even after the song ends. grabbing the pale semi-transparent bag of funyuns within a hidden realm.

*perhaps this is jeff straining to sing the higher notes

"I'm a Wheel" always struck me as a classic example of one of those condescending token rock songs, like "we can still do 'catchy rock & roll', but just know that we find it quaint and silly"

I had no idea I'm a Wheel was so dismissed! I too would never consider it my fav track on the record or anything, and it's pretty out of place on this album, but I like it. It sounds like Pearl Jam.

"Less Than You Think" and the studio version of "Spiders" both seemed like very clumsy & deliberate moves to me at the time, playing to critics who were showering them w/praise for transforming into a challenging art rock band. Its easy to forget at the time how ott some the praise for YHF's weirdness was.

I love both the live and studio versions of "Spiders" but this is otm. I believe that the "Less Than You Think" drone is supposed to be a representation of Jeff's migraines. Successful in that regard imo, but I don't enjoy hearing it and at other points in the band's career I don't think they would have made the decision to release it. I will grant that it is a nice buildup to the just beautifully consonant and satisfying sound of "The Late Greats." It feels like the clouds parting after the storm and just revealing this sweet sunny day. I wish "The Late Greats" was longer and more epic, and I do think of it more like a bonus track. But while its placement is undeniably weird, I like it.

once heard Less Than You Think while lying in bed suffering from an extremely bad cold and it made perfect, transcendent sense

https://imgc.artprintimages.com/img/print/you-were-right-sir-it-was-dishwater-the-chef-regrets-the-error-new-yorker-cartoon_u-l-pgrfc7o3qj7.jpg?artPerspective=n
"the third course is a representation of the chef's migraines."

lol

not sure which thread to mention this on because they're all getting bumped but I just bought tix to bring my whole family (3 youngish children) to Solid Sound over memorial day weekend. Pretty excited, will have a full report for ilm

the drone on "less than you think" is a fine concept just i don't find the execution compelling at all as far as drones go. even the drone is better live, though they usually only go for a few minutes before transitioning into "art of almost" or "ashes of american flags" or something.

i agree with hideous lump re: it coming across better if "the late greats" was a hidden track but i don't really care for "the late greats" at all so cutting it completely would be fine.

"i'm a wheel" is inessential but fun and i have no problem with it, it's nice to have that burst of energy on the album. it would have been good to have something like "kicking television" on the album too but the studio version is pretty bad, that's the biggest transformation live.

“the late greats” is awesome wtf. i don’t think “adding more songs and keeping the album at an hour-plus” is the interesting way to play god here but whatever

"The Late Greats" is awesome. God schmod, adding those two tracks in those exact spots and ditching most of the noise made me a fan.

i lol at "once in germany someone said 'nein' / one two three four five six seven eight nine" every time

There's a bootleg of their May 2002 show at the Riviera in Chicago (for Northwestern University's "ball") and the friendly-to-a-fault crowd constantly screams at them to play new stuff, as in unreleased stuff. Tweedy almost obliges when he says with a straight face, "we have something called "Someone in Germany said 'Nein'"." A bunch of people start cracking up at that, but the band decides not to play it and go straight into "Jesus, Etc."

'Kicking Television (the song) sounded less demented in live versions prior to the album's release, not sure why the studio version took the route it did... Previously it just sounded like a cousin of 'I'm A Wheel', which was why I assumed they only picked one for AGIB.

also tweedy still plays a bunch of the lead parts from this album live, like the main solo on "at least that's what you said" and most of the solos on "spiders" are him. cline just really helps fill out all the songs live, in addition to assisting with shredding.

Just a head’s up that when I tried to post a link to “Spiders” on FB I got flagged for “promoting suicide,” or some bullshit.

I guess at least one friend is not a fan

I mean, I guess?!?