I do like this track a lot. Your thoughts are very right on. So many albums don't hold up when tracks are broken up, piecemeal, which is why I generally don't like "greatest hit" compilations. I always like songs where they were intended, in their original environment!
Yes...everything you said. Love it...a perfect closer. When I rip this again for home play, I plan on ending the album here...no bonus tracks. I've always thought of bonus tracks as something that should be left out...the same way I feel about a director's cut re-released film. If it wasn't done like they did in some old films when editors arbitrarily shortened the film only because it was deemed to long to hold the audience.....otherwise it was normally edited because parts were weak and likely edited for good reasons!
In a Future Age: the quiet after the storm. The lyrics remind me of William Carlos Williams or, even more, of Shel Silverstein. Jay's tinkering at the piano calls to mind Schroeder from Peanuts for some reason. I think that's a triangle as the very last note? A nice touch.
I never actually commented on "Summer Teeth" yesterday but I've always wondered why the song was actually titled the way it was. I guess it's there to try to emphasize that the lyrics on the album are "just a dream he keeps having" and "doesn't seem to mean anything". That could imply that there isn't supposed to be any underlying messages in the songs. Then again it could also imply that there are deeper meanings to many of the songs since it only SEEMS to not mean anything. I've always pictured this song ("Summer Teeth") as a breaking of the third wall to get a glimpse of the writer composing away ("His fingers explode On the typewriter ribbon") alone at night trying to make a living ("make his supper and eat it alone"). He's written on a number of topics ("One summer a suicide. Another autumn a traveler's guide.") but he's getting a little restless ("His black shirt cries while his shoes get cold") even though he knows he has financial obligations to take care of ("His heart's in a bowl behind the bank"). It may all seem a little depressing till he remembers that someone will eventually listen / read what he was written which he is genuinely appreciative of. ("He feels lucky to have you here In his kitchen, in your chair. Sometimes he forgets that you're even there"). I actually like this song a lot and don't even mind what I assume is the nod to the Beatles Blackbird (mono version) with the birds chirping in the background. I honestly think the album should've ended with "Summer Teeth" but "In A Future Age" works as a hope for meeting up in the future ("And mark our page in a future age") either physically ("Some trees will bend and some will fall but then again so will us all") or probably in the afterlife ("High above the sea of cars and barking dogs in fenced-in yards"). Kinda like "We'll Meet Again" but maybe not as memorable...
It looks like they stopped updating Wilcobase in 2012. According to setlists.fm, Wilco has played "In a Future Age" 33 times, most recently in three shows during 2014. Jeff Tweedy has played it 25 times, most recently in "The Tweedy Show" from his home last April 13.
I've never seen Wilco play either "Summer Teeth" or "In a Future Age," but I've seen Jeff play each, one time each. I saw "Summer Teeth" on November 12, 2005 at Messiah College in Grantham, PA. The crowd was glad to hear it and did the "ooh" and "ahh" backing vocals at the right places, which seemed to tickle Jeff Tweedy. That show had a bunch of tunes in the set that I've probably only heard once: "Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down," "Blue-Eyed Soul," "Bob Dylan's 49th Beard," "Sugar Baby," "Lost Love," "Please Tell My Brothers," "Black Eye," "ELT," "Someday Soon." Jeff said, "One of the really beautiful things about rock music, is it's one of the rare places that people go in their lives where they join together with a bunch of people and raise their voices and sing along with somebody and transcend themselves. To find themselves being a part of humanity, as opposed to being apart from humanity. I think that's a beautiful thing, and I feel like people have missed that in [religious comments redacted], and they've found it in other places without knowing that's what they were finding. So, anyway, that's where I feel like I've gotten where I'm at." This was in the middle of a run of songs that included "The Ruling Class," "Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down," and "Theologians." I suppose the venue was making Jeff a bit contemplative. I saw "In a Future Age" on January 31, 2007 in Charlottesville, VA, at the gorgeous Paramount Theater. I was in the second row, and had a wonderful time. Jeff Tweedy was in great spirits, and was very chatty and funny, as he often is at solo shows. It's very interesting to see Jeff play the instrumental passages of these songs on solo acoustic guitar. Before this one, someone gave him a can of Diet Coke with a proposed setlist. "Played it, played it, not gonna play it, played it . . . I think I'm doing alright." After the song, he asked if anyone else has any presents for him. "Cars Can't Escape!" someone yelled. "What are you gonna give me? Lay it on me, sir."
"In A Future Age", while pretty, doesn't have a whole lot to recommend it from a lyrical or melodic standpoint. I suppose it serves as something of a benediction for the album, but even that is undercut by the fact that it's not the final track. I think it would have worked better if it were the last song on the album. On balance, it's not a track I either like or dislike - it's just sort of there. Its beauty is undercut toward the end by increasing dissonance, although it never dissolves into anything really noisy. In this way, the song serves to remind us of the tension between melodic prettiness and lyrical misery that, if nothing else, is the hallmark of this album. This tendency for Wilco to inject noisy cacophony into otherwise pretty music would become something of a trick (or even a crutch) they would turn to a lot over the next few years and it was also something we first heard on Being There in a couple of places.
I was thinking that it's like "Son of Sunken Treasure," although it's a different sort of lyric. It sounds like it belongs on the second disc of Being There, and maybe Jeff put it at the end of this album because he couldn't figure out where else it would fit here. Then at the last minute, he apparently decided that he couldn't let it go out on this note--impressionistic, hopeful but also a little sad and resigned, bittersweet, dissipating into the ether. I think he came up with a nice solution. Here is the benediction at the end of the show, but if you stick around, there's an encore.
In A Future Age - Well summed up by you folks. It does feel like a winding down of the record... or come full circle? At any rate, I like the comments I've read as it being a bridge between Being There and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
As for the 23 seconds of silence (the royalties which are dutifully distributed by BMI) and then the hidden track: I’ve generally had a 5 or 10 cd-changer (?) so there wasn’t any chance of me jumping up to physically stop the CD player. Of course, it went into silent mode and then started up again. It is possible that initially I thought it was the next cd in the queue. Or even the radio (if in the car). I can’t remember now.
23 SECONDS OF SILENCETITLE TITLE DETAIL BMI Work # 28777347 ISWC # T-926930295-6 Total Controlled by BMI: 100.00% SONGWRITER/COMPOSER CURRENT AFFILIATION CAE/IPI # TWEEDY JEFFREY SCOT BMI 233292781 PUBLISHERS CURRENT AFFILIATION CAE/IPI # WORDS AMPERSAND MUSIC BMI
Even if it was all his idea, some of the others must have thought that it would've been nice of him to give the full band a cut there.
Personally, I doubt Tweedy’s even aware. As an aside: Kot book, p. 168...(Tweedy) “diverted a percentage of (songwriting royalty) income to the other band members, whether they contributed to the songwriting or not.”
Summerteeth- this one’s a sleeper. Starts off like a summery Being There outtake with a nice country soul lead line. Then it the arrangement gets denser and denser. I love the backing vocals and the crazy bridge. Future Age - a nice closer to the album. And who knew that that little lofi synth at the end was a harbinger if what was to come next? As for 23 seconds... this qualifies Candyfloss as a hidden track in true 90s CD fashion. This was done lots in those days. The US release of Blur’s second album had 60 or 70 blank tracks before reaching the hidden bonus tracks. Even more annoying was the long single track with the last song, silence and then the hidden track (like Red House Painters’ Ocean Beach).
Yes. The "hidden" track didn't bother me, nor a little bit of silence (but 30 seconds is enough); but to connect it to another track is criminal.
You can pause for 23 seconds of silence before you play today's track if you like. Candyfloss In the comments of the YouTube video I snagged for this song, 'Candyfloss' is compared to the Beach Boys, Elvis Costello and Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd. I can also hear '60s sunshine pop, the Monkees, even the Banana Splits! This would sound pretty well in place on '60s AM radio, though it does have that slightly odd twist to it that suggests Syd. I like this track. I think it is strong enough to have been included in the track listing proper, rather than kind of tacked on at the end. Strong hook and the lyrics are pretty interesting. "She's a safe cracker / She kissed me once and then broke in" as a comparison for getting into his heart. And I do love "I live my life like I wasn't invited." It is very Jeff Tweedy in the lyrics, I think. Doubts and insecurities folded into palpable and genuine love. That's Jeff, alright! This is the final track we'll be devoting a day to for Summerteeth. If you'd like to comment on the Shot in the Arm remix, you can do that today too (I prefer the original version from earlier). You can also share your thoughts on the album as a whole and give wrap-up thoughts on the era! I'll be posting my own summary and track ranking later this morning.
Elvis Wilcostello returns !! Jeff mimics Declan’s singing and phrasing, and the band deliberately treats the song like it’s an Armed Force outtake. The rhythm section, the Attractions-like organ, even the guitar solo, this is pure pastiche. Then there’s the Arnold Layne Floydian psychedelic bridge, before the carousel organ gives the second half of the song a Beach Boy-ish California Girls/Wouldn’t It Be Nice flavor (or is it another Mighty Like A Rose Costello wink ?). In any case, these YouTube comments were right : it is definitely a “spot your influence” kind of track. Jay Bennett’s talents tended to be referential, as we’ve just revisited these last two weeks, tirelessly assembling myriads of bits and pieces from all around the musical map like a mad professor (by the way, kudos to you, @Rockford & Roll , for your NRBQ Summer Teeth catch, the other day !). In 1999, rock music was coming full circle, and for many bands, Wilco included, the music they made worked as a statement about the music they loved. The immense merit of Jeff & co. was to break free of this approach in their following records, especially as Jay’s influence started to recede (after Mermaid Avenue vol.2, that is). Of course, one can still spot a few nods to older bands on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, A Ghost Is Born and thereafter, but it can be argued that the “encyclopedia of pop music styles” tendency that is very much a part of Being There’s, Mermaid Avenue Vol.1’s and Summerteeth’s DNA was dismissed in most of their best subsequent work, in favor of a patient exploration of a pure Wilco sound. As a fan, I was happy to embrace this evolution. I entered the Wilco orbit because I loved the music they tried to emulate (and Candyfloss is a case in point). But then, they were good enough to lure me into a musical world almost entirely their own.
Candyfloss: Tweedy/Bennett. I do think it should have been placed as originally planned in the track list. Per Kot book, this track was once intended as “the album’s centerpiece, but as the songs got more dire, ‘Candyfloss’ stuck out like a sugarcoated imposter.” I’m certain I’ve read somewhere (and I can’t find it now) that Bennett was especially unhappy with the song being buried like it was. Anyway, I like it now as it is upbeat and sounds 60s summer AM radio-ish.
Wilco A.M.-YHF Playlist: (Summerteeth additions) Can’t Stand It She’s A Jar A Shot In the Arm We’re Just Friends How To Fight Loneliness Via Chicago ELT
Candyfloss is great, and I think I prefer the remix of Shot in the Arm to the one earlier in the album. I wonder what their thinking was of including two mixes of the same song on the same album.
Candyfloss wonderful dumb pop 5/5. That is what is so great about Wilco, they choose many different styles and nail them all. A Shot in the Arm remix is pointless to me and, I agree, inferior.
Candyfloss - Such a gem and to be a hidden track makes it that much more fun! I love @Parachute Woman's take on this and especially the Banana Splits shout out. Can I get a Josie & The Pussycats reference at some point? I am a sucker for spotting influences and thanks to @Fortuleo for all the great summaries.
