I'm not saying you should judge his songs by how good a businessman he has been. I don't know where you got that, but it wasn't from me.
As for the $500 record, I think this it's silly to criticize Wilco for this. They'll have a mass market version available for anyone to buy at $20 or whatever (not to mention it'll stream on Spotify - fuck Spotify, btw), and they've decided to make a fancy/cool/whatever version available to people are are willing and able to pay for it, because they know they're out there. Perfectly reasonable, imo. I mean, at least they're getting something tangible and artsy for their money.
It seems very strange to question Jeff Tweedy's creative priorities at this point, but to each his own!
― alpine static, Sunday, 28 July 2019 23:38 (four years ago) link
everyone was right, this is their best album in ages
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 4 October 2019 17:42 (four years ago) link
I prefer the last two... the playing is nice on this one, but the songwriting doesn't seem as strong (maybe it'll grow on me). Key track: "Everyone Hides"
― Spry at 78 (morrisp), Friday, 4 October 2019 18:44 (four years ago) link
feels like an album of "radio cure"s to me
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 4 October 2019 18:51 (four years ago) link
I liked Star Wars but not Schmilco. Sad they've not done any long songs here. I don't actually have anything to say
― imago, Friday, 4 October 2019 19:10 (four years ago) link
I don't actually have anything to say
sums up their post-whole love output pretty well, i reckon.
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Friday, 4 October 2019 19:14 (four years ago) link
Reminds me of the last Radiohead in the sense that it’s very crisp and well put together but too placid to really get excited about.
― Evans on Hammond (evol j), Friday, 4 October 2019 19:16 (four years ago) link
the last radiohead record was not too placid to get excited about!
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 4 October 2019 19:17 (four years ago) link
both construct an ominous dreamy atmosphere out of very few elements though so fair comparison
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 4 October 2019 19:19 (four years ago) link
lol @ moon shaped pool having "very few elements"
it seems like, anymore, wilco is just recording songs so that they can replicate them exactly in a live setting. kind of takes the fun out of releasing studio albums imo. but also explains why they're such a great live band.
speaking of which: would love a sequel to kicking television.
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Friday, 4 October 2019 20:10 (four years ago) link
ok what i meant was that the record is relatively quiet i guess
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 4 October 2019 20:14 (four years ago) link
but it doesn't take much for "daydreaming" or "desert island disk" to sound ominous, the strings in the former just darken the clouds
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 4 October 2019 20:16 (four years ago) link
ahh, gotcha.
yeah, it is a very dynamic record. that's part of the appeal for me.
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Friday, 4 October 2019 20:20 (four years ago) link
I like how gentle this album is.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 4 October 2019 21:04 (four years ago) link
They almost always find interesting ways to be boring.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 4 October 2019 21:08 (four years ago) link
I didn't become a fan until Star Wars -- is Nels Cline still playing with them? Maybe he was part of the "secret sauce" on that album(?)
― Spry at 78 (morrisp), Friday, 4 October 2019 21:40 (four years ago) link
(...looking back, I see he played on Wilco albums going back to 2007 -- so maybe not. Looks like this is their first without him for a while.)
― Spry at 78 (morrisp), Friday, 4 October 2019 21:53 (four years ago) link
he's on this new record
― tylerw, Friday, 4 October 2019 21:56 (four years ago) link
Ah, Wikipedia's out of date then
― Spry at 78 (morrisp), Friday, 4 October 2019 21:59 (four years ago) link
wikipedia says he’s on the record and in the band
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 4 October 2019 22:01 (four years ago) link
He's been a member since the Ghost tour, so he's on every album since then. Though I admit it can be tricky, since Tweedy is a pretty good skronky guitarist when he wants to be.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 4 October 2019 22:02 (four years ago) link
I was looking at his personal Wikipedia page, which stopped at Schmilco. Sorted now, thx
― Spry at 78 (morrisp), Friday, 4 October 2019 22:07 (four years ago) link
I just finished Tweedy’s book a couple of nights ago so I was definitely primed to like this one, and it’s certainly not bad, maybe it’ll grow on me.
― Evans on Hammond (evol j), Saturday, 5 October 2019 01:25 (four years ago) link
I revisited Star Wars and Schmilco this afternoon, and they’re both just so good. Even if nothing else this band does ends up connecting with me, I’m really thankful for that period of sync-up.
― Spry at 78 (morrisp), Saturday, 5 October 2019 01:51 (four years ago) link
the reverse describes my feeling on the post-Whole Love output including this one
― Simon H., Saturday, 5 October 2019 02:41 (four years ago) link
I think they're both tenable positions. Depends on the day, I guess.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 5 October 2019 12:50 (four years ago) link
"we were lucky" is like "bull black nova" part two, gradually taken over by growling unease. it is really not boring
― american bradass (BradNelson), Saturday, 5 October 2019 14:32 (four years ago) link
and "quiet amplifier" is only six minutes long but it's about as good as a stretched out atmospheric wilco song gets
― american bradass (BradNelson), Saturday, 5 October 2019 14:35 (four years ago) link
feels like an album of "radio cure"s to me― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, October 4, 2019 2:51 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, October 4, 2019 2:51 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink
I am immediately listening to this album
― flappy bird, Sunday, 6 October 2019 21:45 (four years ago) link
Lots of «Kamera» in here as well, maybe side a of YHF in general. I really like it.
― Mule, Tuesday, 8 October 2019 11:56 (four years ago) link
this is a beautiful record, damn. highlights for me are the stretch from 'one and a half stars' to 'white wooden cross,' and i love the spindly guitar and plunking piano on 'love is everywhere'
― flopsy bird (voodoo chili), Thursday, 10 October 2019 20:34 (four years ago) link
Love Quiet Amplifier but 10 plays in and struggling to remember most of the rest
― PaulTMA, Thursday, 10 October 2019 23:39 (four years ago) link
I've pretty much fallen for this. Tweedy sounds (relatively) content.
― Life is a meaningless nightmare of suffering...save string (Chinaski), Friday, 11 October 2019 16:43 (four years ago) link
I'm with you Paul. Quiet Amplifier and Love is Strange are the highlights for me. The rest, I like it while I'm listening but I don't find it super memorable. Also how I felt about Schmilco.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, 11 October 2019 17:51 (four years ago) link
The songs on Schmilco glisten for me with tension and purpose, in both composition and performance.
― drunk on hot toddies (morrisp), Friday, 11 October 2019 18:12 (four years ago) link
Haven't had a chance to listen to this yet, but hearing Kot and DeRogatis go on about how boring it is and how much they don't like it basically confirms that it'll probably be my favorite Wilco record in awhile.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 11 October 2019 19:16 (four years ago) link
I like the first few songs a lot... then the next few ("1.5 Stars" & "Quiet Amplifier") feel kind of slack & rote. "Quiet Amplifier" is groovy (as mentioned above). "White Wooden Cross" feels sleepy, and I guess its melody is either "classic" (in a Dylan-ish mode) or paint-by-numbers, depending on how it hits yr ears. The next few traxx are sorta dull ("We Were Lucky" drags on too long). I don't care for "Love Is Everywhere." The final two songs are good, but not exceptional (I dig: Eight tiny lines of cocaine / Left on a copy machine). FINAL RATING: B
― drunk on hot toddies (morrisp), Friday, 11 October 2019 20:16 (four years ago) link
"Quiet Amplifier" is groovy (as mentioned above).
I meant "Everyone Hides"... whatever
― drunk on hot toddies (morrisp), Friday, 11 October 2019 20:29 (four years ago) link
Determined to get into this album one way or another. It all sounds pleasant enough...
But then again Citizens sounds like the most pointless Wilco song ever
― PaulTMA, Friday, 11 October 2019 20:30 (four years ago) link
Definitely not an album of "Radio Cure"s. It's fine in the same whelming way the other three Wilco albums this decade have been. I can't believe how quickly it's over when it ends.
― Wally P. Doyle, Sunday, 13 October 2019 05:46 (four years ago) link
I'm just listening now. Holy shit
― flappy bird, Monday, 14 October 2019 01:51 (four years ago) link
Kind of a weird album to spend $500 on.
― drunk on hot toddies (morrisp), Monday, 14 October 2019 02:00 (four years ago) link
Revisiting. I like this record a lot (not quite as much as Schmilco) but it’s a weird one - like, there’s a real sense of anemia for until just before the middle, the album gradually sorta waking up
― Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Wednesday, 9 February 2022 03:20 (two years ago) link
def one of the most appropriate album covers in their discog, whole record feels like an emphasis on negative space
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Wednesday, 9 February 2022 03:22 (two years ago) link
True
― Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Wednesday, 9 February 2022 03:23 (two years ago) link
“Wilco February”
As much as I’ve always kinda liked these guys (and don’t get mad at me) I’ve never heard anything pre-Summerteeth. Dunno why, just never felt compelled to go back.
― Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Wednesday, 9 February 2022 03:24 (two years ago) link
Still pending: TWEEDY, and most of JT’s solo catalogue. I know it’s there, and I’ll get to it eventually.
― Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Wednesday, 9 February 2022 03:27 (two years ago) link
Xpost I think you'd find Being There worth your time
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 9 February 2022 04:08 (two years ago) link
tweedy is really dope, sort of a proto-star wars/schmilco
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Wednesday, 9 February 2022 17:11 (two years ago) link
Had to look through this again to remind me what's on here, but I really enjoy "North American Kids," "If I Ever Was a Child," "Cry All Day," "Someone To Lose" and "Locator" (including it's primitive oddball stick-figure video). I don't think it's an album I'd want to hear in its entirety again, but those are excellent, dark, low-key songs.
― birdistheword, Wednesday, 9 February 2022 18:32 (two years ago) link
Agh, WRONG album and thread
― birdistheword, Wednesday, 9 February 2022 18:33 (two years ago) link
For this one, it would be "Love Is Everywhere (Beware)," "Everyone Hides" and "Hold Me Anyway."
― birdistheword, Wednesday, 9 February 2022 18:34 (two years ago) link
I love "Love is Everywhere" but aside from that, this album falls under "pleasant but forgettable."
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Wednesday, 9 February 2022 19:08 (two years ago) link
Quiet Amplifier is up there with their best
― PaulTMA, Thursday, 10 February 2022 02:17 (two years ago) link