More is a good song until it hits the chorus, the chorus turns it into something more. The band sounds like they are having a lot of fun playing these songs. Good stuff. I almost hear a little ELO here and on Random Name Generator, through the menagerie that is 25 years of Wilco. 4.5/5 ps, I suspect one day Wilco might make a flat out crazy album titled, "To All Our Fans Who Hate Wilco."
Well I was the grumpy one moaning about Spencer’s drumming on Sukierae (update: that was a bias carried over from One True Vine... that flabby bass drum pretty much disappears after the first side, so I’ve relaxed a little thanks to this thread). Now it’s my turn to be the positive one and others can be grumpy! More is a fantastic lead tune (I consider EKG an intro) and I’m glad they didn’t jump right to RNG. Again it sets the tone for the album. Yes there’s a glam and Big Star influence on this album, but also a heavy dose of Television weirdness and postmodern deconstruction. I’d argue that’s the point of the throwaway title, Art, and release. This is self-defining Wilco running their own career. In one interview, Jeff said there really wasn’t a point to a label anymore. Likewise, there’s not much point to an album. The industry and their band were at a point where they can just put the music out there and it they can just keep going forward. And so we get a release and instant tour where they play the album straight through, even for a festival audience like Pitchfork. I revisited that show this morning and the band is on fire, and the audience soaks it up. So I think there’s a very valid point that all of the trappings of an album and a label are rather inane. More supports this message. Calling to attention our consumerist desire for more than we need or more than there ever is. It’s a great weird song with a catchy chorus. Also, while it’s built on those same acoustic demos as Sukierae, the outcome is totally different with the band. Glenn and Nels bring a really different and integral dimension to the songs than when it’s Tweedy. Listening to Tweedy live affirms this... with those tracks you get good players emulating Jeff’s style and they get 80-90% of the way there. When it’s a Wilco song, the riffs might be Jeff’s trademark fuzzy harmonized guitar, but then Nels plays Nels all over it making it something different. And let’s just say Glenn’s drums don’t sound flabby. In two days one of my favourite bands gave me a free album and a free high def concert. I say thanks!
"More"- I'm not sure I ever realized how much this song has a Ziggy era Bowie vibe. Thanks to @Fortuleo for pointing it out. I'm hearing that influence loud and clear this morning. What a fantastic song. Its placement and style feels very similar to "I Might", which was also track number two. A nice blast of sunny 70s style glam to kick start the album. How can you not want to sing along? It's an infectious song which makes me smile. I also happen to love the production and the guitar and drum sounds. I am a huge fan of 70s glam like Ziggy and T. Rex, so of course I am very happy with this Wilco direction. 5/5
There's not much More that I could say that's not already been said about More. Fantastic track. Love every second. And leaves you wanting More.
I also think More is an excellent track, and it follows EKG quite well. Others have already talked about it and I don't have much to add so I'll stop here.
I’m with you here. Glam should sound loose, sleazy, degenerate. Sexy. Wilco glam is like an impression of glitter rock in the minds of some music nerds who actually would rather be listening to Wire. I do like the melody and vocal layers in the chorus. I’d enjoy the guitars more if the production/mastering was more lush, but it sounds like a cheap computer job.
More Very cool vibe here, invoking memories of the Beatles White Album filtered thru T-Rex. Thumbs up.
"More..." is sort of a 70s rocker, albeit with an unusual rhythm. It's pretty cool sounding, but ultimately seems rather lightweight. Makes me think of Urge Overkill for some reason.
“EKG” isn’t a song it’s a snippet. “More” goes immediately to its chorus because that’s all it is. Sorry, I’m having the same reaction as when this free download debuted: disdain. (If I was in a better mood at the moment, I'd stay silent.)
So I had Star Wars on yesterday while I tackled some chores out back. First of all, I couldn't believe how fast it was over! A couple of songs stuck with me but much of it just kind of became background music. I'll do some more focused listening as we continue to discuss the record. And, in a nod to our forum discussion I had Electric Warrior on right after.
Star Wars is an interesting album for Wilco... I like Random Name Generator popped up on the iPod the other day .... a very fun song - not a fan of white vinyl... guess I know what I will be listening to this fine Sunday morning...
Random Name Generator Maybe the most popular and enduring track from Star Wars, 'Random Name Generator' is a great rock song in my opinion. It has all the same strong points as 'More' but I think it's an even better song. Super catchy. Great, memorable guitar riff. Cool fuzzy vibes with great work from Nels and Glenn in particular. I actually think that Jeff's 'mumble-sing' style works really well for this song. The way he sings "a random name, a random name generator" is a hook in and of itself. I often walk around with that looping through my head after listening to this song. What are the lyrics about? Heck if I know. They seem like "random" word associations again but that really works with the hook. So playful and fun. The band loves playing this one live and have done so more than 100 times. Jeff said, "Random Name Generator is just such an incredibly fun one. I don't know if there has ever been a song more fun to play live for the band than that song. There's just something about the relentlessness of it. I feel like my heels grow to platform boots and my pants widen to bell bottoms during the course of that song, like a shape shifter or something."
Random Name Generator - This is THE song from the album for me. It's the first track that grabbed me and it still holds sway. When the album came out I played this for a good friend of mine who had "outgrown" Wilco. He couldn't help loving it! It does have a T Rex vibe that's refined by the Wilco touch. So doggone cool.
Random name generator is a simple fiction writing tool to create random character names. I want a name and a newborn child A miracle only ever grows wild It is a book instigator A random name generator Also reminds me of I’m a wheel...
Random Name Generator: This is a song that I’m always thinking...”that’s, that’s...” and I can’t place what riff that’s being played until I pause the song at the right point, before it veers off, and realize that it is Aerosmith’s ‘Walk This Way.” Once it stops driving me nuts I can settle down and enjoy the song. This goes onto the playlist.
AT LAST ! After years and years of trying to write riff driven heavy rock numbers and relegating them as iTunes/EP bonus tracks (Kicking Television, Let’s Not Get Carried Away, Dark Neon, Speak into the Rose, Do the Minimum…), at last Jeff managed to get one in the track-list, his first anthemic punk-rockish song on a LP since… I’m a Wheel, 11 years before ! Except it is far less heavy, punk and energized than any of the above songs ! Beyond the T-Rex pastiche (or homage, or both ?), all the tiny new-wavish noises and sound effects almost make RNG sound like Invisible Touch Genesis at some points (which I’m sure was not intentional). Jeff does his trademark high/low vocals again, or maybe the high part is either Pat or John ? The way Glenn plays along to the riff is very effective. Ultimately, this is mainly meant to be a cool live song, in which Pat Sansone gets the opportunity to showcase his whole panoply of (slightly annoying) guitar-god moves (which are nothing like Joe Perry's… But still, very nice call by @Zeki !). But isn't it what they always were, music nerds ? I have to admit that except for the most blatant "pastiches" (Monday, Pieholden Suite, You Never Know and the likes), I never really suspected it before we started this thread's journey, joining forces to pinpoint influences everywhere in a thorough way. Prior to that, I always thought they were instinctive rock'n'roll kids turned scholars and experimentalists, but it's pretty clear to me now they were music nerds from the get go. This discovery has changed my appreciation of the band's evolution, Mach 2 does not seem that different from Mach 1 now in that respect…
A great song to represent the album and what they were looking to do - maybe should have been the leadoff track? I'm not going to drive it into the ground, but I can only think how much better it would sound without any filters or audio treatments on Jeff's microphone? I can hear this song in his previous more "clean" voice, and it would have added even more of a spark to the track. Actually, you can hear little of that in the live version here, but part of the issue with his "new" way of singing simply seems to be doing vocals in a lower register. I'm reminded of that weird more baritone voice David Bowie used on a track like "China Girl" (generally when he was trying to sound like Iggy Pop!). The point being Bowie had an array of vocal styles he employed to great effect ... much like Jeff once did:
RNG Well that was a pleasant blast! Totally brand new song/album to me and I like both of the songs so far. Nice buildup of noise throughout the track. This one manages to actually sound COOL. They were definitely wearing their hipster sunglasses indoors when they recorded it.
Goes without saying that RNG is awesome. Of all the weird rock b-sides @Fortuleo mentions, this one is head and shoulders the best. In concert some audiences have begun singing along the riff which is awesome (a similar thing with Spiders in recent years).
Good review overall, but I still don’t get the dad rock narrative: “Fans who lamented Wilco’s mellow retreat to Gordon Lightfoot territory in the late aughts should take notice. If 2011’s The Whole Love gently shook Wilco out of its hunky-dory dad rock slumber, Star Warskicks up some serious musical dirt,” Sky Blue Sky is a definite shift into folky mellowness, but did anyone listen to WTA? It’s got Bull Black Nova, which to this date remains the most disturbing thing in their catalogue. I’d argue the dad rock thing really only applies to SBS and that was a deliberate shift for that album.
"Random Name Generator"- Nothing here not to like. A great song and cool riff. It's as if Thin Lizzy is filtered through some glam and post punk. Even with the 70s influences, it's still pretty original. Nobody sounds quite like this now or then. This song is dynamite and deserves to be played at maximum volume! 5/5
"Random Name Generator" is decent. A bit dense sounding. "I kind of like it when I make you cry." That's just mean, Jeff. So begins Jeff's controversial "deconstructing Wilco" period, "lowering expectations" period. Like you don't even have to say, "I don't get the name Star Wars and the white cat," because there's nothing to get, right? The cat picture was part of a calendar in the Loft, Jeff is the Darth Vader of the group . . .
Thank you for saying this. I won't lie. I'm pretty burned out on every single song being matched up with myriad artists from the past. I know you guys are having fun with that, but I think Wilco stands up just fine on their own and that's getting lost a little bit. For me. Please keep posting whatever you like. I'm saying this as a thread participant and fan, not the host.
