When You Wake Up Feeling POLL - ILM Artist Poll #115 - WILCO/JEFF TWEEDY (Voting extended until Sunday, Sept 25)

here's the excerpt from tweedy's autobiography where he describes how "can't stand it happen" came about.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/nov/25/jeff-tweedy-on-songwriting-the-hardest-part-is-getting-started

that doesn't go into it but after they recorded "can't stand it" the label then asked to remix it to improve its hit potential, as described in the wiki article. both parts of the story are included in greg kot's wilco book which the wiki article cites.

"can't stand it" is just fine, it's nothing special, average. not at all bad but not close to a standout or anything

got it, that makes sense. still agree to disagree on its averageness... that riff opening the album, one of the earlier examples of tearing-his-hair-out-in-exasperation tweedy vox... i find the energy infectious. now that i think about it though, every other wilco album from the classic period (being there > sky blue sky) has a murkier, slow build start... there's an alternate universe where that album opens with "she's a jar"

ode to joy is still a weird album that doesn't do much for me, they clearly spent a bunch of time fiddling around in the studio so each track has a really lovely, detailed atmosphere but the songs aren't there at all. they're clearly onto something with the general approach to the arrangements, i just wish tweedy had brought better songs to the table. makes for a contrast with cruel country which is in a fairly similar place in terms of atmosphere (despite not being a studio creation in the same way), but has generally stronger songs & is just a really pleasant listen the whole way through despite rarely being up with their best work (only really "bird without a tail / base of my skull")

I have 2 or 3 songs picked out from every album post-AGIB, but also at least 40 just thru AGIB that deserve to rank.

Upon reflection, my rankings:

Fun Wilco > Wistful Wilco >> Wonky Wilco >>> Morose Wilco >> Detached Wilco

Struggling with “Red Eyed and Blue” > “I Got You (At the End of the Century).” I think of them as a suite on the album, and I am pretty sure that they’ve played them back to back the couple of times that I’ve seen them played live. Together I think of that duo as a high point of Being There, but if taken individually both songs are a little slight to rank highly….

I've made a list of 46 tracks. Two big areas to explore (or re-explore, in a new context): everything post-Sky Blue Sky and the Tupelo/Golden Smog stuff that fits the thread remit. On that last point, with time pretty tight, does anyone care to stan for any Tweedy-led Tupelo/Golden Smog stuff I should know about?

Uncle Tupelo in order of likelihood to make my ballot:
- New Madrid
- Acuff-Rose
- No Sense in Lovin
- Black Eye
- Wait Up
- The Long Cut
- Warfare

Loose Fur in order of likelihood to make my ballot:
- The Ruling Class
- Laminated Cat

We have just four ballots and only seven days to vote! If people need more time, let me know. Know it's a big catalog.

Whoops, realized you said Golden Smog not Loose Fur. Here are my picks for them, though I need to revisit those records myself:

Radio King
Pecan Pie
Please Tell My Brother
Lost Love
Long Time Ago

Thanks Indexed. I'll have a ballot with you by this time next week.

Fatal Wound will be fairly high on my ballot, I think.

(By Uncle Tupelo)

rt

all right i am def gonna try to submit a ballot, so i’m listening to cruel country for the first time rn. imo: whoa

also whenever i listen to early uncle tupelo i think maybe "country-fried replacements" is as good as punk music can get

I’m also putting in a ballot sometime today. I don’t like mine and it’s ok if you want to lose it — it will steer the results toward things everyone knows

wait fuck the deadline is this weekend?

If any of you are like “is Kamera too obvious?”, I don’t know, but it’s definitely on my ballot

I tried Cruel Country again this weekend. A lot of it is a total snooze fest, iibh. And I really liked Ode to Joy! Just could not with "The Empty Condor" or any number of other shapeless acoustic trifles. Reminds me of Sukierae, a similarly bloated album of tune after tune that I can't much discern from the last.

It has its moments: "Many Worlds," which morphs from a slow (very much the operative word for a lot of this album) piano ballad into a pretty rippin' country rock jam on the backs of Nels and Glenn; "A Lifetime to Find" has some life to it; "I am My Mother" and "Country Song Upside-Down" are greatly aided by their relative concision.

oh i thought cruel country was extremely tuneful and the arrangements were super cool, whereas i'm not sure if ode to joy ever snapped together for me

maybe at least we can all agree with some distance that schmilco is incredibly dope and not boring, it's like it restrains itself so much it gets gnarled inside (aka it's star wars inside out)

god the second half of "quarters" is like a miniature "small hours"

i'm taking a real bifurcated path through the catalog, veering between tupelo and late wilco, and omg i forgot how much i love "watch me fall." "watch me fall"!!!!

i listened to still feel gone a lot more in college than i thought i did

cruel country is really lovely, it's remarkably solid the whole way through & in terms of pure front-to-back listenability it might be one of their best, though it rarely reaches the sort of heights they have elsewhere. i'm not sure that anything from it is going to manage to fit onto my ballot except "bird without a tail / base of my skull", which is the best thing they've done since "one sunday morning". maybe "sad kind of way" or something else will squeeze in though

i also really appreciate the return of the mellotron & some other keyboard textures that haven't really been heard since YHF - the album was recorded while they were preparing for the YHF anniversary shows and that influenced the sounds they used

"many worlds" is actually one of the weakest tracks, the starting piano ballad is not very compelling & feels pretty disconnected from the ending duelling solos which are just fine.

I like “The Universe,” trying to find space for it on my ballot

Any tracks from any of the Tweedy solo albums anyone want to stump for? Of all his work those are the ones that really go in one ear and out the other for me.

sukierae is worth a listen at least, it's more than the sleepy acoustic tunes of the following solo albums (though those are also jeff playing most instruments with his son on drums). there's some weirdness like "diamond light pt. 1"

I’m probably going to sit this poll out - there’s a lot of solo Tweedy I haven’t gotten to, plus the very early Wilco albums and yet to get through Cruel Country - but am looking forward to the rollout and discussion and listening along.

(Sitting it out in terms of voting.)

solo tweedy is not particularly worth digging through unless you're really dedicated (though i do heavily recommend the first loose fur album)

if you can get any sort of ballot together it's worth voting even if you haven't had a chance to take an exhaustive listen of the entire discography

will be positively torturing myself to get this down to 40 tracks

anyway i hung out with ode to joy for a little while last night. it's a good record. i only just learned the method of its recording (tweedy and kotche putting down sketches that the band filled in after the fact) which may be the very thing that makes the album refuse to focus for me (and is also the thing that's most interesting about it, the dislocation between its elements). anyway i really adore "one and a half stars" (great lyric) and "quiet amplifier" and "we were lucky" and the singles are both lovely but i remain confused that it was hailed as a return to form while acknowledging it's been growing on me slow as ivy since it was released and one day i'll probably think it's the best wilco album idk

the atmosphere & arrangements are really lovely but tweedy's tunes are generally some of his weakest ever

what are everyone's favorite mermaid avenue songs? mine are "remember the mountain bed" and "someday some morning sometime"

The solo Tweedy songs that are on my ballot radar:

Having Been Is No Way To Be (lock)
I Know What It's Like
Some Birds
Don't Forget
Family Ghost
Summer Noon (from Sukirae)

xp I didn't realize it until going through to make this ballot but a lot of my fav Mermaid Avenue tracks are actually Billy Bragg ones. That surprised me. Even "Another Man's Done Gone," which I love, was apparently written by Bragg though sung by Tweedy. But yeah, huge fan of "Remember the Mountain Bed." I will also be voting for "Airline to Heaven" and "One by One" even though the latter is a little dirgey and repetitive. Considering "Secret of the Sea" too

I voted for a bunch of Mermaid Avenue songs. "One by One" was at the top, though a lot of that has to due with the poetry, some of Guthrie's finest. It's surprising and heartbreaking stuff - I'm not sure when Guthrie wrote it, but I imagine it was after his illness had begun to overwhelm him. I kept thinking about it when I visited the Guthrie exhibit at the Morgan Library and saw the materials they had from his final years.

Airline to Heaven, 100%. There are a bunch of others on my radar. California Stars almost certainly and Christ for President, probably. One by One and Secret of the Sea both great tunes that have a shot for me if I have room.

TBH, I think I may have voted for nearly every eligible Mermaid Avenue track from the first volume and at least a few from the second. The ones mentioned from the second - "Airline to Heaven," "Mountain Bed," "Secret of the Sea," "Someday Some Morning Sometime" - all made my list.

California Stars... so simple but so pure. Yeah I guess that one needs to be there too

the whole love has the two incredible career-high bookends and then the rest is just fine

― ufo, Monday, September 5, 2022 5:30 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

i don't agree with this but i feel like my wilco opinions are entering contrarian-for-its-own-sake territory. just wanting to say that the whole love is def not my favorite wilco album but "black moon" is awesome

i am calling it, "one sunday morning" is gonna win this poll

I left Mermaid songs off my ballot because I had a hard enough time fitting in some of Jeff's Loose Fur & Uncle Tupelo tracks without bringing Woody's lyrics into that equation.

The Whole Love is the artier older brother to Summerteeth. "Dawned on Me" is a lock. Bunch of others I'm considering.

I will die on any hill for the song “Whole Love” as well. Something about the production just gets me. As far as the upbeat tracks on that album, not a fan of “Dawned on Me”, a little too hooky and singsongy. I do enjoy “Born Alone” though and I think I’m in the minority in digging “I Might”.

All of that being said, The Whole Love is not sniffing my albums ballot. I feel like for this poll 5 is too small a number, having to make some painful choices…

We are up to 6 submitted ballots.

I hope all of you are revisiting A.M. Has a few of my favorite Tweedy songs of all time. "That's Not the Issue" will be very high on my ballot.

My two favourite Mermaid Avenue tracks are Birds & Ships (no Tweedy) and The Unwelcome Guest (barely any Tweedy). Will probably vote for California Stars, At My Window and Remember the Mountain Bed.

yeah 5 albums is too little to vote for lol, there's too many to choose from.

nothing from mermaid avenue is going to make my ballot

as far as TWL goes beyond the bookends, "whole love" might have a chance of squeezing into my ballot. "black moon" is quite nice for sure but it's not enough of a standout to have a chance of making my ballot or anything

does anyone have any non-album track recommendations? i've listened to most of what i can find & i don't think i'll vote for any - best is "kicking television" and some of the yhf-era rarities like "cars can't escape", "the good part" "a magazine called sunset", "more like the moon"