Go to the NEW FORUM
Wow, I can't believe there's so much love for Sky Blue Sky. I'm arguably the biggest Wilco fan on this site, and I think it's absolute garbage save one great song, and two or three okay ones.
I always felt Wilco was at their best when they were subverting the classics they grew up on. When they play it straight (A.M., Sky Blue Sky) They're a fairly generic band. They are at their best hen they branch out, and cross pollinate their folk and country influences with psychedelic, new wave, punk, noise, and kraut-rock.
To me saying Sky Blue Sky is better than A Ghost is Born or Summerteeth is like saying Pablo Honey is better than Kid A or In Rainbows.
Christgau on Sky Blue Sky: "Tweedy stops soundscaping and resumes songwriting."
i, for one, am very glad that tweedy seems to have grown out of his infatuation w/ that post-rock pussy jim o'rourke...
Wilco knows how to play well whether or not they're being experimental, but when they're not, they're just 'competent standard'.
Some bands can play standard music exceptionally, for instance, The Band. Wilco plays standard music competently, and experimental music exceptionally.
It's all about the melodies. I think the only time they managed really good melodies was on YHF.
Why on hell do you call that standard music ? This fucking American dichotomy of mainstream vs alternative just ruined music and critic.
People can't appreciate mellow or straightforward music without guilt.
Double Post. Apologies.
I could go down a laundry list of recent unexperimental music I like. Gillian Welch, Miranda Lambert, Josh T Pearson. All these country artists have something in common: They know how to inject emotional power into fairly straightforward songs. Wilco's strength is not emotional power, it's their songwriting and raw musicianship. That kind of music is not going to interest me as much if they're not exploring their sound as much as they used to.
And Nicolas, you're entitled to your opinion, but I resent your implication that people who disagree with you are putting on airs.
Great thread/debate. I don't feel passionate enough about Wilco to contribute, so I'll stay on the fence.
I'm listening to their new album at the moment and enjoying it. I'd be surprised if it doesn't make the top 10 in our poll at the end of the year.
I agree there's no reason to be snobbish about music. I was really into the indie critical faves for a while, but lately I've gotten a little tired of that and spread out to other particular things.
I think some of it has to do with the fact that most people who are into indie music started out listening to pop music, and when they got tired of pop music they were still continuously subjected to it against their will. In my old job it was like "Do I really have to listen to this obnoxiously disingenuous Michael Buble song every single day?"
For me now, there are several particular things that can attract me to music. The energy, noise, and raw emotion attracts me to post-punk, the beats and melody attract me to dance-pop, the lyricism attracts me to people like Bob Dylan and Sufjan Stevens, the instrumental parts attract me to more rootsy music, the wildly unusual textured melodies attract me to Animal Collective and Dirty Projectors, the idiosyncratic emotional theater attracts me to people like Tom Waits and Lou Reed, or indie stuff like The National or TVOTR. But, it has to hit one of those things for me to like it.
The one older Wilco hits is the 'Idiosyncratic emotional theater', and newer Wilco is not idiosyncratic, so it no longer hits it. Parts of it hit the 'instrumental parts', but not consistently. They pulled themselves out of the indie niche into one less specific and less to their strength.
I've heard it once and it could be a good reconciliation album for the various factions. For once my favorite song is the 1st one, it is both experimental and rootsy, one of the best songs they ever made. The rest is more «standard» stuffs and the album tends to lose its breath in the end, but it is a good and varied effort. Wilco's musiv encompasses a wide array of genres and eras, and that's what I like with them. I'd give the album a 8 rating (out of 10)
You're welcome Dan !
Don't change your tastes ! I second every word you wrote in yr post.
And bravo for not giving in to your inner guilt and censorship
I'm on my cellphone so I won't be very long but I also realized that my love for Hotel California was suspect but it made my list anyway
Loving straightforward music and not being true to yrself whataver people think wouldn't make any sense, would it ?
That doesn't mean of course that the others are not true to themselves, don't make me say what I haven't said (cautious now
Just saw this thread and read some interesting posts.
Heard the new album about 10 times now, and it's pretty good "standard" music. 4 stars for the moment