Wilco: Album by Album

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Parachute Woman, May 11, 2020.

  1. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    "Locator"- I love this song. It's one of the many highlights for me. Looks like we agree @Parachute Woman! This has Star Wars written all over it. If these two albums were recorded around the same time I would swap this song with "Taste the Ceiling" or "Where Do I Begin". Either one of those songs sound more like a part of this album and vice versa. I never realized how short this song is, but it serves its purpose as a quick shot of energy. I love the spooky sounding "Hide Hide Hide" part. The perfect rock n roll tune to blast on a late October day. 4.5/5

    Regarding the single, I think it's a good choice, but I always thought the single was "If I Ever Was a Child". It looks like that was the second single. How far apart did they release these two songs as singles for the album? If they were released relatively close together, I would say it's a nice one two punch to get people excited about the album.
     
  2. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    According to Wiki, Locator was released on July 14, 2016 and If I Ever Was a Child was released on July 18. :laugh:
     
  3. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    Exactly! So they were basically both lead off singles. In my opinion, two great choices.
     
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  4. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Yep, I agree.
     
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  5. jalexander

    jalexander Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    Locator:
    • Heard it as the advance download and was not impressed. A song fragment with no real chorus.
    • Heard it on the album and it made sense.
    • Heard it on live recordings and it seemed great.
    • Relistened to the album many times and it became a highlight of side B, as my overall esteem of the album grew over the years.
    • Listened to it yesterday and noticed the Can’t Stand It riff for the first time and wondered why they don’t write songs like that anymore.
    I’m a fan of late era Tweedy, but I’m hearing those skeptical voices more and more... why don’t you let the guys contribute a littler more?

    Interesting comparing the 2018 and 2019 versions. I’m more familiar with the latter and it’s better for the improved contributions of the band. The earlier live version with the two basses doesn’t build as well and Nels is defaulting to random noise (which I’m usually fine with). With two song fragments in a row now, I wish Jeff might develop the lyrics and song structures a bit further. That would give the rest of the band more to work with.

    I agree. Interviews between The Whole Love and Sukierae/Star Wars highlight how there was no falling out with Nonesuch, they just didn’t see the value a label could provide moving forward. They didn’t believe the big label tricks would have any impact back in the day, especially circa Summerteeth. And now they had enough of a critical mass and business know-how to maintain their status as a solid, mature band looking to continue to release new material. That doesn’t mean thought doesn’t go into it. Simply means they think they can do it just as effectively and affordably themselves.
     
  6. robcar

    robcar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    "Locator" is a cool little song - I'm catching bits of classic Smashing Pumpkins here and there. Again, it's too short and I don't like the fade-out ending, but it's good overall. I wasn't aware that this was the promo advance "single", and agree with what others have said that it strikes me as a strange choice. This one might be good done live.
     
  7. frightwigwam

    frightwigwam Talented Amateur

    Location:
    Oregon
    "Locator" is probably my least-favorite on the album. There are at least a half-dozen songs on here that would've been fine advance singles, whether they hoped to get on the radio, play a song on late night TV, or just put something on YouTube to stir up some hype online, and yet they chose this claustrophobic fragment with a barely discernable hook? I just played this on the stereo, and my wife just crossed her arms and walked out. I don't really feel like hearing it again, either. There are a few such cases on the album, but this is certainly one where Jeff really needed someone who could tell him, "No, this doesn't work. Let's try some more ideas."

    1/5. Boo, hiss.
     
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  8. robcar

    robcar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    Is that what that ad was all about? I think I saw it 50 times during the World Series over the past week. I couldn't understand what they were trying to sell.
     
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  9. Gabe Walters

    Gabe Walters Forum Resident

    I think you're maybe misconstruing my point, which is that the method of releasing and distributing "singles" and what they mean to bands has changed drastically in the internet age. That's all. I'm not saying Wilco only cares about existing fans or that it isn't running a business.
     
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  10. fspringer

    fspringer Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    You noted: "When you're a band of Wilco's size, in a day and age when nothing remotely like Wilco gets played on the radio, and 7" 45s aren't being sold in stores, "single" just means "the song we release first online to whet fans' appetites." There's no need for anything to sound commercial, because there's no market to sell to, and no means of distributing to it. You just put the thing on YouTube and let fans who preorder the record have an early download."

    While you're not saying Wilco "only" cares about existing fans, you're implying it. And I'm saying there are many more considerations going on when singles are chosen, and that singles are now more important than ever in terms of drawing attention to a band in a world that's gone berserk with choices for music fans.

    Fleetwood Mac has a 44-year-old album at #14 in the country (main charts, not reissue charts) based solely on some dude on a skateboard posting a chillout video on Tiktok, and I would guess this is based on sales mostly from new fans. My overall point is this is a vastly different world we're living in, and in effect what this guy did for free, for fun, had roughly the same effect of Fleetwood Mac pouring $750,000 into one video in the 80s. In essence, "Dreams" was reissued as a single for a generation of people who didn't know it existed ... and look how many people bought the album based on this. That's the power of one song and emphasizes the importance of singles, even now. That's what I'm hoping to get across, in this case, with my perplexed reaction to learn a song like "Locator" was chosen as a leadoff single to Schmilco.
     
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  11. Gabe Walters

    Gabe Walters Forum Resident

    You’re excavating a text I tossed off between wiping one kid’s butt and giving another a juice box. Don’t worry, I washed my hands before I touched my keyboard.
     
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  12. wavethatflag

    wavethatflag God is love, but get it in writing.

    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    "Locater" is a good tune.

    Locator sees me swaying through the catacombs
    Locator hears me whispering in my home
    Even when the waves are falling
    Beat me into diamonds
    Even when the wheels are whining
    Even when the wheels are whining
    Something in the sky can find me
    I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I
    Hide, hide, hide, hide, hide, hide, hide, hide

    Obviously an inspired indie version of Judas Priest's "Electric Eye":

    Up here in space
    I'm looking down on you
    My lasers trace
    Everything you do

    You think you've private lives
    Think nothing of the kind
    There is no true escape
    I'm watching all the time

    I'm made of metal
    My circuits gleam
    I am perpetual
    I keep the country clean

    I'm elected electric spy
    I'm protected electric eye
     
  13. fspringer

    fspringer Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    Ironically, I was sitting on the can, downing a can of Pabst while reading your post. Then again, that's a position I'm often in while reading these forums.
     
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  14. Gabe Walters

    Gabe Walters Forum Resident

    Ah, the reading chair.
     
  15. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    :cop: Before more details emerge: Friendly reminder that there's a lady in the room...

    :laugh:
     
  16. slop101

    slop101 Guitar Geek

    Location:
    So. Cal.
    Great new interview with Tweedy here, and pertinent for this thread at this time, as he talks some about Schmilco (among a couple other albums as well)...

    Jeff Tweedy Is an Open Book
     
  17. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    Excellent interview. Of note:

    - He says he wants the next Wilco album to be "loud and joyous" as he pictures playing it live for people and the celebration that will be

    - There is a sequel to Together at Last already recorded called Together Again. No immediate plans to release.

    - Have any of us called Schmilco "mellow"? He hates that!
     
  18. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    The last five songs on this album are all shorter than three minutes.

    Shrug and Destroy


    This song really doesn't do it for me. I'm sorry that the title invites this, but I do truly give it a shrug. In fact, I don't actually really like the main vocal melody very much. The best part is the piano solo, though it is (as is often the case on this album) too short and I wish that it could have stretched out a bit more. There is also some nice mellotron (or similar) on here. I suppose I am glad to hear Pat and Mike contributing a bit more to the song, but I just wish it were (a) longer and more developed and (b) had a stronger melody. As it is, this song is just shy of okay for me. I don't actively dislike it, but I don't really like it either. Even concentrated listening didn't make me like this song much more.
     
  19. Fortuleo

    Fortuleo Used to be a Forum Resident

    I agree that it has a challenging vocal melody, almost every note being anchored by a chord change, which is always a bit awkward. Musically, I see it as a hybrid between Wishful Thinking and Sunloathe. Very slow, structurally peculiar and original (no verse, no chorus, just a poetic stream set to stumbling chords), layered with impressionistic keyboards, alternating a full sound (John’s bass, the big mellotron near the end) and moments of shaky void. It’s another one of the Schmilco tracks that can easily be overlooked if you listen in passing, but whenever I give it the proper attention, I will get lost in its enveloping world. Jeff sings sweetly but with conviction what appears to be a short poem put to music (like most tracks on this LP) as opposed to a proper folk or pop song. The lyrics bear that same sense of paranoia, angst and insularity that can be heard throughout the album. We’ve talked a lot about the “recovery record” (Sky Blue Sky) then the “contentment period” (the Album, The Whole Love), then the care free rock’n roll vibe of Star Wars, but Schmilco is something else entirely, it showcases the songwriter’s mid-life disconnection, touching on his subconscious and his self-centered inability to put up with a lot of what’s going on around him. I agree with Jeff, there's nothing mellow about it…
    The demo + overdubs quality of this recording is once again very obvious, but it’s not a turnoff at all as far as I’m concerned, the band arrangement gradually unfolding like a blanket of ominous but paradoxically comforting sounds under which you can bury yourself.
     
  20. Al Gator

    Al Gator You can call me Al

    I'd use the word plodding to describe Shrug and Destroy. Lyrically it seems to address decay, and is quite dark - "when nothing is left, rejoice." The short musical interlude is the highlight for me, and it's not enough to make me really like the song.
     
  21. jalexander

    jalexander Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    With Shrug and Destory, we’re into another downtempo (I won’t say mellow after the RS interview!) angsty tune. As with Quarters and Locater, I don’t really have any issues with this song, and there are some interesting tidbits along the way. But there’s also not a lot here.

    This is where Side B falters for me. I used to think I didn’t like Schmilco very much. Then about a year ago, I revisited the whole catalogue and realized I was fine with most of it (except for Common Sense). It’s just that the second side has a lot of material that doesn’t really go anywhere. The songs aren’t too formally written like Sky Blue Sky, nor are they intricately arranged like Summerteeth or Whole Love, and nor are they allowed to stretch out in experimentalism as with Yankee and Ghost.

    I certainly don’t feel like Wilco have to retread old ground, but I do hope they’ll do something. Most of the songs on Side B, though, aren’t something I ever feel like listening to in isolation. So I listen to them as part of the whole album, and it largely feels like an album side that just drifts by. Pleasant enough when I want something downtempo; but not overly challenging or emotionally engaging. Just kind of “there”.
     
  22. Rainy Taxi

    Rainy Taxi The Art of Almost

    Location:
    Chicago
    Jeff was asking for it by putting the word "Shrug" in the title. If there's one word I would use to describe this track, it's ... downtrotten downtempo plodding mellow. :p Ha, no, sorry Jeff, I didn't mean it!
     
  23. Rockford & Roll

    Rockford & Roll Forum Resident

    Location:
    Midway, KY
    Shrug & Destroy - As my wife says, "I don't hate it". It's not a favorite but I really hear that Lennon quality to Jeff's vocals on this one.

    Thanks to @slop101 for the interview link. I am all about loud and joyous for the next record!
     
  24. fspringer

    fspringer Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    "Lethargic" was the word I heard most when the album came out! But reviewing the past week or so, it's clear that the band hit some high points on this album. "Loud and joyous" are two words I haven't associated with Wilco in quite some time, and I'll be in heaven if he holds true to that promise. Now, I suspect it won't be "I Got You" and "The Good Part" loud and joyous, but at this point, I'd settle for Star Wars loud and joyous.

    "Shrug and Destroy" is a perfect archetype for where I am with a lot of Wilco's output. I can't "hate" it - there's really nothing wrong with it. But it doesn't excite me either. I feel like I'm in a sexless marriage with Wilco!
     
  25. John C Bradley Jr

    John C Bradley Jr Forum Resident

    Location:
    Columbia, SC
    A few weeks ago I had some solo weekend driving and spent a chunk of it catching up on some Podcasts I follow, including the "36 from the Vault" Grateful Dead Podcast with Steven Hyden. I was listening to a "curve ball" episode - as they call them - about Radiohead's 2006 Bonaroo show and one the talking points that came up was comparing a band like Radiohead to U2. The point that was being made was that Radiohead made a conscious decision to "market" themselves primarily to their fans - while U2 still has aspirations to be, if not the "biggest band in the world," "commercially" relevant (I happen to love both U2 and Radiohead but I see where the point they are making, at least with U2).

    Anyway, when talking about bands like Radiohead, they also talked about the Dead and also mentioned Wilco, and the fact that they "shifted" and now very much focus on their fans and by cultivating and nourishing a particular "community" or fan base. I had never really thought about it that way. It made me think. If there was a "shift" I think it came about around the time they left Nonesuch and started their own label. I think they saw that promotion or push by a major label really wasn't going to move the needle with them anymore and their focus should be on cultivating and maintaining a steady fan base.
     
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