MUSIC THREAD

New Wilco album out today ... finally getting a chance to listen. The first song sounds vaguely Radiohead-esque. I dig it, though. Will give more thoughts once I give the record a few spins.

 

"I like Christian rock. It's very positive. It's not like those real
musicians who think they're so cool and hip." - George Costanza

 

Pink Floyd week on Jimmy Fallon. Roger Waters played with the Foo Fighters tonight. It was awesome. Brain had trouble processing Waters and Pat Smear standing on the same stage though. *

*-Smear played in the notorious '70s punk band The Germs. Punks and Pink Floyd did not mix in that era.

 

Anyway, after a few listens: The new Wilco is musically 100 times better than Wilco (The Album) was. It's like they finally realized they had Nels Cline in the band and let him loose, especially on Art of Almost, which is just a fuckin' banger. Tweedy is a little all over the place with his songwriting, but this album feels like a bit of a mix of A Ghost is Born and Sky Blue Sky. AGIB is still my favorite Wilco record, though its gets a run from time to time from Summerteeth. So I really like the influences. Pretty complex musically. Pitchfork gives The Whole Love a 6.9, but the review is actually pretty glowing.

 

Like a lot of the Wilco albums, this one just grows on me with each listen. I agree that it's better than (The Album), although I will defend a lot of songs on that record. And I agree that it has that AGIB/SBS mix but maybe with a little less polish (I think the live versions of the AGIB songs on Kicking Television) are far superior to the studio versions.

Back to The Whole Love ... there's just a lot of interesting things to listen to on it both musically and lyrically. I read a review that challenged Wilco for not being as edgy as previous records (although I think part of that is perception/memory and not necessarily reality) but, damn, can they do some great pop songs, too, like "Born Alone" and "Dawned on Me" and even "Standing O."

It's been a pretty good late summer/fall for "dad rock," though, as I just got the new John Doe and new Jayhawks (saw them two weeks ago, too, and it's good to see Olson-Louris harmonizing again; great show). New Ryan Adams comes out next week, too. Heard that streamed on NPR and sounds like another winner.

 

Anyone who says The Whole Love isn't edgy musically just isn't listening. There are a couple of acoustic based tracks, but even those are complex musically. Seems like this lineup is coming into its own, and I really like it.

 

I dig Wilco the Album.

 

I'm 50-50 on Wilco The Album ... Love a good half of the songs: Wilco (the song), One Wing, Bull Black Nova, You Never Know, Sonny Feeling ... really kind of meh on the other ones.

 

I'll Fight and Solitaire are my two favorites.

 

If you've ever liked anything Wilco's put out, from A.M. all the way through, get The Whole Love. It's excellent.

Art of Almost and Born Alone are early favorites, but the final song ("One Sunday Morning") is growing on me with every listen. Lyrically, it's the sequel to "On and On and On" as Tweedy returns to the topic of his dad's passing. Musically, there's two layers to it -- a mellow acoustic tune on top, with a jingle-jangly sheen underneath. Great stuff.

 

I forgot about I'll Fight. That's a fantastic tune.

 

Just listened to The Whole Love all the way through. Do not like. I can see a lot of Summerteeth in there, but aside from a few songs, I'm not a big fan of that album relative to a lot of their others.

My first impression was boredom.