Wilco: Album by Album

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Parachute Woman, May 11, 2020.

  1. robcar

    robcar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    "I'm Always In Love" is a song I've never warmed up to. It's better live than on the album (the album version seems clattering and shrill with those annoying synth lines), but it's never been a song I've ever looked forward to hearing them play live (even though it's been inevitable that they will play it at the shows I've seen). The lyrics are clever but ultimately don't say anything particularly significant. It's an ear worm for sure and it does seem like it would have been the obvious choice for a single, even considering "Can't Stand It" having been written for that purpose. Yet it was never a single anywhere and there's something I find slightly annoying about it musically. I think that synth is the main culprit.

    Oh well, much better coming tomorrow!
     
  2. frightwigwam

    frightwigwam Talented Amateur

    Location:
    Oregon
    Also, "Why, I wonder, is my heart full of holes/ And the feeling goes but my hair keeps growing" is just a fantastic, funny opening line that contrasts with the surface feeling of the song.
     
    Gabe Walters likes this.
  3. Analogmoon

    Analogmoon All the Way Back in the Seventies

    I think the only thing I never found were Being There demos.
     
    Lance LaSalle likes this.
  4. awsop

    awsop Forum Resident

    Location:
    Netherlands
    According to many of you there's a striking (squealing?) synth sound, I didn't notice before.
    Yes, I can hear it now unobtrusively, it's there 'above' the wall of sound, listening carefully with headphones on.
    For better or for worse?
    I let the song hear to my wife and after 10 seconds she put my headphones off, telling me “This is awful, but you won’t hear it. It’s too high for you”.
    Luckily I can hear the Wild Honey synth a whole lot better.
     
  5. dirkster

    dirkster Senior Member

    Location:
    McKinney, TX, USA
    Ditto. Other than the “Monday” demo released on the promo CD for Monday I haven’t ever come across any Being There demos.
     
    Rockford & Roll likes this.
  6. Gabe Walters

    Gabe Walters Forum Resident

    We're just talking about the melody line. It is high, but certainly within the limits of my hearing, and I know I have damaged ears from attending too many concerts without protection. You can barely hear it?
     
  7. Rainy Taxi

    Rainy Taxi The Art of Almost

    Location:
    Chicago
    What about A Ghost is Born? Weren't those the demos no one ever found or heard?
     
  8. Doctorwu

    Doctorwu Senior Member

    Well, I have a hunch a 'Summerteeth" box set will be out in the not so distant future :cool:
     
  9. awsop

    awsop Forum Resident

    Location:
    Netherlands
    Yes, my hearing of higher frequencies stops somewhere around 6 kHz. My hearing aids help me enormously to enjoy music, but they can only amplify what my ears are hearing. Probably I hear music sounds quite differently from most of you.
     
  10. Gabe Walters

    Gabe Walters Forum Resident

    Ah, ok. I haven't measured, but I'd guess this synth line goes as high as 10 kHz. My own hearing tops out at about 12 kHz, but I can hear all the notes of a piano, so it doesn't trouble me too much, thankfully.
     
    awsop likes this.
  11. frightwigwam

    frightwigwam Talented Amateur

    Location:
    Oregon
    "I'm Always in Love" on Later with Jools Holland.

    So, at least when they were in England, they thought the song could help shift some units (and apparently the "smoke pot" line didn't bother, or wasn't detected by, the British TV censors).

     
  12. frightwigwam

    frightwigwam Talented Amateur

    Location:
    Oregon
    They also played "Can't Stand It" for Jools. Some commenters point out that they followed Blur in the lineup.

     
  13. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    I just watched the above video and, while it’s okay for a single, think the obvious lead single from this album is I’m Always In Love. Everyone can sing along to that and get that stuck in the head.
     
  14. dirkster

    dirkster Senior Member

    Location:
    McKinney, TX, USA
    Agree. “Can’t Stand It” is a negative declaration and “I’m Always In Love” is a positive one - and such a summer song to boot! With the album being released in March it would have been such a natural fit to release it as a single.
     
  15. rancher

    rancher Unmade Bed

    Location:
    Ohio
    Honestly, none of the single candidates are my favorites from this album ...:cool:
     
  16. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Not mine, either, but a single serves a different purpose, I think.
     
  17. Paul Gase

    Paul Gase Everything is cheaper than it looks.

    Location:
    California
    Anyone else hear the musical reference to Carpenters’ “Hurting Each Other” in the outro? The guitar is playing “we go on, hurting each other.”. Noticed it first time I heard it.
     
  18. dirkster

    dirkster Senior Member

    Location:
    McKinney, TX, USA
    I’m Always In Love (continued)

    I had never noticed the “smoke pot” vocals in the background during that one segment. I hear it as “pot smoke” repeated, and my wife hears “pot sm...” (i.e. it’s not all there). Doesn’t bug me one way or the other, but I wonder if those vocals are really even saying “pot smoke” and if this isn’t a case of the human brain trying to make some ambiguous “oompah oompah” syllables into something they are not?
     
  19. jalexander

    jalexander Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    I listened to the demos today. Most sound more like I finished mixes so aren’t that memorable. She’s a Jar and ELT were the most significant. I’ll discuss ELT when we get there.
     
    mark winstanley likes this.
  20. dirkster

    dirkster Senior Member

    Location:
    McKinney, TX, USA
    Yeah, the Austin demos are not exactly “rough sketches”, are they?
     
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  21. Knox Harrington

    Knox Harrington Forum Resident

    Great song! Great posts!
     
  22. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    Next:

    Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway (Again)


    This is the last Tweedy/Bennett/Stirratt composition on the album. I like this one a whole lot--much better than 'I'm Always in Love.' It has some of my favorite drumming from Ken Coomer on a Wilco song, a bouncy, ebullient melody and great harmonies. There is some weird arrangement stuff in the second half (the basically bizarre bridge and then the reedy keyboard sound that comes squealing in) but it is a pretty straightforward song overall. It is catchy in the right way to me. Not an 'earworm'--just solid songwriting. The lyrics are very good. He feels a bit self-conscious about his own feelings (a bomb of anxiety waiting to go off; 'try to downplay being uptight') but the song is basically positive overall. A kiss is all they need. They'll find a way. And, of course, nothing's ever gonna stand in my way. Maybe he's just putting on a brave face and telling himself that things will be okay with a hint of desperation, but it's not a dark song. Why the smushed together song title? I'm not sure.

    The line about love growing like a weed inside of him is interesting. It suggests both something natural and fast-growing and something that is considered a nuisance. This is a strong song.
     
  23. Fortuleo

    Fortuleo Used to be a Forum Resident

    What’s better than a power pop nugget like I’m Always in Love ? What about TWO power pop nuggets in a row !! There’s a mellotron solo, percussive acoustic guitars straight out of Tom Petty & Jeff Lynne’s Full Moon Fever, a vocoder bridge starting with an alarm clock because Summerteeth is Wilco’s Beatles album after all, and a strong Costello vibe everywhere, from Jeff’s cracking voice to some of the production touches and melodic shifts (I think Costello may well be the biggest Jay Bennett influence of them all, I can hear a lot of 1991’s EC LP Mighty Like a Rose all over Summerteeth). This track also sounds like a precursor to Heavy Metal Drummer (John’s high pitched hooky background vocals) and I must say I really miss this side of the band today. They tried their hand at it on some tracks of the Whole Love, but not with the same power (pop).
     
  24. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Nothingsevergonna...: Tweedy/Bennett/Stirratt

    Another vocal right out of the gate, a reedy sounding Jeff backed, later in the song, by vocal harmonies.

    My favorite part of the song is the pure Beatles bridge: “A watch that ticks is wrapped around my wrist.”

    Least favorite part: the unwieldy song title.

    This is John Stirratt’s third co-write on the album, the most he’s ever had to this point in the discography and a high he’s never repeated (to date).
     
  25. awsop

    awsop Forum Resident

    Location:
    Netherlands
    At first I didn’t like it because of the dull melody.
    The melody is still not a highlight for me, but the light, transparant sound with the prominent acoustic guitar and drums outweigh it a lot.
     

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