Cry All Day The popular opening trilogy continues with 'Cry All Day,' the longest song on the album and the only one to crack the four minute mark. Musically, this one might actually be my favorite of those opening songs. I love Glenn on this song. He's not doing anything particularly fancy, I just love the way the drums sound and the way they propel the song forward. In fact, I love how breathless the song feels, moving and moving for the entire running time and somehow picking up in intensity very subtly as it continues. I would describe Jeff's voice on 'Cry All Day' not as mumbly but as smooth. It's a quiet vocal approach, but he's enunciating and he gets some more power in his vocals towards the end ("But you're just as smart as you're blind!") that really lifts things up in a pleasing manner. This is another great song. (And I'm not one who thinks these first three are the best on the album--my two favorites are still to come).
As you might expect from the title, the narrator seems unhappy in Cry All Day. Did he lose a relationship? Is he incapable of having one?It's another largely acoustic song, but musically lively, with a great little melody and enough going on to keep it interesting. I agree with Parachute Woman that the drums drive this one forward; drumming doesn't need to be fancy to be great. We're three for three on this album.
Cry All Day is another wonderful Wilco slow burn, building and building from something slight (a drone strum, almost on a single chord) to become a big layered track. I’ve just listened to this on headphones for the first time, and it’s definitely a sonic stunner, thanks to beautifully nuanced performances and instrumental dynamics. Its solo roots are very much apparent, but it sounds nothing like a Sukierae leftover (even though it was probably written around the same period of time). On the contrary, it's another substantial proof that Schmilco most definitely is a Wilco LP, no matter how it was created. This is a case of the band arrangement being vastly superior to the song itself. Like @Parachute Woman, I love the relentlessness of it all. The song itself is superb, but it’s the way it develops into an organic band performance and record that impresses me the most, a record that charges along like a galloping horse or a never stopping train. Agreed that many great songs are still to come. But as an opening one-two-three punch, Normal American Kids, If I ever Was a Child, Cry All Day are as good as it gets. And frankly, you said it, I don’t know if he overdubbed an iPhone demo or what, but that drummer guy, Glenn Kotche, is pretty great, isn’t he ?
I've been listening to this record a good bit lately and I listened again last night. The opening to "Normal American Kids," has really stuck with me - particularly and especially the line that sort of goes, "before I knew people could die just because." That's a pretty profound line that really sums up, at least for me, the differing views on death, mortality and aging from say my childhood, teenage and even early adult ages to now. I am long past the age or time in my life when acquaintances, friends and family began dying 'just because." I've heard that song a number of times, listened to that lyric and all of a sudden it now has this heavy, sort of profound effect. Its really stuck with me for the past couple of days. Moving back to the record, I've realized that this record is a bit front loaded. "Cry All Day" is the third great song in a row. And someone else has mentioned this, but John's bass playing on this record is astoundingly good. I was listening to this record last night on pretty crappy iPhone speakers but his bass lines really stands out on all of the songs we've talked about so far.
"Cry All Day" is another perfectly executed song. When Schmilco was first announced, a lot of the descriptions of it were terms like "autumnal," "acoustic" and, the one that stuck the most, "pastoral." So that was the pretext going in. When I played the album for the first time, the opening three songs just felt like the perfect execution of this style. I remember thinking, This is exactly how I would want a "minimalist" Wilco album. I don't think they carried the execution through with what follows (though there are some good, very good actually, songs scattered from here on out). But, as a 1-2-3 punch, wow, as good as it gets.
Cry All Day - Another subtle gem. For a record that I seldom put on - I'm enjoying the heck out of this. My early observation is that this will be a great early morning album for me. Note to self!
"Cry All Day"- I'm having a hard time remembering which songs I initially loved the most on this album. Almost everything sounds good to me. I do think this was an early favorite after the album came out. I still think it's great, but several songs coming up are just as excellent. Glen's drumming is a highlight of this song, but again everyone is adding special touches throughout. @Fortuleo and others have already nailed my feelings on this song. I don't have much more to add, but this is another Wilco gem. 4.5/5
Yesterday, @Fortuleo posted the clip of "If I Ever Was a Child" from KCRW in 2016. Wilco actually led off the set with the 1-2 punch of "Child" and "Cry All Day." For anyone interested in the full 28 minutes of the performance, here it is: Set List: 0:00 If I Ever Was a Child 2:53 Cry All Day 7:12 The Joke Explained 9:45 Someone to Lose 12:55 Dawned On Me 16:27 Impossible Germany 23:25 We Aren't The World (Safety Girl) 26:04 The Late Greats
"If I Ever Was A Child" is excellent. Gorgeous lyrics, beautiful singing, liquid guitars, and lovely instrumental touches. Top shelf Wilco.
"Cry All Day" is a solid track, if just a tick below the first two cuts on Schmilco. The drumming is the star here but I also like Tweedy's vocal delivery here. As with the previous album, I do wish that the songs on this one had been longer. It's still a very short album and I think that adding a minute or two to some of these songs might have improved the overall listening experience of the album and given the band a chance to shine instrumentally a little more.
Cry All Day is great for all the reasons already noted. I’ll add that Nels is amazing on this one. It’s atmospheric Nels not shredder Nels, and that is the space he apparently prefers. His playing is incredibly subdued but always focused.
Cry All Day is hands down my Wilco favorite track post-YHF. It is the only track that immediately grabbed me and has never let go since YHF. I have found things to enjoy that I missed the first time around on all the albums (well Star Wars really doesn't do anything for me) as I have listened again along with this thread but nothing in the catalog post YHF stands up to the track for me. I remember be blown away when I heard it, I had sort of felt like I would never be moved in this way by a Wilco song again. I bought this album the day it came out, not because I was buying Wilco albums the first day they were out anymore by this time but because it was my birthday. So Cry All Day was a birthday present to me I guess! There were three other new releases I bought that day, Teenage Fanclub - Here (by far my least favorite TF release), Teencanteen - Say It All With A Kiss (loved this one) and The Tuts - Update Your Brain (really like this album but about half of the songs had been released in the years leading up to the album so that part was a little disappointing).
Happy Love is the King release date everybody! I'll be over in that thread in a bit: NEW Jeff Tweedy album 'Love is the King' (10/23/2020) Common Sense I have no idea if anybody in the thread will like this song as much as I do. Jeff certainly did think people would like it much, predicting that it would be the least favorite of most fans on the album. This is one of my two favorite songs on Schmilco. I love this crazy, weird song. I love the dark, undulating, off-kilter melody. I love the woozy vocal harmonies. I love the musical freak outs and how Nels is let loose to get dissonant, but the thing never feels self-indulgent or goes on too long. Great lyrics too. "I slam my finger in the door of love" and "What you can't say, swallow" are two great lines. Rolling Stone called the guitars on this song 'insectile' and I think that about sums it up. Like creeping little bugs all over the place, but with a heavy bass sound underneath. 'Common Sense' feels like a band track to me and maybe that's why I like it so much, beyond just digging the unsettling vibes.
Common Sense is certainly an odd song. While I like tracks like this (as long as there aren't too many on an album), I don't love it in the way Parachute Woman does. It does have a cool melody, fun "insectile" instrumentation, and interesting lyrics, but somehow doesn't rise to the top for me. But I'm happy it's on the album!
Jeff predicted my reaction perfectly as I am not interested in this at all. The token arty-noise track.
Common sense (the lack of)… As he often does, Jeff personally preempted and neutralized all criticism, knowing all too well how important it is to control the narrative. “This’ll be the one people will like the less… it’s the weirdest Wilco song ever…” etc. We were warned, if we didn’t like Common Sense, it’d be because of our narrow mindedness and our conservative view of the band. As it happens, I don’t dislike it. Taken out of context, it’s not bad. The strident guitars sounding like an out of tune bouzouki can be a little grating, yes, but the broken down acoustic riff is pretty cool, the percussions are crazy and entertaining, I like the muted bass sound and some parts sound like a Smiley Smile outtake. Nevertheless, in the context of the album, it's a bit like Shake it Off on Sky Blue Sky : it works against the momentum and the easy flow of what started like a Wilco dream. And it seems to be the whole point… I think Jeff and the band try hard never to put out a “pleasant” record, one that can be played absentmindedly. They need to make sure we’ll listen with intensity and focus, never taking anything for granted. They are Wilco, after all, they don’t do background music… They ask for our complete attention, no album of theirs will be uniformly easy or unchallenging. Common Sense’s first purpose it to convey that message : a lot of things are going on everywhere in the audio spectrum – that is, if you listen closely. But if you don’t, it’s just a strident mess… This way, they keep you on the edge of your seat, ready for everything, they won’t allow you to lower your guard for the rest of the album. Fair enough, Mr. Tweedy, we’re all ears!
There’s a song on this album called Nope, but I’m going to be as positive as I can be about Common Sense by framing my comments as a series of “Yeps”: Have I listened to it many times over the years to know how I really feel about it? Yep Have I defended the lesser liked albums in the catalogue like Star Wars? Yep Have I defended the artist moments in the catalogue like Less Than You Think? Yep Does this song cause incredible anxiety every time I listen to it? Yep Have other anxiety-inducing songs like Bull Black Nova and Diamond Light grown on me? Yep Does Common Sense still cause me anxiety? Yep Is it the worst song on the album? Yep Is it the worst song in the Wilco catalogue? Yep Is it the worst song in the Tweedy-verse? Yep... and I don’t need to hear Love Is King to know it Is the world a lesser place since this song was born? Yep Am I ever going to listen to this song again? Nope... well, actually I probably will give it another Shake next time I listen to Schmilco, so... yep There. I’ve been holding that in for months. Glad I got it off my chest. Next song please!
I’m glad to have been oblivious to this. My naivety helps because if I had thought this ...I wouldn’t have reacted well! “I understand I am just a fan I'm just a fan When I get home I turn off the alarm I've checked the phone No messages on I play the ones from yesterday”
A bit of a gushing side note: I gotta say that I am really impressed with the well-thought out posts on this thread. Whether I agree or not, it’s clear that participants are taking some time in putting their thoughts to paper. It’s always a delight to peek at the latest updated posts. Okay, back to the regular programming.
"Common Sense" - doesn't do much for me, goes nowhere ... and after the opening three a letdown. Mind you these are all first listens for me still. I am just going to listen to each day's song as we go through Schmilco, and after we are done I plan to get a copy or download it I was slow on the draw and didn't get in to discuss "Cry All Day" - that's a good one, maybe the best of the opening trio
"Common Sense," what a momentum killer. Baseball analogy coming up. It's like loading the bases with the top three batters in your lineup, and then pinch hitting your back up catcher in place of your clean up hitter. It feels like going out of your way to destroy the momentum. And I know it was intentional. Like @Fortuleo said, Jeff specifically threw this monkey wrench here, and got out ahead of the narrative. He wants to be subversive and challenging. But it is not what I want to hear on the heels of the fantastic three opening tracks. It's trying too hard to be weird in a place when they could have let a more fitting song flow. There are some interesting lyrics in the song. But overall it feels contrived. The melody is not good, the disjointed nature is unnatural and, to me, unpleasant. Unfortunately, the next song does not get things back on track. If "Common Sense" is pinch hitting a back up catcher just not meant for the spot, "Nope" is an over-the-hill big-money free agent bust who is batting .185 but keeps his spot in the lineup anyway. But we can get into that tomorrow!
There's a guy who lives across the street from me. Hadn't noticed him before, mainly because I'm not going to the gym due to the virus, thus working out on the landlord's back patio. Like a prisoner in Supermax getting his daily hour of outside time. This guy is sitting in a lawn chair on the veranda of his apartment, second floor, over that house's garage. Faced away from the street. Earnestly strumming chords on an acoustic guitar and singing, every day, at the top of his lungs, and out of tune, "I'd Love You to Want Me" by Lobo. He probably doesn't understand there's a guy jumping rope and doing burpees across the road who knows the song. Probably doesn't care. I would gather there are memories of that first 76 Nova, the wild one who got away, the summer of 77, that Styx concert at the Garden, and the Mel Bay guitar book with the silhouette of the cowboy on the front. What does all this have to do with Wilco? Not much, save that today's offering has done the impossible and made me prefer the baying of a talentless buffoon over a Wilco song. I would say something is wrong in this world, but there are a lot of things in this world.
"Common Sense"- I'm with @Parachute Woman on this one. I love when Wilco gets weird. It may not be my favorite on the album, but I think it's a really interesting tune. I assumed this wouldn't get much love, so I am glad I'm not the only one who likes this song. Really cool percussion by Glenn and some crazy guitar by Jeff and Nels. I don't hear anything not to like. This is almost in Captain Beefheart freak out territory. It's chaotic, but it has structure and is all tied together by the little guitar lick that starts the song and is repeated throughout to bring the song back to earth. Far out Jeff! I'm all for this type of musical exploration. It's not like the entire album is like this. I can handle three minutes of Wilco letting loose and challenging the listener. 4/5 Now to listen to Love Is The King!
