Wilco-Related Audio Complaint

No, it's not about The Whole Love, which I continue to find awesome.  It's this: This morning, Jeff Tweedy's solo acoustic album Sunken Treasure came up on my iTunes shuffle, and it confirmed something I've subconsciously thought for years now: Tweedy's live acoustic guitar tone SUCKS.  He's got such a great array of guitars, and he sticks some shit pickup into them-- or maybe it's the amp-- but it's terrible.  So obnoxiously treble-y with no natural decay.  It makes his guitars sound so cheap.  Hard to believe a tone freak like Nels Cline would let him get away with that.

Listen for yourself:



It's not like I feel "entitled" to a better acoustic tone from Tweedy, but I feel inspired to articulate something that's bugged/disappointed me for several years now.

Wilco Streams Live Shows On Their Website

Did you guys realize this? Here's the link: http://wilcoworld.net/#!/roadcase/

I'm currently listening to a New Orleans show, which has a local horn section on about half the tracks. Not the greatest sound quality, but certainly great playing.

And in other news, I pre-ordered the deluxe edition of The Whole Love. Anyone shelling out for the vinyl? (And by anyone, I mean Tex and possibly Dr. K.)

Wilco Will Love You More Than I Love Wilco (the Album)

Eric and I attended the same wedding over Labor Day weekend (it didn't involve either one of us; you're welcome, Ladies!), and Wilco (the Album) came up at our table. Suffice it to say, no one involved in the discussion will be ranking it on the top tier of Wilco (the Trophy Case).

My assessment: After 2 months with this album, I rank it as their second-worst. This is a relative statement obviously. Someone at the wedding asked me what I thought was Wilco's worst album and I said "A.M." And she replied, "But I love A.M." And I was like: "Yes, so do I! All these rankings are completely relative."

But that said, my tiers are as follows...
(no sub-ranking within tiers)

Tier One: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, A Ghost Is Born, Sky Blue Sky
Tier Two: Being There, Summerteeth
Tier Three: Wilco (the Album), A.M.

But since this is mostly a post about Wilco (the Album), here are my prevailing thoughts after 2 months:

1. I feel little compulsion to drop everything and put this record on. This is particularly striking when I compare it to Sky Blue Sky which I could not stop listening to for the first 2 weeks-- and almost to that level for several months.

2. There aren't any songs on here that I'd skip, although some are weaker than others. But there's nothing bad on here. That said, I do have a least favorite song on this album, and that is "You and I."

3. Several of the songs are incomplete. "Bull Black Nova" is pretty darn good, but I really feel like there was more to be done with that song. Certainly there was more you could do with a 6-piece all-star band! "Everlasting Everything" is also not finished and I don't like the constant tubular bell on every chorus. I think they'll regret that choice in the long run. (BTW, that's not the first time they've taken an idea that was good in moderation and pushed it way too far. See the "oooh yeah" backing vox on Heavy Metal Drummer for Example A.)

4. Getting back to the 6-piece all-star band thing... what a waste of a 6-piece all-star band. I'm not advocating that everything needs to be a prog-style epic chops-fest, but seriously: Why is Nels Cline on this album? Why is Mikael Jorgensen on this album? Hyperbole, to be sure, but at the core of this remark, I am serious. I'm not advocating that Nels go off into free jazz shred-land, but they could do a lot more with him within the Wilco aesthetic. For instance, listen to how great his guitar sounds on "Deeper Down." But there's so little of that on the album, and I think a lot of that arises because you're dealing with a lot of unfinished songs.

In conclusion, I return to the caveat that all my Wilco criticisms are relative. I still listen to this album with some regularity, and I do genuinely like it. I expect it'll make my year-end Top 10. But it's a huge downgrade from Sky Blue Sky (or any of the past 3 albums), and it seems like it was rushed out before it was fully realized. It plays more like a Jeff Tweedy solo album to me, which is fine. But I do get frustrated because the guy is leading a totally kick-ass rock sextet that puts on the finest live show today's money can buy. I wish more of that had made it onto (the album).

Synthesizer Patel

Q asked about Synthesizer Patel in the Wilco comments, and I got curious. Of course, the internet being what it is, my question was solved... kind of.

Apparently he's a British, what? Comedian? Performance Artist? Synthesizer Enthusiast? Who knows, but you owe it to yourself to watch this:

Wilco and Feist in LA

D, were you at this show?
Say what you want, haters, these two got chemistry...

Breakfast at Sulimay's

If you want to know what the geezer set thinks about Wilco, Dirty Projectors, Common, Bon Iver... the list goes on, you have to watch Breakfast at Sulimay's on YouTube.

It's basically these 3 old-timers from Philadelphia who meet at a restaurant, listen to music provided by a hipster, and offer their American Idol-style criticism of it. Of the episodes I've seen, they haven't once been in consensus about liking a song. There are some songs they unanimously agree they don't like (Common's "Universal Mind Control" comes to mind), but the whole thing is pretty entertaining.

Here's the latest episode...

Jay Bennett, R.I.P.

Looks like Drischord was more right than we knew....

Read about it here.

The moment in this video where Jay and Jeff headbang in unison always gets me...


There are lots of favorite Jay moments in Wilco songs, for me a personal favorite was always Someday Some Morning Sometime from Mermaid Ave. 2....Such a gorgeous song and I've always thought it represented the moment where the collaboration between Jeff and Jay was really beginning to blossom...

Wilco!

Listening to the new Wilco album (now streaming on their website) my initial reaction the first time through was that it sounded fine, but that it was the first time I'd ever heard a new Wilco album and not been seriously surprised by some aspect of their sound. In that respect, I was disappointed, and wondered if they had now found a comfortable rut, and I could expect them to be sticking to it.

But I just played it through a second time, and while I only had it on the background while I worked, and didn't really give it a close listen, I already liked it more, and was able to pick out at least 3 songs that with a few more listens I'm pretty confident I'll grow to LOVE...so I'm going out on a limb to say that--as usual--this one's going to be a grower.

Wilco + Feist???

What the hell?

Wilco has confirmed rumors that Feist will appear on its next album, a still untitled set due for a late June release.

In a posting Friday (March 27) on the band's website (http://wilcoworld.net/news/), the alternative rock band says that singer-songwriter Feist lends vocals to the track "You and I" on the Nonesuch release.

The first order of business is getting excited that we're getting a new Wilco album in June! (With Dinosaur Jr and Sunset Rubdown already slated for that month, it's going to be one to remember.)

But Feist? This is an artist that I do not "get." I'll grant you I know almost nothing about her beyond that iPod song. A lot of my friends like that track, some even like the whole album it comes from. For me personally, it does nothing at all.

That said, if Wilco's involved, I'm at least curious.

From the Vaults: The Autumn Defense

God knows I love Wilco, but is there a song on Sky Blue Sky that matches the unadulterated beauty of "The Answer" by the Autumn Defense?

This band got a publicity head start by featuring two guys from Wilco, but they also don't get their fair due since they're permanently a "side project" in most people's minds. Do yourself a favor and listen to this record again. Great stuff.

Neil Young & Wilco

Did any of you New Yorkers go? This review made it sound phenomenal.

Wilco and Obama

Continuing the political talk, check it out - here's Wilco (or a mini-Wilco) performing at an Obama fundraiser in Chicago earlier this summer. Nice little fluff piece:

New Wilco

So some good comes out of Lollapalooza - behold the glory of a new Wilco track.

Wilco - One Wing

For my money, this is pretty great. The final freak-out at the end is awesome and makes me want a new live album with the Nels version of Wilco so bad.

Concert Ticket Prices = Out Of Control

I just paid $100 for 2 tickets to see Wilco at McCarren Park Pool. This is getting crazy. For one thing, this show will probably be annoying because of the hipsters, but really- how is anyone supposed to afford that?
McCarren Pool holds an insane amount of people - JellyNYC (who is NOT producing this show, but do selflessly and brilliantly produce the greatest free live concerts ever known to man) claims that capacity is 5000+, which means that all told they (by 'they' I in no way mean JellyNYC, the producers of entirely separate yet incredible free live shows) stand to make at least $250,000 for this show, not including beer, etc.
wow.
I don't have enough fingers on my hands to count the amount of shows i've not purchased tix to for this summer because of the excessive cost. Wilco is probably the only band I would do this for (okay, Led Zeppelin too), but I'm forgoing seeing them multiple times this year because every single show is so expensive.
Just goes to show how the industry to trying to make up for the lost revenue of CD sales. Prepare to start paying much much more for every concert, except for the free shows put on by JellyNYC. Those shows will be free. And well produced. By 5 hard-working people that have 1 over-exuberant friend.

Tweedy On Migraines

Jeff Tweedy posted on the New York Times' Migraine blog:

http://migraine.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/shaking-it-off/