On a 42 minute album I’m just gonna make the call and include it in my own track listing. There’s enough room and it was included with the album anyway if you bought it via pre-release.
I tacked "The Thanks I Get" onto Sky Blue Sky in iTunes for the same reason. I'm fairly sure I bought The Album when it came out, but I was unaware of the bonus track. Just like I was unaware of the Sky Blue Sky DVD someone mentioned. Unless it came with the regular album, I don't have it. I have quite a few "lost" DVDs that came with CDs in my CD storage units.
Perhaps this is the point of the album title? It’s the second album by this lineup (which years later is proving to the lineup), but it doesn’t sound like SBS. Instead it sounds like bits and pieces of their whole catalogue... and as the opening track suggests, isn’t that would you should expect from a (or the) Wilco album? I think this theory will hold over the course of the album and into the next as well.
It’s probably some of column A, some of column B. Once they could put this material in their Roadcase releases without paying the label, very little of it actually made it back into set lists. They probably shared publishing rights with the label, which would revert back to the band after a certain number of years. This helps the label recoup the recording budget, but doesn’t tie up the publishing rights indefinitely. By the time the band started selling Roadcase releases, it was 2012. The Album would have been the last Nonesuch release with rights that hadn’t yet reverted back to the band. Sky Blue Sky and Ghost would have reverted back already.
"Bull Black Nova"- Most likely my third favorite song on the album. A song that is in the same vein as "Spiders" and even "Art of Almost". This one feels a little forced and not as good as the other two, but I enjoy it when Wilco gets into this groove. Jeff rarely writes lyrics like this so it's something of an anomaly. I like when they switch it up and take chances and this song fits the bill. A dark murder song set to some tense, paranoid, and dramatic music. I wonder if the lyrics or the music came first? The lyrics would have also worked as a modern folk song and been another song in the long tradition of murder ballads. I understand why this is one of the most played live tunes from the album. It's a great showcase for all of them. Here is a really cool acoustic version for those of you who might not like the album version. 4/5
In my case, I’m doing all this as we go through the albums in this thread. I didn’t buy any Wilco albums after the Billy Bragg collaborations because I had moved on from them for quite a while. However, Alpha Mike Foxtrot has all the extra tracks and Bsides, and reading the info in the liner notes (along with Tweedy’s comments) is illuminating. I’ve been making a “companion album” for each release using a lot of the AMF tracks, but in some cases I’ve also been adding a track here and there into the running order of the actual albums. Keeping all the tracks sequestered in the AMF collection, apart from any context of the original albums or chronology, is not a good way to ever listen to them - in my case. I need them right there next to the albums that they belong to.
I know you’re not addressing this to me but I’ll jump in quickly to say, I doubt it. I think the album title and opening track is all about commercial branding.
I wasn't very familiar with "Dark Neon" until this morning. Was this recorded at the same time? It does sound like they were probably deciding which song to include on the album. They are pretty similar, but they chose the right song. I don't think both songs should be on the album. However, if "Bull Black Nova" was a single this would be the perfect B side.
I should make a huge chronological playlist of every released song, to the extent all the dates can be determined.
Well, I’ll talk about it more with tomorrow’s track, but this was the point where Wilco really became a go-to band in indie (or maybe dad rock) circles in my estimation. They had always been a critical darling and had a consistently growing fan base, but there was a point where the audience at shows was less interested or even aware of new material and went simply because they had a reputation as a solid alternative/indie live band who will deliver a good night out if you want something different to a big pyrotechnic rawk show by whatever nostalgia act is touring at the moment (which is true). But more on that with tomorrow’s song...
Same. A lot of you have talked about how The Album seems to be a recap of all things Wilco. "Wilco (The Song)" revisits the idea that music can be a salve or a haven for you in times of trouble. "One Wing" sounds like quintessential Tweedy, and could've been a highlight of Sky Blue Sky. This one goes back to "Via Chicago" in its theme, and an attempt at creating a building sense of drama, but for me it just fails. I don't get swept up in the emotions of the music or find myself in the narrator's headspace. I just feel irritated about that damn guitar, like an alarm that I can't turn off. And the music never really feels genuinely dark, either. Maybe Jim O'Rourke or another producer could have brought out a darker atmosphere, a sense of paranoia and panic, etc. But the band doesn't pull it off. I hate it.
"Bull Black Nova" is probably the highlight of the album for me (along with "One Wing"). I do think that the live versions I've heard surpass the studio version. The lyrics are definitely a different avenue of exploration for Tweedy, but let's not forget that he also talked about killing or hitting people on earlier albums (in more disturbing fashion for me since those songs were basically about his emotional state, rather than about a fictional character). I think these lyrics are quite interesting and work well with the music to conjure a dark, edgy atmosphere of swirling emotion and disquiet. Tweedy's vocal is slurred, sort of like he was singing it with a couple of marbles in his mouth. His vocal becomes increasingly unhinged as the song proceeds, turning into short screams at the song's climax. Although there are some similarities to "Spiders (Kidsmoke)", I greatly prefer "Bull Black Nova".
My problem with the lyrics is that I had no idea what was being said because I wasn’t drawn in or intrigued enough to listen and follow the storyline. Too busy being overwhelmed and irritated by the sonic assault. It’s a far cry from where I was/could be hanging on every line (like out of Radio King).
Yes, I was thinking about this earlier; I think you could easily lift each track on this album and fit them into one of the previous albums without any disruption. Not sure if this has been mentioned, but Jeff has subsequently said that this the album grew out of the 5 night Chicago residency Wilco did in 2008 where they played their entire back catalogue so, in that context, the fact the album feels like a "recap" or a summation of what's gone before is not surprising.
"Bull Black Nova" has always been one of my favorites. It's good all around in my book, but John's fantastic bass line is what makes the song. It's the one track from the album they've kept in the live show over the years. It's morphed a bit, but the version they played on the last tour was outstanding. Instead of the built up loudness for the final verse, there was an ominous hush behind the vocals, before turning on a dime with the "Pick up" line. If you were lulled into the quietness, the thunderous climax would hit you right in the chest.
I've seen only four shows since Wilco (The Album) was released, and they did "Bull Black Nova" at two of them. I took my young son to the latter, and it was an outdoor show on a freezing night in November. He didn't last too long, but I remember "Bull Black Nova" was the song they were playing as we walked out, and I was kinda bummed to miss the ending. But taking my son to his first concert, and that being Wilco, was totally worth it. I view the lyrics not as from the perspective of a psychopath, but rather someone who murdered unexpectedly or accidentally and then made a series of bad decisions to try to cover it up. I've wondered whether it was inspired by Landry killing Tyra's attacker in season 2 of Friday Night Lights, actually. But Landry drove a Chevy Caprice wagon.
You and I This song is a duet with Canadian singer Feist. Feist and Wilco met at the Grammys in 2008 and realized that they were mutual admirers. Jeff asked if Feist would be interested in collaborating. Here is the result. The song is a gentle love ballad, nothing really offensive about it. I think Leslie and Jeff's voices blend together very well. I was a big fan of Feist around this time with her album The Reminder being one of my favorite albums of my college years. She never made anything that good again, in my opinion. I think it's a sweet song and very melodic. However, it was reacted to with a lot of negativity from the fanbase online. First the Volkswagen commercials and now this? Sell outs! Jeff said, "We literally put fifteen minutes of noise on a record that did not raise an eyebrow, but if you make a pop song with Feist on it, people are going to cry like the sky's falling. It's really going to hurt somebody." I'm with Jeff. I don't really believe in the concept of 'selling out,' especially not with an act like Wilco. I love well-written pop music. But if it gets played in the grocery store or included on a TV soundtrack, that's an immediate turn-off for some. I anticipate that some of you will disagree with me, but I can only write what I feel. I like this song and I think it fits well on the album.
Allow me to say again that I consider Wilco (the album) a fine collection of fine songs. I’ve listened to it endlessly when it was released and I’m a big fan of even some of its most derided tracks (Country Disappeared and I’ll Fight). And I couldn’t care less about the «commercials gate». I’m ok with bands making a living out of their music. No outrage there whatsoever. But You & I never did anything for me. I find it musically uninspired, trite and cheesy, the equivalent of what an ill-advised Jackson Browne/Stevie Nicks duet might’ve sounded like in 1985. To be more precise, the part that I really can’t take is the “Oh I don’t wanna know” bridge, the single worst Jeff Tweedy 30 seconds ever, as far as I’m concerned. I must stress the fact that I think Feist is a fine artist (even though I don’t own any of her records) and that I’m a sucker for good mid-tempo ballads. I mean, my favorite CSNY member is Graham Nash, for god’s sake !! So no, I’m not biased against this song’s musical style, I’m biased against what I see as its musical (lack of) substance. Interestingly, there was another Tweedy/Feist duet just after this one : Broken Heart, a Skip Spence cover (part of Beck’s “Record club”) where their vocal blend is just as erratic and shambolic as Dylan’s & Cash’s on the Travelin' Thru set.
Selling out is just another way, generally speaking, for folks to say "I like your old stuff, better than your new stuff" I have noticed often when bands have hits, it can change their direction, but like Hendrix said "it isn't a crime to be played on a jukebox".
I'm behind, not sure I'll catch up, so You and I This is just one of Wilco's gentle ballad type songs. It bounces along nicely The vocal partnership works well. I think their voices blend well. I think the bridge works well. This still shows the band is writing good melodic tunes. Not sure I consider this particularly commercial for 2008/09
I agree. It's all the more odd if you reflect that they debuted with an album of pop/rock with A.M. 'You & I' is fine, a nice pop song. Nothing I would ever skip over but equally not strong enough to ever want to dig out to specifically play. Here's the full Jeff quote if anyone is interested. Taken from: What Wilco's Jeff Tweedy thinks about what you think about him
My notes on ‘You And I’: little, inoffensive ditty. Not much interest. Again, the first album where I find myself evidently the contrarian. I laugh as I read your words because this album is essentially a clean slate for me, one I know nothing about. Two of my four New Wilco playlist inductees are, yep, Country Disappeared and I’ll Fight!
