I’m a fan of the whole album and I don’t mind Common Sense at all. It’s beautifully recorded and a sonic adventure to listen through headphones to all these creepy insects sounds. Moreover I think it makes a special bridge between the flowing Cry All Day and the hard-hitting beat and bareness of Nope.
Yes, you've nailed this. This is the vibe I occasionally have gotten from Tweedy over the years. It reminds me a bit of the uber-annoying Steve Albini and some of his Chicago acolytes from the 1990s. That attitude is such a turn off - no, Jeff, maybe we don't like it because it's just not very good! Ever consider that? That said, I think "Common Sense" is a cool little track. Nobody here would want to hear an entire album of songs like this, but it works as a contrast to the first three songs. Good point about the "insect" feel here - reminds me a bit of The Cure's "Lullaby" in that sense (although that one is literally about insects). I'd like this one more if it had a stronger melody; as it is, it seems like more of a sonic collage than a fleshed-out song. This will probably end up being one of my least favorite cuts on Schmilco, but I'm not saying that it's bad by any means.
Appropriate analogy given that my team is playing in the World Series right now and starting their back-up catcher (although not in the clean-up spot, thankfully)!
"Common Sense" wants to be a noisy skronk freakout, it wants to let Nels cut loose, and I would like it if they let that happen. I want that to happen. But, nope. Jeff can't let it happen because everything on the album has to be dialed down so as to not wake the household, the same low-key volume and mood, whether it suits the song or not. Stripped down to the essentials, I'm afraid that the melody and rhythms of this song just don't do much for me. It needs more noise. It needs to rawk. But Jeff isn't really interested in that, anymore. I guess that his idea of being subversive and challenging now is to make music that combines different forms (subdued folk and noise rock; is that freak folk?) but defies expectations or desires for every element. As a listener, it's hard to find satisfaction in that.
Looking forward to the live debut of Jeff’s new album tonight. For those of you who miss the Americana days, one of Canada’s finest singer-songwriters dropped a surprise album today. If you haven’t heard William Prince you owe it to yourself to check him out. There’s a powerful backstory to this album too, but I’ll save that for another thread...
Jeff will be doing an interview about his new book, and perform on CBS This Morning ...this morning. Oct 24, 2020. Probably will be able to watch again if you miss it. Here: CBSN
They are....saw them a couple years ago, though it was a combination of Tweedy & Wilco with Jeff's 16 year old son doing an amazing job on the kit. The ending encore was a sing along--we couldn't help ourselves...a rousing "California Skies"
I confess I was a bit surprised by the hate for 'Common Sense' yesterday. I knew it wasn't exactly the most popualar song in the catalog, but the profound dislike surprised me. But I actually enjoyed reading all the smackdowns, even though I like the song. You guys are a great bunch! Nope This is weird to say but the thing I notice most about 'Nope' is the mixing. It's got the thumpy drums and the hard-strummed guitars really upfront in the mix, with Jeff's flat vocals feeling further back to me. And Wilco has often been a band that puts the vocals pretty much in the starring role, so this is novel. I like 'Nope.' It falls somewhere in the middle on the album for me. It isn't one that really stands out as a favorite or a least favorite, but it's kind of a swell little tune. Kind of rock, kind of country. Just Wilco doin' their thing. Another weird song title, though.
I like this quite a bit. I see the shortcomings : maybe it sounds too much like a Sukierae song; maybe it does actually sound too much like an actual Sukierae song (World Away). As such, it can’t be described as “pure Wilco” like If I ever Was a Child or Cry All Day could, even though the drums and guitars are quite cool. I’m hearing a bit of the Stones’ Ventilator Blues in the slow syncopated beat and ranting vocal phrasing. The lyrics ? Don’t have a clue. But it’s still a strong track, with strong singing (“aaaaaarrrrr…”), a strong beat, an interesting confrontational sentiment, like an agitated sleep, feverish, convulsive, and as such, it reminds me of the hotel room in Shake it Off. And even though it’s not “pure Wilco”, I find it much better and more powerful as a band song than as a solo dylanesque strum.
Nope: Ahh, here we go, something to sink the ‘ol teeth into. This brings Ron Wood and Ronnie Lane’s Mahoney’s Last Stand to mind and I can actually envision the New Wilco guys standing in a circle bashing this out. I like it and it’s a keeper. (Maybe)
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 You Are My Face Impossible Germany Sky Blue Sky Side With The Seeds Shake It Off Please Be Patient With Me Hate It Here Leave Me (Like You Found Me) Walken What Light On and On And On Extra Tracks Tweedy Interview The Sun Came Out - 7 Worlds Collide June 2009 Wilco (The Album ) Wilco (The Song) Deeper Down One Wing Bull Black Nova You And I You Never Know Country Disappeared Solitaire I'll Fight Sonny Feeling Everlasting Everything Dark Neon Sept 2001 The Whole Love Art Of Almost I Might Sunloathe Dawned On Me Black Moon Born Alone Open Mind Capitol City Standing O Rising Red Lung The Whole Love One Sunday Morning I Love My Label + extras Sometimes It Happens Sept 2014 Tweedy Sukierae Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood High As Hello World Away Diamond Light pt1 Wait For Love Low Key Pigeons Slow Love Nobody Dies Anymore I'll Sing It Flowering Desert Bell Honey Combed New Moon Down From Above Where My Love Fake Fur Coat Hazel I'll Never Know Aug 2015 Star Wars EKG More Random Name Generator You Satellite Taste The Ceiling Pickled Ginger Where Do I Begin Cold Slope King Of You Magnetized Sept 2016 Schmilco Normal American Kids If I Ever Was A Child Cry All Day Common Sense Nope
At this point with Wilco, anything with a recognizable beat is usually OK by me - "Nope" is OK by me. One of the nicer developments has been more drum-prominent songs to break up the doldrums. PW, I wouldn't say I hate "Common Sense." For me, the most prominent feeling that's developed over the past few years for Wilco is boredom. I'm not feeling anything for a good cross section of his/their work, and that thought bothers me more than the concept of hating his work. If he was making some radical departure that I wasn't down with, I could at least respect the fact that he's picking up and taking off in a whole new direction without my consent as a fan. But so much of what he's been doing lately just feels ... samey. Not crazy about that word, it feels like social-media slang, but it fits. "Common Sense" surely hit that button along with that irritating "experimentalism" that just seems like annoying gibberish tossed onto a mundane track. Please see earlier reference to "Ray Davies Syndrome." I'd like to think that at least one guy in the band took Jeff aside and said, "Do you really think we should put this on the album?" But I somehow know that never happens anymore! I would guess most of the band is living for the road as they're being under-utilized in the studio, and that's got to be a hard pill to swallow with the virus still raging.
I know I am going to be low man on the totem pole on this one, but I strongly dislike "Nope." In fact, I consider it one of the worst tracks this line up has ever released, and I think it is quite possibly Jeff Tweedy's worst vocal performance on a Wilco album. And the lyrics are pretty good! What a waste. Everything is just so flat and muffled. Jeff is mumbling the words, then they added a wholly unneeded hazy effect to it. The music is also pretty bland and aimless. No other member of the band does anything memorable on this track with respect to the accompaniment. Sorry guys. I think there might be a good song in here, but Wilco did not unlock it. Then, on top of everything else, Jeff puts the cherry on the sundae by naming the track "Nope." So much interesting imagery in the lyrics, and he picks a cheeky title. The combined presentation in PW's YouTube post above of a lackluster track with ridiculous artwork and the word "Nope" across the screen... the whole package just rubs me the wrong way. This is a low point. It's OK though, it gets better from here!
I promise to be less grumpy today, even when evaluating a song with the title “Nope”. Nope is fine. I like the mumble vocals and I like the fuzzy lead guitar (also very muffled sounding and it sounds like Jeff’s playing to me). This is the kind of buzzy acoustic driven song that was introduced on Whole Love with I Might and was turned into Jeff’s default mode on Sukierae. My biggest critique is that I’m another one who hears this as a Sukierae leftover rather than a genuine Wilco piece. I’d put money on the band never playing this one live again. But I enjoy it as a mid-album track.
"Nope"- I agree that this sounds very much like a Sukierae song. I'm surprised it's a song that some are not very fond of. I even asked my brother, who is another Wilco fan, what his least favorites on this album were and this song was mentioned. It is similar to "World Away". That is the stronger song, but I'm up for another fuzzy song in the same style. Even Glenn sounds very close to Spencer style in the drums. If I didn't know, I would say that this was a Tweedy song. Maybe that's why it isn't thought of as a great Wilco track. I like it, but I was also a big fan of Sukierae. Nice to see Ronnie Lane get a mention. I never thought of that before, but now I can hear it. That only makes me like this song more. I love Ronnie Lane and this does have a similar style as his Slim Chance album, especially in the acoustic guitar sound and strumming. I highly recommend all of Ronnie's albums to all of you Wilco fans. 4/5
Good point. In the Magnetized Song Exploder podcast, Jeff talked about how Spencer actually recorded the drums first, then Glenn built his own part from there. Will be interesting to compare against Ode to Joy in which Jeff has talked about how a lot of the songs were inspired by what Glenn was doing. Definitely different from here where I agree it sounds like Glenn playing Spencer’s part.
That's quite a bouncy up-front acoustic guitar in Nope. To go with the bouncy up-front rhythm section. It's not a bad song, but it's one I have a hard time enjoying. The muffled vocals are just a bit much for me, and the end result is a middling track.
"Nope" = yup. This one works pretty well I think. It has that loping shuffle that seems very much like something The Faces might have done back in the mid-70s. The song title is a little perverse, but at this point, that's rather unsurprising.
Yesterday we had a track that practically cried out for the full Nels treatment, but disappointed me because they refused to bring the noise (although it interests me a little more when I think of it as a freak folk excursion). Today's song really wants to be a stomper, but never takes off or goes anywhere; and, again, a big part of the problem is their refusal to pump up the volume and rock out. The beat gets to be leaden when there isn't anything interesting happening in contrast to it, too. At the very start, I can almost hear John Lennon telling people, 'if anyone knows what an off-beat is, clap on the off-beat...'; but there's nothing here that really catches the ear like "Give Peace a Chance." At the start of the album, at least one person said that the cover put them off. And while I'm listening now, I realize that it is inappropriate because it leads you to expect a set of electrifying dance party music. Fun times! This track kind of teases you into thinking, "OK, here we go!" but, nope. Did Jeff really fall in love with the sound of his Bon Iver and M. Ward records? Is this just the result of growing old and taking anti-depressants? What is going on? "Why kill a man when you can drive him crazy?" is a pretty good line, I'll grant him. "Why make it end when my amusement always depends on the joke? Won't you lend me my punchline" is a little on the nose, I think. "As a favor, can you be entertained so that day I can savor whatever remains/ Of hurricanes too rattled to romance massive plates of circumstances" takes us back to the impressionistic style of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. I don't know what that means. As a favor, OK, I'm trying to be entertained, but I need a little more from the entertainer than what I'm getting on "Nope."
Amen, and you can get a vast majority of his recorded output for just under $60 in MP3 files. I already had those albums - and then some, going nuts for his music in the early 90s when spotty imports of his music became availabe in the U.S. after years of being unavailable (and I knew, as I was looking). But the box set that came out in the U.K. was very well done and gathered a vast majority of all that you need to hear. Can't say enough good things about his solo work. Melodic, heartfelt, lyrical, exploring all facets of British folk with some rock and roll thrown in, mostly with an acoustic bent. Discovering his albums was one of the best musical experiences of my adulthood - exciting in ways that took me back to that teenage sense of stumbling onto great new music.
Common Sense - I like the weirdness of it as we transition from the three strong opening tracks. As with a lot of this record it seems unfinished or tamped down? Almost like a demo. Nope - I like the beat but again I wish not would cut loose a little more. I played the album all the way through early this morning, sandwiched between Nashville Skyline and Love Over Gold. Oddly, it worked really well with those companions. I really liked a couple of tracks we've yet to get to. It was good to listen with fresh ears.
Palisantrancho, I think this may be one of the main tracks you're referring to, from the One for the Road album. Good call:
Nice. I have had all of the cds for a long time. I know they were not easy to find, and I don't even remember where I bought them from. I haven't had any need to get the box set, but it looks excellent. I bought a nice vinyl reissue of Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance a few years back. I am always on the lookout for any other vinyl copies. I do know that Anymore For Anymore isn't too difficult to track down. There is also the documentary "The Passing Show" which is a worthwhile viewing. A fascinating and talented songwriter, bass, and guitar player. I love him in every part of his career. I'm crazy about The Small Faces. It's too bad his solo years remain pretty obscure to most. Good pick with "32nd Street". I was actually referencing the self titled Slim Chance album, but this is probably even a better example. Both albums pretty much have the same feel. The photo above on One For The Road shows the LMS (Lane Mobile Studio) which was also used by The Who, Zeppelin, and many others.
The first couple days, I was also listening to Neil Young/ Homegrown, Tom Petty/ Wildflowers, and Richard & Linda Thompson/ First Light. That's a nice context for this album, too, particularly Homegrown. Subdued, low-key, maybe a little depressed and distracted, not the most fully realized Neil Young (or Wilco), but some excellent songs scattered throughout, anyway.
