"Either Way" is a wonderful song and it was quite a daring move to place this as the album opener. I enjoyed Sky Blue Sky from the outset. It seemed like the most unencumbered, unfussed-over Wilco album since A.M. It was sort of a relief to feel that, now that the band had attained a level of comfort and success and that Tweedy had conquered his addiction, they could produce music as lovely and potent as this. I played the album constantly at the time and it was a regular companion on camping and hiking trips in the Rockies. I haven't listened to it in a few years now so it will be fun rekindling my relationship with these songs. I see Sky Blue Sky as the calm after the storm and, to my mind, the only way someone can say that they prefer the storm is if they've never actually experienced any of them. The zen state of the lyric in "Either Way" was a very hard won emotional place for Tweedy, and the calmness and, yes, serenity that seeps from this song is like a cool cloth on a fevered brow. The instrumentation here is gorgeous, particularly the organ and the piano - a combination that always brings a smile to me when I hear it. Nels' guitar is just right for the song. This is one of my favorite Wilco album openers.
Sky Blue Sky is still one of my favorite Wilco records. Probably tops for sentimental reasons. It came along at a time that it just clicked with me and my family (my wife loves this record and my kids were at that middle-school age where they connected with a lot of the music played around the house and on road trips, my kids still ask to hear it when they come over). After the noise and dissonance on the last two albums, this one is warm, simple and direct. The melodies don't have to fight to be heard and they are gorgeous. Like breaking out or away from darkness or surfacing from troubled waters. As for Either Way, it's a tremendous opener and lets the listener know Tweedy and the band are in a new place. I totally get @mark winstanley on the George Benson comparison. Nice call!
Interesting perspective. I can't relate to it specifically but you've stated it well. Your reaction to Sky Blue Sky is the same reaction that a lot of people I used to know had when Summerteeth appeared. I never had the sort of intense reaction that you did, but from my comments here about Summerteeth, it should be clear that I was NOT on board with the change in musical direction that occurred when that album came out. I also did NOT like Tweedy's shift to a more random, impenetrable style of lyric writing. I've still never warmed up to Summerteeth and, for me, it remains the black sheep in the Wilco catalog. It sounds like Sky Blue Sky plays a similar role for you. For me, SBS was a welcome return to the original Wilco I first loved, even though it sounds very different from A.M. or Being There. A lot of the pretense was gone (and I think a certain breed of music "critics" prefers that type of pretense). That's not to say it was all a bad thing by any means - I hold up Yankee Hotel Foxtrot as a masterpiece and A Ghost Is Born as a slightly flawed near-masterpiece. There is an element of pretense in all art. Maybe those albums are like you are when you're a young worker and are trying to impress your bosses. You work crazy hours (for low pay) and go above and beyond the call. Once you've done that and your place in the company is secure, you relax and can be yourself and ease your foot off of the pedal. You return to normal working hours (for better pay) and regain a sense of balance and stability in your life. I kind of see this album as analogous to that. I absolutely welcomed the return of the more straightforward lyrics here. I think Tweedy's writing is at its best when it straddles the line between directness and impressionism. He does this very well on most of YHF and AGIB, I think. SBS definitely has more songs that fall into the "direct" category but also has a few that go, to me, too far into "gibberish" territory, including one that is widely considered a Wilco classic. If I can't devine any meaning from the words, even songs with great and compelling music will fall flat for me to some degree. I also love the more pastoral feel of SBS. It was there in places on the last two albums (although not really at all on Summerteeth) but it's less "distracted" by noise elements here. To me, that pastoral, countryish, languid mood is at the core of the best Wilco music. Despite being from Chicago, they're not an "urban" band. I see them as being similar to My Morning Jacket in that respect.
I think it was a mistake leaving that one off the album, but "The Thanks I Get" is straight-ahead pop rock and including it wouldn't have likely done anything to sway the critics who thought the drone section of "Less Than You Think" was the highlight in the Wilco catalog. If Sky Blue Sky was just another instance of Tweedy the contrarian doing his best to subvert the expectations of his (now newfound) audience of "indie kids", I have to admit to feeling a bit of schadenfreude at their outraged reactions. As a member of "alt-country nation", I'd been there just 6 or 7 years earlier.
I feel like The Whole Love was the last Wilco album to be treated as an "event release" by the music industry. I do think it's a near masterpiece (more to come on that in a month or so), but there was a lot of attention afforded to it at the time. I feel like Wilco (The Album) was sort of forgotten about rather quickly, not that I would say that it is "overlooked" in terms of being a lost classic or anything. I'm just not familiar with the last three Wilco albums but none of them seemed to grab the music industry headlines, despite their virtues.
Those of us who reflexively avoided paying any attention to Pitchfork because we didn't respect it were thankfully spared ever hearing the term until later on.
I don't think anyone ever thought the drone was a highlight, let alone the highlight. I was definitely a part of the generation that came on board with YHF and liked AGIB and thought Summerteeth was brilliant. Basically, we're looking at Gen X-ers who came up with Wilco and maybe even Uncle Tupelo, verse Millennials, who were old enough for the indie rock boom of the late '90s to about 2009 or so.
This sums it up for me, at that time, but I still haven't relistened for this excellent thread. And, despite that lack of aural nput, I've had "Side With The Seeds," in my head all morning and part of last night. I shall warm to Eat A Peach-style Wilco. (That's an exaggerative joke, please, no one get upset. Gregg Allman, RIP. I saw him at PeachFest in 2015, and I'm very glad I did.)
Critics aside, Thanks I Get was a known song due to it being in a commercial. I was thinking that it would’ve boosted Wilco’s popularity in a more mainstream way had the track been included. Many folks would’ve bought the album i bet just because of that tune.
(I used to frequent a dive in Tokyo (early 80s) called Eat A Peach. Beer sodden record jackets, customers sat on cushions atop beer crates. Lower level seated dive or six. The ‘Master’ had to crawl through the window to get behind the bar. Great place, records galore. Ah, the days of my youth!). Sorry, back to regular programming.
Not yet the time to talk about the last three Wilco albums but I love how J.T. - despite of being armed with one of the most potent current line-ups out there - chose not to succumb to auto pilot "classic" mode. Technically I guess you could even say he "underused" these guys but creatively his instincts were spot on. The run from "Star Wars" to "Ode To Joy" is foking brilliant. The perfect way out of any potentially looming cul-de-sac. This line-up has probably more gas in the tank than ever.
Yep. That's why I thought it rather funny that those younger "indie rock" (whatever that is) fans were having the exact same reactions to SBS as I did to Summerteeth, having discovered Uncle Tupelo during college and being on board with Wilco from the start. A few years earlier, they were criticizing us older fans for not being able to evolve and, when SBS came out, they found themselves whining that Wilco had evolved! It was kinda beautiful!
The only animus was reflecting back the original contempt that had been aimed at us back in 1999-2002!
Giving the entire album a listen now on headphones and I am realizing how much of it I do like. It has a few slips, and songs I still don't like, but overall not too much to complain about. It's still a record I enjoy. I think at the time I mostly didn't think they needed Nels, and I wasn't crazy about the new direction. It's actually the next album that I have more of a problem with, which also happens to be the only Wilco album I never bought a physical copy of. These threads make you look at some songs from a different perspective and I appreciate all the posts on here. I have been listening to this album for 13 years, but every listen can surprise you. I think it matters when and where you are listening. On my recent road trip I listened to every album in order starting with this one. I found myself wanting to skip many of these songs, but now at home with headphones I am trying to listen with a new set of ears, and with this thread in mind. I was kind of not looking forward to reading or discussing these next two albums, but now I look forward to it.
I’ll just note that while SBS does have a mellow vibe, I still don’t hear Bread or other soft rock influences. To my ears, it always retains an indie edge. If you want to go for Bread, check out John and Pat’s Autumn Defense release of the same year. There’s even jazz flute within the first few seconds, only to break into a bossa nova rhythm: Now that’s soft rock.
Thread guide Introduction and Uncle Tupelo Mar 1995 AM I Must Be High Casino Queen Box Full Of Letters Shouldn't Be Ashamed Pick Up The Change I Thought I Held You That's Not The Issue It's Just That Simple - live Should've Been In Love - live 1995 Passenger Side - live 1996 Dash 7 - live 2010 Blue Eyed Soul Too Far Apart Outtakes Oct 1996 Being There Misunderstood Far Far Away Monday Outtasite (outta mind) Forget The Flowers Red Eyed and Blue I Got You What's The World Got In Store Hotel Arizona Say You Miss Me Sunken Treasure Someday Soon Outta Mind (Outtasite) Someone Else's Song Kingpin (Was I) In Your Dreams Why Would You Wanna Live The Lonely 1 Dreamer In My Dreams Blasting Fonda (outtake?) Live 1996 - televised version Snow Job 97 June 1998 Mermaid Ave (with Billy Bragg) California Stars Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key Birds And Ships Hoodoo Voodoo She Came Along to Me At My Window Sad And Lonely Ingrid Bergman Christ For President I Guess I Planted One By One Eisler On The Go Hesitating Beauty Another Man's Done Gone The Unwelcome Guest March 1999 Summerteeth I Can't Stand It She's A Jar A Shot In The Arm We're Just Friends I'm Always In Love Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway (Again) Pieholden Suite How To Fight Lonliness Via Chicago ELT My Darling When You Wake Up Feeling Old Summer Teeth In A Future Age Candyfloss Interview 1999 May 2000 Mermaid Ave vol 2 Airline To Heaven My Flying Saucer Feed Of Man Hot Rod Hotel I Was Born Secret Of The Sea Stetson Kennedy Remembering the Mountain Bed Blood Of The Lamb Against Th' Law All You Fascists Joe Dimaggio Done It Again Meanest Man Black Wind Blowing Someday, Some Morning, Sometime Mermaid Ave vol 3 Loose Fur Laminated Cat Sept 2001 Yankee Hotel Foxtrot I Am Trying To Break Your Heart Kamera Radio Cure War On War Jesus Etc Ashes Of American Flags Heavy Metal Drummer I'm The Man Who Loves You - live b-side Pot Kettle Black Poor Places Reservations b-side The Good Part Blasting Fonda The Minus 5 2003 More Like The Moon ep Camera Handshake drugs Woodgrain A Magazine Called Sunset Bob Dylan's 49th Beard More Like The Moon June 2004 A Ghost Is Born (inc. Kicking Tv versions) At Least That's What You Said Hell Is Chrome Spiders Muzzle Of Bees Hummingbird Handshake Drugs Wishful thinking Company In My Back I'm A Wheel Theologians Less Than You Think The Late Greats Nov 2005 Kicking Television + some b-sides and oddities March 2006 Loose Fur Born Again In The USA May 2007 Sky Blue Sky Either Way
Next: You Are My Face Written by Jeff Tweedy and Nels Cline Jeff Tweedy: vocals, electric guitar John Stirratt: vocals, bass Glenn Kotche: drums Mikael Jorgensen: piano Nels Cline: lead electric twelve-string guitar Pat Sansone: vocals, acoustic guitar, Hammond A100 organ Jim O'Rourke: feedback This song seems like strong evidence than Wilco had not suddenly decided to make adult contemporary music to be played in Volvos. 'You Are My Face' is a constantly evolving, wonderful song that incorporates all kinds of different sounds and styles. The opening section is sung in close-knit harmony vocals between Jeff, John and Pat. It feels sort of bucolic but also sort of tense, as if you just know that something is going to explode out from there. Once again, this song makes beautiful use of both piano and organ (a sound I just love that is highly indicative of Sky Blue Sky overall, and so warm). And then things escalate into that amazing middle section. The lyrics recall some of the insecurities and doubts Jeff has been writing about for his whole career, but he's never quite sung like this before. I have no idea how this happens All of my maps have been overwrote Happenstance has changed my plans So many times my heart has been outgrown Now everybody's feeling all alone Can't tell you who I am When everybody's feeling all alone Can't tell you who I am He stretches and pushes his voice to it's limits, letting it get husky and strained. It's Jeff doing his soul singer impression and it's one of my favorite ever pieces of singing from him. Meanwhile, Nels contributes some fascinating guitar bits that include both heavy barred chords and more intricate parts. What's the song about? The lyrics are abstract on this one but to me it seems to be about how we are reflected in those who love us (you are my face). I think this one is a total gem and deserves more praise than it gets.
