For a little fun, this is a video the band was really into at the time of the Whole Love. There’s a snippet of it in the Dawned on Me video and Jeff mentions it in his memoir: As for Whole Love (the song), it’s great. One of the best. Sounds like Wilco past and future all in one.
"Whole Love"- Great title track and I think it shares something in common with Wilco (the Song). Both songs have that carefree swing and make you forget your troubles for a few minutes. I think this should have been the last song on the album. It seems to tie everything up about this record and would have been a nice little jaunty tune after the closing epic. This will become an increasingly difficult song for Jeff to sing live. In some of the live clips he always smiles and looks around at the other members when he tries to hit all these high notes. Is this the highest singing he has ever attempted on record? Nice call on the "Feelin' Groovy" bounce of the song. Also, that entire lost Kinks album is phenomenal. Wilco doesn't often have a title track, but when they do, they make sure it's a great one and says everything you need to know about what kind of album you are in for. Much love for "Whole Love". 4.5/5
Good point about difficulty singing this one live. When they released the alternate version of ELT this week, I got my answer as to why they rarely do this one live (a song that I really love, especially the piano octaves)... again hard to sing. Lots of higher pitched sustained notes.
Jeff had a point when he said that people hailed Wilco's "return to experimental music" only because the album started with a callback to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Really, a lot of the record is closer to Summerteeth, which pushed the envelope in its own way, but of course it's more poppy. It's interesting that the lyrics to "Whole Love" paint a picture of a stormy relationship; Jeff even casts himself as a "cold captain tied to the mast." He refers to attacking marigolds and a black bed of roses, perhaps buried memories ("I'm going to bring them all back with hypnosis"), and recalls "when you get mad" and getting punched in the nose (figuratively, perhaps). He considers himself "a spirit dove, I'm looking for your love," relatively simple, he doesn't overreact, and usually he can't even tell for sure when things are wrong, but he hopes to know when the storm has passed and that he can tell when it's time to extend the olive branch and show his whole love again. Reminds me of U2's "Sweetest Thing." Perhaps Jeff and Bono could get together and compare battle scars. And yet, just listening to the music, you'd think that he's just kickin' down the cobblestones, all is groovy. This would've worked as the album opener, and I also like it in the middle, as on the vinyl release, but it does pair well with "One Sunday Morning" at the end, musically. I'll have to think about how they might link thematically. I wouldn't want to put this after "One Sunday Morning," though. Nothing should follow that song (it was a mistake to tack a bonus track onto the end of the LP). Anything coming after it would feel like an anticlimax.
“The Whole Love” is signature Wilco. Catchy, bouncy, shimmering in spots, and allowed Jeff to show off his falsetto. It also serves as one of the great title songs—The Whole Love indeed. 5/5
The beginning of "Whole Love" always reminds me of Bob Dylan's version of "Corrina, Corrina". This is a strong track with an effervescent melody and some interesting guitar work. Almost Jerry Garcia-like in places. The lyrics aren't anything super special - just another love song (I wish Tweedy would write more about other subjects), but it is a warm and tender evocation of commitment and devotion. A positive song that has an uplifting vibe. It's a nice lead-in to one of their all-time masterpieces to finish the album.
I couldn't have timed this better if I'd tried. It's Sunday morning and... One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley's Boyfriend) Jeff Tweedy: vocals, acoustic guitar Nels Cline: electric guitar Pat Sansone: piano, glockenspiel, vibraphone, acoustic guitar Mikael Jorgensen: wavetable scrubbing John Stirratt: bass Glenn Kotche: drums, percussion The album concludes with the 12 minute 'One Sunday Morning' (which is even a little bit longer on the vinyl version). The story of its recording, as told by Nels Cline, reminds me of the creation of 'Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands.' Nels said, "Nobody knew how long that was going to go. Jeff just kept playing and singing--and that's what's on the record, basically. Jeff loved the feel of it and asked us to refine it a bit. Even after trying some other guitar things, most of what's from me there is the original demo, including the clams. It's so quiet, and I don't know that Jeff had all the lyrics done. A song like that has a certain raw freshness." Just like with Dylan, the musicians just kept right on playing as the songwriter continued to add verse after verse and keep the song running. The result is an incredibly special, deeply poignant song that reflects on religion, family relationships, our place in the grand scheme of things...some pretty big topics, but woven through with such intimacy. It's just the perspective of this one little person who realizes how small they are. Jane Smiley is a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist. I read her novel A Thousand Acres when I was in high school. Her boyfriend did indeed have a long conversation with Jeff regarding religion. Jeff said, "It has virtually nothing to do with Jane Smiley, but I do absolutely know her boyfriend as an acquaintance and as somebody who I enjoyed my time with, in particular one conversation we had. Mostly what I was getting at in the lyrics was to try and illustrate what I felt was poignant about that conversation, without getting into any specifics. But no, he's not the condemning figure, and he's actually a very warm and generous-spirited guy. I really loved hanging out with him." 'One Sunday Morning' is beautiful. It has never felt like twelve minutes to me. It creates an extremely palpable mood, one that I am very happy to sink in to. Sometimes I'll follow one particular instrument throughout the song to hear how the player evolved things over the course of the twelve minutes. The piano is the major highlight for me (go Pat) but the guitars, the percussion...every piece is so lovingly crafted. Mike does 'wavetable scrubbing' on this song, which I tried to Google but the information kind of went over my head. It's basically something to do with synths and sampling, I guess. The lyrics are a thoughtful rumination that weaves in strong Christian imagery and how Jeff (and others) have grappled with spirituality in the modern world. We've talked a little bit in this thread about Jeff's religious perspective (and he has now converted to Judaism) but this is an interesting glimpse into some of his thoughts. "I miss being told how to live" and "I fell in love with the burden holding me down" seem to be important lines here. Not to mention "I said it's your God I don't believe in." I'm a devoted Christian myself, but I find it very interesting to hear any sorts of intelligent discussions about faith. This is an excellent conclusion to the album. I think Jeff writes about quite a wide variety of subjects, One Sunday Morning case in point. Identity, religion, mental health, communication, modern society, storytelling songs, drug use and addiction, the power and pains of music and music-making...and yes, love songs. But love songs can be brilliant, especially when (as with Jeff Tweedy) they track the story and history of a real life relationship and the obstacles it overcomes. The Whole Love Album Thoughts This is an excellent album full of amazing collaborations between the band members, typically excellent songwriting from Jeff Tweedy and a vibrant sense of creativity and imagination that keeps it interesting and fresh throughout the running time. It features some of the band's most wonderfully catchy songs ever, as well as a number of gorgeous songs with thoughtful, adult lyrics. The arrangements are superb and several of the songs on the album (Black Moon, Sunloathe) proved to be true 'growers' the more I paid attention to them and allowed them to cast their spells on me. This was the third album made by this line-up and it shows in how comfortable they are with one another and how confident they are in their abilities. When it came out it proved to me again that Wilco is the greatest band in the world right now. Ranking: 01. Whole Love (A+) 02. Art of Almost (A+) 03. Black Moon (A+) 04. I Might (A) 05. Dawned on Me (A) 06. One Sunday Morning (A) 07. Sunloathe (A) 08. Open Mind (A) 09. Born Alone (A-) 10. Rising Red Lung (A-) 11. Standing O (B) 12. Capitol City (B-) Today is for 'One Sunday Morning' and album wrap-up thoughts. Tomorrow we will do bonus tracks of the era. Then we will divert slightly and tackle Sukirae, the 2014 album by Tweedy, Jeff's band with his son Spencer.
One Sunday Morning, etc: I’ve been struggling with this song, waffling over what to write as I’m sure I’ll be bucking the majority. I first heard this on the Jay Farrar board year-end compilation (put together for whatever year it was that The Whole Love album came out) and was initially drawn in, mesmerized by the hypnotic repetitiveness until I found myself falling asleep. Not good. So all these years later? I was going to write the exact same thing. Sleep-inducing. However...I now find that it is quite good depending on how it is listened to. In other words, the setting is important. Places/Situations where I wouldn’t recommend listening to it: On a long drive. This song will have you asleep at the wheel and in a ditch around minute-seven. Jeff’s vocals: My initial impression wasn’t favorable as he mumbles on and on without any inflection and the only thing I could catch was the occasional “one Sunday morning’ lyric. But there is a drowsy warmth to his vocal that does kinda reflect on it being a lazy Sunday morning kind of a song. And so...here it is another Sunday morning and so I gave it another listen and I suppose I could say things opened up a bit. Today’s take? The lyrics finally began to penetrate and I realized this isn’t some lazy Sunday morning song. Instead it’s dark. Did the narrator’s son die? So the narrator turns away from God? I’m not sure but find it rather unsettling. “I fell in love with the burden...holding me down.” I do like the little runs from the piano and the bass and the full band noodling around near the end. Ultimately, no, I think I’ll keep this off of my playlist even though I concede that in the right frame of mind it can be an intense listening experience. The Whole Love playlist additions: I Might Dawned On Me Black Moon Born Alone Capitol City
In my opinion, this song has Jeff’s best singing in years, at least since Either Way. Very close, very warm, very focused, with careful phrasing and thoughtful delivery, like he's whispering something very heartfelt directly into our ears. I read somewhere that the lyrics are about a righteous religious father who's just died. Feeling both relief and guilt, his son is left to ponder what he's lost and what he's discovered about himself in the process… I like those words, I do think their imagery is powerful (if a little cryptic), but I also found Jane Smiley’s dismissive comments very funny. She said something like “I don’t understand the song (…) but people seem to like it, especially the music”. Ahahah, this is bitchy, right ? This piece is a lesson in time-framing in a song. It never feels long, the lyrics themselves are quite concise, ten very short 20 words verses, each one of them filling up almost 40 seconds of song space, a trick that is, I think, unprecedented in pop. It blurs the notion of time, it’s always balanced, extremely well structured, even more so in the (even better) LP version, where the coda gets an extra 2mn (a coda to a coda ?). This two parts instrumental section starts like a dead end, like it's very very late and the conversation can't go anywhere anymore, it almost stops, then it starts again, almost upbeat and sunny, like a household coming back to life after a long long party night. You almost get the feeling that the musicians stopped playing, got a few hours sleep, then came back to their instruments for a new day of music (as I understand it, that'd be the Sunday morning of the title). The fact that it’s a first take, a first go-through really, with the guys following Jeff's lead while improvising, says a lot about this band’s genius. I'm convinced it's the main reason why it's so effective and enveloping. There’s nothing virtuosic here, just tasteful listening to each other. We're invited to hear them absorbing the song, allowing it to sink in. Each time I listen to it, I marvel at how they manage to reach out to the listener, while hearing the song for the first time as they play it.
My original missive (written up yesterday) compared this song to Dylan’s Brownsville Girl. Unfavorably (as I hang on every word of the Dylan song, wanting to know what happens next). But I deleted that part. Anyway, just saying that we both thought ‘Dylan.’
Didn't like Sunday Morning at first - just droned on, with zero change for 12 minutes - seemed monotonous. But the more I listened to it, the more it opened up and got more interesting. Great track to end the album on (or second to last for the vinyl). The first show I saw on this tour they opened their set with this song, which is pure balls.
Catching up from yesterday, I llike the almost-title-track - as has already been said, it's a fun, bouncy piece of music. And then we get to One Sunday Morning, one of the most serious songs in the band's catalog. It sounds simple but there's actually a fair amount going on musically, with little variations all over the place, and it makes for a fascinating listen. It's clearly a rumination on religion, particulary Christianity, but I'm still absorbing it all these years later. It doesn't seem anything like 12 minutes long, and I can't imagine anything following it. I'm happy to have the bonus songs but they certainly don't belong after this. It's also a gutsy song with which to open a concert, like the Red Rocks show I saw on this tour. But Wilco has never stuck to the start-the-show-with-a-rocking-number formula.
Figure out the riff on guitar and sit back and play. It’s like a mantra. One of my favorite Jeff Tweedy acoustic guitar figures, if not the most favorite.
By the time the Dylan song was over, she was "Brownsville Hag." I wouldn't say I hang on every word with that song, but the melody is so gentle and rolling that you're inclined to amble along with it. Same can be said for "One Sunday Morning" ... although I think seven minutes would have got the point across! Dylan has a whole cache of these double-digit time length rambling odes, even on his last album, which I'm assuming is his last album. Mixed emotions about The Whole Love. I can't help but think if Wilco hadn't laid the groundwork with the excellent albums up through SBS, this album would have went right by me. It's that feeling of being halfway there that I've referenced a few times. The melodies aren't as strong. I don't think they're capable of putting out a bad song, but it felt like their ability to put out undisputaby great material was waning. Two or three tracks, as opposed to much of an album. I'm not re-hearing many of these tracks that have fallen by the wayside for me and thinking, "Man, I was so wrong the first time around!" The reaction is almost always the same: "Good, solid, professional-sounding track by a band that knows what it's doing." But there's just something missing for the whole album that was surely there on albums like YHF or SBS.
One Sunday Morning... quite possibly my favourite Wilco song. I like music that draws me into a trance, likely because it helps me focus, so I’ve listened to this one many times on a long drive. I get that not everyone has the same reaction, so turn this one off on the road if it puts you to sleep. The lyrics are wonderful, even if they are describing someone rejecting their parents’ Christian faith. As a Christian myself, that doesn’t really bother me. I appreciate the brutal honesty of the song. It’s staring the big questions right in the face... the burden of religion... the importance of finding truth for yourself , rather than just accepting what you’ve been handed. While I may have a different conclusion than the narrator, I can deeply identify with breaking from the tradition you’re raised in and forging your own path. What else are we supposed to do with the life we have?!? It’s also a great closer, and fits nicely with Everlasting Everything and On and On and On, all of which are reflections in the eternal, with different lenses. As for the music, the chemistry of the band is so apparent here. For me, the highlight are the intertwining loops made by Mikael and Nels. They take a droning folk song and give it a modern edge. But everyone’s really on fire here, each giving everyone the space they need and giving this song the air it needs to breathe.
The Whole Love is a solid album. Going through track by track made me realize why I never think of it as great... the song order! Here are a few thoughts: Art of Almost isn’t I Am Trying or Misunderstood. It’s Spiders or Impossible Germany. Shouldn’t be the opener. There’s a hodgepodge of good but not great songs smushed together about 3/4 of the way through. That part always feels like a dip. Interspersing them would give a better, more eclectic feel to the album Sunloathe is a weird song that doesn’t really fit anywhere, but it’s grown on me in the past week Whole Love would be better upfront I don’t usually retrack albums, but I played with this one and found I love it top to bottom. For anyone interested, here’s how I reordered it (I’ll concede that Black Moon/Red Lung Rising back to back wont suit everyone, but they flow right into one another and Jeff will use that trick on Star Wars and Warm). https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaM13yQDhPcfL4PHhmLGK8legLX5T8hcd
Can someone suggest a good Wilco album for someone who is less interested in alt-country and more melodic mainstream albums if that exists?
"One Sunday Morning"- What a glorious piece of music and along with "Reservations" it's the best closing song they have ever done. Although, there are a couple other great closing songs ahead of us. A beautiful piece of writing and playing. It really doesn't feel as long as it is. I hang on every verse and it continues to draw me in throughout the entire song. Jeffs' lovely guitar makes this song work extremely well. The ending has many interesting touches and almost starts to sound like The Grateful Dead with the Jerry like guitar licks and the piano. Twelve minutes go by and I already want to listen to it again. It doesn't get much better than this in Wilco land. 5/5 The Whole Love is a return to form after they started to slowly drift away from me on the last two albums. Even though I like most of those records, this one made me love them again. Going through this thread I realize I like this album more than I thought. I would have said I preferred every album that comes after it, but now I am not so sure. This is such a strong album and I don't dislike anything on it. A couple records are so close that it will be nearly impossible to rank the albums when this is all over. My ranking for the songs goes like this: 1. One Sunday Morning 5/5 2. I Might 5/5 3. Black Moon 5/5 4. Born Alone 4.5/5 5. Art Of Almost 4.5/5 6. Whole Love 4.5/5 7. Sunloathe 4.5/5 8. Rising Red Lung 4/5 9. Dawned on Me 4/5 10. Open Mind 4/5 11. Standing O 3.5/5 12. Capitol City 3.5/5
I’d suggest using the table of contents that Mark posted on post #5945 (p.238) and at least click on each thread introduction by our esteemed OP who provides an excellent overview of each album. That’ll give a quick, concise overview for you.
Agree with your assessment. It is also in my top 5 Wilco songs. I first heard it on the radio while I was driving to a Bull Moose store to get it. I had to pull over to the side of the road, it was hitting me that good. Wonderful longer version on the vinyl edition.
The problem you’ll have is that they started with Americana and went toward more experimental alt influences after that. Never really hit the mainstream down the middle. That said, you might consider Summerteeth, The Whole Love or maybe even Sky Blue Sky.
With "One Sunday Morning" Wilco has created the world's first perpetual motion machine. Each instrument, each rhythm, each melody propels the song forward endlessly. As a listener I would be just fine if it never ended. They have created many damn fine songs, but none better than this. It feels at once casually improvised yet like deceptively intricate. If we ever send another album out to the stars on a spaceship, "One Sunday Morning" has my vote as a passenger. Lyrically it speaks to what it is to be human. We believe in God, yet we do not believe in God. What we expect of each other is too much yet not enough. The narratives we relate are ours alone yet we all share this same human condition. Brilliant song. 5/5
