Now we’re into Jeff’s new way of writing songs. With Jay he was workshopping a lot of conventional songs. Looking at what got dropped from Yankee, he seemed to be frustrated with that. Now he’s writing a song himself and trying to get that band to dissociate the song from its original source and create something new. From everything I’ve read, they haven’t really shifted since. In some ways what Jay has said - e.g., Losing Ken was losing the soul of the band - is true as the songwriting falls solely on Jeff so it’s very much his band. On the other hand, what John has said - e.g., the band became really democratic - is true too, as the band dictates which of Jeff’s songs become Wilco songs and how they will sound.
And all the tracks have different influences. This track sounds like Beach Boys in the verses and Klaatu in the chorus. I'm sure Wilco had a blast on this side project, particularly John Stirratt as this sort of 70ish pop was right up his alley. Jeff could take a load off and just play on tracks that covered the same ground Wilco had in the past few years. Maybe not as trippy as YHF and more like Summerteeth, but I'm sure Scott McCaughey was pleased with the results:
The wiki write-up on The Minus 5 is fascinating. I found this: On January 9, 2000 The Minus 5 played a secret show at Lounge Ax in Chicago, opening for Wilco (billed as "Summer Teeth") for 300 lucky fans. This was a farewell gig as the beloved Lincoln Park venue would shut its doors just one week later. For this gig the Minus 5 was just McCaughey fronting Wilco, with frontman Jeff Tweedy playing bass. The group raced through a handful of brand-new, unrehearsed songs alongside covers of influences as diverse as Mott The Hoople, Johnny Cash and Neutral Milk Hotel.[26]
Another lineup addition around this time was Mikael Jorgensen, who joined the group in 2002 to help with the "bleeps and bloops" of YHF on tour. He was an engineer on Down With Wilco album...He would significantly contribute to the sound of AGIB and if I remember correctly from the Wilco Book, I think he produced the Fundamentals sessions that was mentioned a few posts ago.
"Woodgrain" is where the winning streak ends. There's not much to recommend this track, lyrically or musically. To be honest, I'm surprised they've ever played it live, although I suppose they were forced to during that one stand of shows where they promised to play every officially released song in their catalog (did they miss any?).
Below is a podcast that is starting up by a member on a Wilco forum/fan-site: Alpha Bravo Charlie | The Alphabetical Wilco | Wilco Songs Examined In Alphabetical Order
Next: A Magazine Called Sunset This is the first song on the More Like the Moon EP that I think could have gone onto an album just as it is. It feels like something from the Summerteeth era and I actually like it better than some of the songs on that album. Really excellent drumming, a great use of what I guess is the 'strings' setting on a synth, chiming vibes, a bizarre little instrumental break and an extremely catchy vocal melody. This one is going to be in my head all morning. I don't really get much out of the lyrics but musically this is simply a really good pop song. Could someone more knowledgeable than me fill in the blanks on when this was recorded and who plays on it? I get kind of confused with where each of these EP tracks came from...
This is a nice song and it goes rather nice with A Magazine Called Sunset. I’m adding it into my folder with the More Like The Moon EP, as well as Loose Fur’s “Laminated Cat”. I really need to see if I can take some time and sort out my mess of a folder with all these YHF demos now.....
I posted this when we began the YHF discussion , but it addresses the timeline question so I’ll paste again: Possibly Originally Considered 10-Song YHF Track List (based on Kot book, p. 187) (sequencing undetermined): Magazine Called Sunset Not For The Season Kamera Alone (later titled Shakin’ Sugar) Nothing Up My Sleeve I Am Trying To Break Your Heart Reservations Ashes Of American Flags Poor Places Radio Cure Greg Kot says that the (above) first five were ready to go while Ken Coomer was still in the band. The latter five, beginning from I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, were “not ready.” Ken Coomer is listed as an additional musician in the liner notes. Is he playing drums on Kamera? On any other song? (Perhaps on Magazine Called Sunset on More For the Moon EP?)
A Magazine Called Sunset: Tweedy/Bennett. I agree with Jay Bennett who referred to this song as catchy and melodic. He was disappointed that it (along with Cars Can’t Escape) didn’t make the YHF track list.
What a superb pop tune! This definitely bears the Jay Bennett’s touch. It sounds like another costellian nugget à la Candyfloss, bathed in Mellotron but without the crazy overdubs. Besides, it’s still in the demo stage, isn't it ? As much as Glenn (?) is trying to drive the song along with superb fills, he struggles a bit behind it, and it’s like they haven’t yet clearly decided that the opening “there’s a magazine called sunset” bit is indeed the chorus and should be treated as such. Still, it’s one of the most straightforward things they’d done since A.M. and shows what a straight pop follow-up to Summerteeth could’ve sounded like… I’ve heard live versions that really soar in a beautiful way. Especially when they up the tempo like in this (crappy sounding but very exciting) 2012 video.
I would change "could" to "should" in your review. This could have easily been sequenced in as one of the lighter pop moments. My favorite track from the YHF era. I don't know if there were any production touch-ups after he left, but Jay's noted as co-songwriter and his production style is all over the track. I particularly enjoy the Jay & the Americans sounding xylophone (?) riff that runs throughout the song. Just a perfect little pop song that everything goes right on. I would guess it was shelved eventually as too Jay/Summerteeth in spirit. Another great touch: those breathy/phased vocals at the start of the track. I know that's a send-up of those cliched 80s backing vocals that were a hallmark of 80s pop. Then I thought, "Let me find some examples of those vocals." At first I thought "Only You" by the Flying Pickets, but the vocals on that track don't have this effect. For the life of me, I couldn't find one track featuring that effect (despite knowing this exact effect they're mimicking). Does anyone have good examples of these backing vocals on other tracks?
A Magazine Called Sunset seems like a simple track relative to some of the other songs from the era, although there's actually a fair amount going on. While this production suits it and I think it's a fine song, I'm not sure where it would have fit on YHF. I'm glad it's on this EP.
"A Magazine Called Sunset" is one of my favorite outtakes from this period. Since I never figured out anything about the EP, and never had it, I think the first time I ever heard this song was off of the "Engineer's Demo" bootleg. I later got it, of course off of Alpha Mike Foxtrot. Its an incredible catchy song/earworm (like @Parachute Woman I will have this in my head all day). It's interesting to me to speculate how this would have fit on the record. The existing version seems more Summerteeth to me than YHF. I wonder how it would have appeared in a more "deconstructed" version on the record. But its a great song.
After the YHF release, this was the most mythical Wilco outtake of them all (it was featured in both the "demos" and "engineer demos" sets, in mostly the same versions, except the drums seem to have been replaced). In a lot of press coverage, when we’d read about those “hit singles” and “pop melodies” that were left off the LP, Magazine Called Sunset was named every single time. (Note : in one piece, Hummingbird was also cited as one of the “could’ve been pop hits” favored by Reprise but discarded by the band!! I can’t remember in which… magazine it was – maybe Mojo?). Ultimately, on the EP, Magazine is like an island of how things used to be (or could’ve been if they'd decided to carry on in their Summerteeth mood), a lost sheep placed in the middle of tracks that deliberately drift away from that sound. Which only enhances the nostalgic tone of the lyrics and melody. There’s a sense of something lost. And the song is that thing itself.
A Magazine Called Sunset Definitely a brilliant Jeff/Jay collaboration that would’ve been excellent on Summerteeth but fell victim to the personnel shuffles and Tweedy’s changing goals. I can’t quite figure out what the lyrics are about, they get the job done impressionistically. That’s quite an interesting list, as you can see what Tweedy decided upon was to break from the type of pop they’d been recording circa Summerteeth and to go in the eventual direction of what ended up on YHF. “Poor Places” ended up with a big rearrangement from its demo as a result, and a few of the catchier upbeat songs like Magazine and Shakin’ Sugar ended up being relegated to non-album status. Tweedy is fortunate in that his songwriting muse gives him plenty of material to work with. He seems to have lots of songs that don’t get used and it’s no big deal to him. Other bands have virtually no non-album tracks because every scrap they come up with gets used for the albums.
Can't put my finger on it, but I've definitely heard the melody for Magazine in another song from another band - not sure if that song is older or newer than Wilco's.
In my head, I hear Cheap Trick’s “if you want my love, you’ve got it” when I am mentally replaying “there’s a magazine called sunset”. But that’s just me. I sincerely doubt anyone else is thinking that!
I just stumbled upon this, from The Sun (UK): I’m happy to report that lot of great stuff appears on Alpha Mike Foxtrot, Wilco’s cast-offs putting many a frontline release to shame. “Promising should have been on A.M.,” says Tweedy. “Panthers would have been a nice one and A Magazine Called Sunset. And Cars Can’t Escape is one of our most requested songs for ever.” Which frontman makes an album just for the music?
