I’m in a remarkably good mood this a.m. and am listening again through the entire album. Folks have mentioned pairings before (this pairs well with that, etc) and I’ll join the pairing frenzy now: I think this goes well with A.M.
I agree with you! I listened to A.M. last night and I was struck by how much common DNA there is between that early work by a young man and these recent works.
I'm anticipating to sing this one all together in the old folks home, when the times comes. I'm in a remarkably good mood, too.
This is a catchy sing-a-long. A song which appealed to me right the first time. The melody is both simple and irresistible. It runs the risk of wearing out after a lot more listenings. Let’s worry about that later. The short guitar break, after the bridge, starts with a higher tone followed by two lower ones (repeated two times). The lower ones are among the best guitar sounds I’ve ever heard ( even better than Neil Young, there’s 45 years between it and I think this modern day recording sounds better). Rumble by Link Wray is a serious contender. Sorry, for my clumsy description. I feel stupid about notes and chores etc. I hope you know what I mean.
Let’s Go Rain. I believe this was mentioned back with Sky Blue Sky as an attempt at an anthem that doesn’t quite get there, similar to What Light. I’d agree. I hear both live before they were released and both were taught as a singalong, but neither really reach “Hey Jude” first-time-I-heard-it-sounds-like-I’ve-always-known-it status. The music, is decent, though. The slightly upbeat, sloppy country vibe really works at this point in the album. And I like the slightly psychedelic guitar solo. Where it really falls apart for me is with the lyric. The basic idea is an interesting one. In the sorry of Noah, there was so much wickedness in the world that God wanted to just hit reset. So Jeff is looking at the world today - and if you read his memoir he’s really speaking from the view of contemporary US politics (a reason why the third Mavis record is important in Tweedy’s œuvre). I’ll avoid US politics to keep this post from getting removed. But he’s looking at all the insanity in the world, especially the anti-intellectualism in the faith around him when he was growing up in southern Illinois, and he’s wondering how bad does it have to get to deserve another “reset” from above. If Noah’s age deserved it, doesn’t ours? Definitely an interesting idea, but then there’s the terrible bridge and third verse. The whole bit about the ocean of guitars and not being a believer because you haven’t met Scott McCaughey is just plain silly and lessens the impact of the first two verses. I suppose it’s another use of the saving power of music motif, which goes back to songs like Sunken Treasure. For me, though, it just becomes a jumbled mess. That said, it’s still a fun listen and I never skip it. Just could have been a lot more!
"Let's Go Rain" is a cute campfire song. I'm from the Seattle area; I own the Young Fresh Fellows/ Fabulous Sounds of the Pacific Northwest + Topsy Turvy. So it cheers me to hear the shout out to Scott McCaughey. I also kind of like, "Oh, I should build a wooden ark/ Wouldn't you rather live on an ocean of guitars?" But I'd say that it does sound like he's just teaching the song to some kids, or maybe even just learning to play it, himself. I'd also like to hear him pick up the tempo and maybe rock out. This would've been a good spot for a "Come On Baby, Let's Go Downtown," and this could've been the vehicle for it. I'd just like to hear Tweedy rock a little; is that so wrong? Anyway, he doesn't want to do it so much. You'll get your "Some Birds," and you'll get your camp sing-a-long with a dose of dark humor to lighten the mood a bit, and you'll like it! Now, if you need him for anything else, he'll be in the bath.
All of those clips from that Chris Thile show are really great. Thanks for that link. Those of you who have discussed the Kinks influence on Tweedy might get a kick out of this: Jeff sings "Waterloo Sunset" followed by "Let's Go Rain" at the Vic in Chicago, 2018. He tries to get some audience participation going on both, with mixed results. It would be very funny if "Let's Go Rain" caught on at YMCA camps nationwide.
I like "Let's Go Rain" but something about it seems sort of tossed off. I suppose that's part of its charm; its essential ramshackle nature. Not really sure what the song is supposed to be about, but it works well enough. Not a favorite here, but certainly not one I'd skip.
From Far Away Not 'Far, Far Away' but 'From Far Away'... Set at the heart of the album, this meditation on death is given quite an interesting presentation. Jeff sings in his high register, giving the track a more strained, anxious feeling than the drowsier lower register he uses elsewhere. You can hear the bones of the simple folk song Jeff wrote, with tender plucking and nice chord changes. But that simple song is dressed up a bit with chaotic drum accents from Spencer and some fairly dissonant atmospheric sounds (keyboard of some kind?) washing over the top. I like how it makes Jeff (as narrator) feel small and far away in the background, playing up the song's themes of connection and distance. From outer space I am you At distances You're me too It's a touching song and I like how Jeff went for it on the arrangement, giving it sort of an interstellar and spooky vibe.
From the Sukierae moon in the Loose Fur galaxy, comes this contemplation of how small we are, how relative everything is, how futile our attempts to make anything worthwhile can be, in the grand scheme of things. As a poem, this song is wonderful. In the sequence of the record, it’s a bit of a downer if you listen to the album on CD (or stream), but as a side closer, it’s an interesting companion piece to the opener Bombs Above – the “above”/”from outer space” connection, the suffering guy trying to make sense of his own futility and irrelevance, be it with a little touch of "everlasting everything" hope. Even with the Loose Fur drums and the weird little atmospheric synth sounds (done on guitar ?), I can see how this song could be presented as a piece of evidence by the prosecutors in the ongoing Tweedy trial about sameness and sleepiness. But @Parachute Woman rightfully countered this argument by saying how the spooky sci-fi arrangement makes this song stand out. It's another musically fractured but philosophically enveloping tune, that goes back to a style Jeff always explored (for instance Radio Cure, with the "distance has no way of making love understandable" lyric, that seem somehow related to what's going on here) except the point of view shifted and he's now able to see himself from the outside, with incredible accuracy.
"From Far Away"- Definitely a unique recording with the off kilter drum patterns and all the bubbling electronics underneath pretty fingerpicking. At first I wasn't sure if it all worked, it kind of sounded messy and like a failed attempt at trying to be strange. However, after many listens I think the music fits right in with the lyrics. I'm a fan of these odd arrangements and this is another song that would be right at home on Sukierae. It's a beautiful song in the bare bones version he played on the Tweedy show. He is even singing in his deeper natural voice and it sounds great. It could have easily worked without the far out arrangement, but I love the creativity of the cosmic album version. 4/5
I like the atmosphere this song creates with the synthesizer (?) sounds, the varied drumming, and the volume swells with one of the guitars. I also like the way it fades out with the bass note.
"From Far Away" - I like the arrangement a lot. In isolation, this is one of my favorites on the album; but, in context, without any hooks or a chorus, it struggles to catch hold. The track would work better as an interlude in a program that had more variety of mood, sound, and styles. Tweedy said about the song: "The drums seem so disjointed and unrelated to the song, but it somehow still all holds together. And the lyrics are about the same thing: We all feel pretty separate and different from each other, but the further you zoom out, the more it all holds together.” I criticized Spencer's drumming on "How Hard It Is...," but I think his work on this one is excellent, more like what I wish he'd done on that earlier ballad.
From Far Away - Apparently Jeff’s been looking over Nels’ shoulder all these years. Those chirpy electronics sound like the reverse pitch shifted looping he does with his EHX 16-second delay and Montreal Assembly Count to Five. And Spencer’s been taking tips from Glenn it seems. Which makes sense because he was literally taught by Glenn. The most Wilco-esque track of the bunch I think and I like it.
"From Far Away" is very Wilco sounding. I like it but wish that Tweedy had sung it differently. The vocal here is rather cracked and tuneless. I suppose that was intentional, maybe to make the song seem like it's being transmitted to us "from far away". I like the swirling electronic sounds here. They add atmosphere to what would otherwise be a rather straight-forward folk song.
I Know What It's Like An excellent song. This one sounds like it could have very easily been on a Wilco album. It has a full band arrangement with sprightly drumming from Spencer that definitely feels like what Glenn would do on this track. "I Know What It's Like" has the kind of effortless-sounding melody that just seems to fall naturally out of Jeff's brain and fingers. It's memorable and catchy but never pushes too far into pop territory. Really nice A and B sections on this. The faux slide adds a lot to the arrangement and the whole thing is very warm (if you'll pardon me) and sweet sounding. This could have easily slotted in on Being There, on Wilco (The Album), on The Whole Love. It's signature Jeff Tweedy. The lyrics are very good as well. The allusion to a 'fireworks display' of course immediately recalls 'Via Chicago,' which must have been deliberate on Jeff's part. We're "far away from the fireworks display" now, which not only fits in with this album's themes of distance, space and aging but also feels like a small in reference. We're a long way from Summerteeth and who Jeff was as a person and a writer back then. Otherwise, the lyrics touch on the grief Jeff was experiencing at the time of losing his father, as well as more general feelings of depression and feeling like your life is sprawling out before you and behind you and you can't quite gain traction. Even when it's years away I still think it's yesterday I can't find the plot Something else is taking shape I know it's a lie When you say it's okay This song also recalls the imagery from 'Some Birds' of seeing your own reflection in a window and feeling like it is a twin, or not even really you. So much of this album grapples with identity and how we are made up of fragments of memories and our parents and our experiences. Powerful words, a beautiful tune and a great one.
It is truly beautiful just as a solo acoustic track as well: I listened to Warm all the way through again last night and I think this is such a superb album. I find it deeply moving from start to finish.
Let's Go Rain. Best heard at the end of a 3 day outdoor festival in Massachusetts during a downpour (Solid Sound 2019).
Oh yes, I know what it’s like, all of us here on this thread most certainly do… The song starts almost exactly like a remake of I Must Be High, creating a pavlovian emotion/reaction in all of us. What’s happening here? And then Jeff starts to sing and we instantly reconnect with that voice he supposedly lost somewhere along the way. But it’s still here, that beautiful voice, with that unmissable crackling scruffiness… On the album, I Know What It’s Like is Don’t Forget part 2, and both titles resonate. They are proof Jeff knows exactly what he’s doing: no, we don’t (forget) and yes we do (know what this music is supposed to feel like). The melody is so strong, the guitars are everywhere, this is full of youthful A.M. energy, because I think that’s what this is about: older Jeff setting things straight with his younger self. “I know what it’s like to not feel pain… I know it’s a lie when you say it’s ok”, that’s a conversation between the two Jeffs, the recovered 50 something talking to the young 20 something addict. He could even have said “I know what it’s like to be high”, to establish that the song is a direct answer to the opener of the first Wilco album. As such, this is a very important track in the autobiographical Tweedy quest, and a stunning reminder that if Jeff doesn’t do the classic Wilco sound anymore, it’s not because he can’t, but because he moved on in search for something different. It's still there, it's a language he's fluent in, he can speak it at will, and it's just as beautiful as it was 25 years ago.
I Know What It’s Like: yep, yep, yep! I love this song right out of the box. Echoes of I Must Be High/A.M. and a song I can sing harmonies to and imagine that I sound good! I was fairly indifferent to Sukirae but I’m all in on Warm. If that’s Spencer on drums, he’s gotten a lot better. edit: Living in the Past, eh, Jeff? (had to throw in Tull reference for PW)
I don't know. I think I can throw a rock and hit A.M. from here. "I Must Be High" comparisons are apt, but this certainly branches off from there - another winner.
I'd say 2018 Jeff probably has more in common with AM Jeff than with Summerteeth Jeff. He was so deeply unhealthy in the 1999-2004 period. And he can look back on that now with clarity. AM Jeff was still that music-loving 'mama's boy' from Belleville. He probably had to refind that guy after going through the darkest period of his life. The reflection that came about from losing both parents and writing his memoir reconnected him with AM Jeff, I think.
Possibly. But I doubt the "behind the scenes" miserable character of Summerteeth appeared out of nowhere, although it sounds like Jay showing up kicked up the drug intake! I posted an article awhile back of Jeff and Jay (old Jay) living in Belleville in their rough-and-tumble years nearing the end of Uncle Tupelo, and they seemed in that phase of romanticizing getting drunk and having hijinx, much like I (and many other guys) did in my early/mid 20s. Remember, he was riding on the passenger side at the time for a reason! I'm reminded of that scene in Dazed and Confused at the end, the kids gathered illegally on the 50-yard line of the football field late at night, frolicking and getting high. Pink, the good-looking, cool quarterback who everyone loves, pauses to note that if these are the best years of his life, someone should "remind him to kill himself." And that was the most popular kid in school, with everyone. Yet, we spend the rest of our lives romanticizing those days for some reason. Because we were young? I don't know. I suspect A.M. Jeff's take on life wasn't too far removed from Pink's speech on the 50 yard line.
