An Empty Corner: This is a very nice closer, finishing off a solid slate of songs. As a stand-alone it would be a shoo-in for my patented playlist...but dips too much into Sunken Treasure territory. I think. I like six out of the last seven songs on Ode To Joy (beginning with Everyone Hides) and have placed four onto The List. Everyone Hides White Wooden Cross We Were Lucky Hold Me Anyway
Wow, beautifully written summation and analysis, as always @Parachute Woman! As it is, "Empty Corner," wonderful piece that it is, is actually my least favorite song on the album. It is a beautiful song, with some great lyrics and a cool acoustic guitar motif that you mentioned. I just think this song would've been better as a solo track, as I don't think the band brings enough to it. The recording feels listless to me. As good of a song as it is, I think there's a reason the band doesn't play this one live. When Jeff plays this solo, it feels more powerful to me: In summing up Ode to Joy, it really is a terrific album and wonderful achievement. This thread has helped me re-warm up to it, actually. When it came out, it wasn't the direction I was hoping the band would go, so it took me a minute to appreciate. I did learn to really like it, but I hadn't listened to it carefully in a little while until revisiting here, and when you do, you really realize what a standout piece it is. And it definitely is of a piece. It's not a "playlist" type album, to me. Coincidentally, Spotify just created my most-played songs of 2020 playlist yesterday, and there are a bunch of Ode to Joy tracks interspersed in there. They feel less powerful and more out of place bookended by other artists. Three times so far, a Spoon track has segued into an OTJ track on the playlist. Talk about a stark juxtaposition! The last one was "Can I Sit Next to You" into "Before Us." So unnatural and strange! But of course I love them both. The point is Ode to Joy works well as a top-to-bottom album, in its own universe. I said before that I think it represents the mountaintop for the band for this style of songs and recording process, and though I hope there's something surprising and new up next, this is one to be proud of.
OK, inspired again by @Parachute Woman, I had to take my shot at ranking Wilco album closers. Jeff Tweedy always has epic songs to end his albums. Without overthinking it too much, here's how I would rank them: 1. One Sunday Morning 2. On and On and On 3. In a Future Age 4. Just Say Goodbye 5. Reservations 6. Too Far Apart 7. Magnetized 8. The Late Greats 9. Everlasting Everything 10. Dreamer in My Dreams 11. An Empty Corner
ahah, what a treat, this post ! Thank you for that, I laughed out loud and was really proud of the neurotic nerdy character you created (?) for me! As for Empty Corner, I agree with everything our lady Parachute wrote. Best Wilco closer for me too, maybe the best slow waltz Jeff ever wrote, it’s based on superb acoustic chords and another wondrous pondering drum part, completing the journey that started with Bright Leaves, in both a clever, touching and tasteful way. What felt like anxiety and something awkwardly coming to life is now calm, appeased, tender and soothing, as the singer wakes up, after a musical dream that lasted for the 10 songs before it… The chorus is the best part, and the key line is not only sublime in itself, but it's placing (and phrasing) is absolutely masterful, especially the way Jeff makes it implicit that each time "you" is someone different : himself, the listener, his loved one(s), the whole world. Fantastic, fantastic stuff, and a song that is grounded in a kind of quintessential Wilco style, coming from all eras. I'll play the closing track game : An Empty Corner Reservations Just Say Goodbye Dreamer in My Dreams One Sunday Morning In a Future Age Magnetized Everlasting, Everything The Late Greats Too Far Apart On and On and On A beautiful post, one of your very best, and a fitting way to start the 300th page of our beloved thread (which is all but an empty corner!). Happy 300, thread.
For some reason, this track put me in the mind of George Michael's "A Different Corner" (which is a vey good song!). And somehow appropriate that the album ends as it began: plodding and heavy with hints of melody shimmering between the hard, slow beat. Surely one of the better set of lyrics on the album, and indicative of what I go to Wilco for, these strange images and lines that form an emotional consensus. Upon review, Ode to Joy wasn't as bad as my mind built it up to be over passing time. I was initially put off that Jeff's solo sound had bled into the band's sound, but what can you do. If that's the medium he wants to express himself in, so be it. But I can hear some good songs, regardless of production choices that do somehow work (the pounding, plodding drum beats) and don't (muted lead vocals). The next Wilco album will be upbeat? I don't know what that implies in this context! I think some of what's getting to me lies in recent memoirs, not just his, but I got a similar feeling from Springsteen's. We were getting the truth, but not the whole truth. Both were forthcoming with details in situations and memories they wanted us to fully grasp. But less forthcoming when the road got rough. In Jeff's terms, the fallout with Jay B. (which had "many reasons" despite only two being detailed in the book) and the odd mixed signals describing his teenage years (punk outcast vs. reasonably well-adjusted, quiet kid). Springsteen casting a mostly blind eye and no personal accountability to the wild image-making machinery that accompanied the Born in the USA push (save to note he found himself uncomfortable with that level of fame, despite courting it) and some aspects of his ongoing depression (that he simply describes as dark impulses, but there have been some embarrassing stories in the press involving angry husbands and redheads at the gym ...). Granted, one isn't expected to grovel in the mud in a memoir, but when hard memories are glossed over or ignored, it suggests a selective memory that serves an image, not one's true self. And that's neither here nor there, save that I get the feeling of being emotionally over-invested in both their lives now, and it feels like part of the plan. Is this the result of social media and the constant, well-curated sense of self? I've read dozens of rock bios and auto-bios, and at this point and am more prone to trusting Sammy Hagar over Springsteen! For some reason, I don't feel emotionally over-invested in most rock stars who've had a more profound effect on me than Wilco. I've read a handful of books about Ray Davies, and two that were autobiographical in nature. I'm left feeling that Ray's been a bit of an *ssh*le, and that he knows it, too. Of course, his brother insists he's much more of one than Ray's aware! The ultimate point is I don't feel I have to be concerned with Ray Davies' personal life. Like most artists on that level, he seems tough as nails and if not fully self aware, then at least aware of how hard it is to stay functioning at that level and hang on to yourself. Of course, the ultimate expression for all these people is the music, and what I trust more, over the memoirs and biographies. This is what they want to reveal, their true, best selves, as opposed to the occasional mess their personal lives are. In some respect, it's my fault for being raised in an era of Rolling Stone where we were taken inside the lives of famous musicians and made to care, which in turn, drew us closer to them and gave us impetus to care about more than the music. I'm not sure if this is a good thing. Or at least the only thing I recall my Dad being upset about with Glenn Miller was when his plane went missing.
“You’ve got family out there” might be one of the most life-affirming, maybe even life-saving, single lines Jeff Tweedy, and yet it’s so simple and understated.
I can just close my eyes and sink into An Empty Corner. The repetitive drum pattern, the acoustic guitars, the fantastic melodies, and the rest of the instrumentation creates a soundscape that absorbs me. It’s a perfect ending to the album, and I agree with Parachute Woman that it's one of the best final tracks on any Wilco album. While it’s a little unchanging at times, I think there are a lot of really good songs on Ode to Joy. Lyrically the album is certainly not joyous, but this isn't a surprise. I don't yet rank it as one of Wilco’s true classics, but it’s an album I can really enjoy when I want to just shut my eyes and listen. Tonight is a music night (with a glass or two of scotch whisky) and I intend to give it a focused listen late in the evening, with the benefit of the discussions here enhancing my enjoyment. I think it's an album that will age well, and over time it's likely to rise in my preferences. I don't do rankings; music is too mood-dependent, and groups and albums are so different from each other that I don't know how to begin (although I do have albums I consider top-tier, the ones with which I'll end an evening of listening). But I'll make a couple of comments: The album that rose most in my opinion was Star Wars. I knew I liked it, but the detailed discussion really brought it into focus for me. On the other hand, I realized I really don't like Schmilco. I was kind of neutral, but it's just not an album I look forward to hearing. It's the only Wilco album I feel that way about.
my question @Zeki - "Was I in Your Dreams"? Given the amount of duct tape involved, I'm counting myself blessed and I can't keep from asking - who was on the Passenger Side?
"An Empty Corner" is indeed a good closer and one of the better album tracks here (though I can't put it over my favorites "Too Far Apart" and " The Late Greats") Overall, I like Ode to Joy pretty well, better than Schmilco. I have always really liked Star Wars so not sure I am going to do that comparison, they are very different
@Parachute Woman you really nailed it in your post on An Empty Corner. It's my favorite song on the album too. I was struck right away by the "You've got family out there" line, and I think my favorite lyric on the record is the "Where the power lines are down / Whipping sparks around / Like angels touching down / I see you there" (which makes a return in slightly modified form on Love Is The King). I also love the "my eyes need a shave" line and "my sleep could not complete". The soundscape on this song is fantastic with that swirling synth sound in the background, the tinkling piano, the lovely strummed acoustic, and the jingling percussion. This was the song I most wanted to see live at the OTJ shows, and in that respect I was disappointed. They played it at the first Austin show, but not at night 2, which was the one I was at. So close! This spring Jeff said on the Tweedy Show that the reason they didn't play that song very much was due to a hand injury that he had at the time. It must have had a chord or chord sequence that was difficult with his injury. Overall I love Ode To Joy, and I have since I first heard it. PW said it perfectly that it takes what was great about WARM (which I also love) and "dresses it up in lovely Wilco clothes". Yes!
"Empty Corner"- This sums it up for me as well. I love that "Whipping sparks around" lyric so much I am confused why he used it again when it is much more effective on this song. It may not be my favorite song on the album, but it's one of the most powerful. 5/5 As far as best closers go, I will play along. Reservations One Sunday Morning Empty Corner In A Future Age Magnetized The Late Greats Dreamer In My Dreams Just Say Goodbye On and On and On Everlasting Everything Too Far Apart I knew I loved Ode To Joy but this made me realize it really is one of their best. I will have a hard time ranking the albums at the end. I don't think I can do it. It might have to be a tier system. Too many albums are equal to me and not easy to put one over the other. Ode To Joy will easily be near the top. I'm not sure what will be next from Wilco, but it will be difficult to match the intensity and cohesive vision of this record. It's an album that is best played from beginning to end. No weak songs and it achieves what every artist should aspire to. A complete album that you can get lost in for 40 minutes. Jeff has never been about writing a few good songs and filling in the gaps with lesser material. Every album has a theme and a certain mood that is so well thought out. His next book should be How To Write One Album. My ratings of Ode to Joy was full of perfect scores. Judging from this it most likely could be my highest rated album. 1. Before Us- 5/5 2. Hold Me Anyway- 5/5 3. Empty Corner- 5/5 4. Quiet Amplifier- 5/5 5. We Were Lucky- 5/5 6. Love is Everywhere- 5/5 7. Citizens- 5/5 8. One and A Half Stars- 4.5/5 9. Bright Leaves- 4.5/5 10. Everyone Hides- 4/5 11. White Wooden Cross- 4/5
Yeah, I should have spent some more time on it and inserted references to white wooden crosses, the rows and rows of houses, etc. Anyway, I do think a bus road trip with the thread participants would be a blast.
I just celebrated the end of this fine album by doing lines off of a copy machine. Kidding! I feel much the same way about this album as Parachute Woman. Not entirely the same way, but certainly about the same weight of emotion, or the same weight spread across different emotions. This album hit me in a way like no other Wilco. But I'll joke about it as a defense mechanism. In addition to the U.S. CD, I bought the Japanese version. It has "All Lives, You Say?" as the last track. This track is overtly political, clearly a reaction to the phrase, "All Lives Matter." Oops, got a little ahead of the thread here.
Empty Corner... I’ll give it a “pretty good”. I like the central motif and the band arrangement is decent (check out the 2-hour mark or so of the Brooklyn Steel show for a full band live version!). As I raised a few days ago I read these songs through the lens of what I know of Jeff’s story. If you’ve read Jeff’s memoir, this one’s hard to divorce from the cocaine-on-the-copier story, so it becomes specific. What I find touching in the story is the overall arc of moving from a quite turbulent life, to anchoring meaning in family love. Sadly, it’s a story that’s not really explored outside of country music, and in that genre it’s often reduced to trite odes to mama. So while I take @fspringer ’s point that Jeff’s telling of his story is likely selective (forget the Jay story, John only gets passing mention!!!), I’d say anyone who can go from addiction to a loving family and successful creative career has done ok. But now I’ll get into what makes OTJ just an ok album for me, and where Empty Corner exemplifies my beef... I love Warm(er) and the songwriting on OTJ feels like a natural extension of that project. I’m also not one who feels like OTJ just sounds like more Tweedy solo... I can hear the band element all over. But, I wish there was just more. I’ve actually felt this with Wilco before, particularly with two album closers: On and On and On and Everlasting Everything. Both were beautiful songs that I wish they just let run wild. And with One Sunday Morning (my favourite Wilco closer by far!), they finally did it. They took Jeff’s little folk figure and ran it into blissful abandon. Those are the the moments where new Wilco are the best band in the world for me. Look at what Nels Did when he got his hands on Ashes of American Flags, for example. That coda is sublime. So while I like the bulk of the songs here, and there are all sorts of cool things going on instrumentally here, I just wish that Jeff would differentiate his solo work from his band work by really letting the band run wild. And by that, I don’t (necessarily) mean Art of Almost freak-outs, but I do mean letting them take the reigns on his songs for a bit. I also think it’s telling that my two favourite Wilco albums are the ones where he let someone else - Jim O’Rourke - take the reigns. Because every album since has been Jeff with Tom engineering (Pat my have co-produced one right?). It seems pretty clear that Jeff is focusing on a very minimal approach and that’s fine, but I think the big band is due for a shake up. I’ll keep listening, because every new album has interesting stuff, but I feel like there is more out there from Wilco. As a final comment on the “memoir era”, it’s interesting how much music that process produced. By contrast, Bruce Cockburn got a serious case of writer’s block when he wrote his memoir. It took a few years before he could write new songs!
Tomorrow might also be the time to look at Jeff's song, "At a Distance," from his score for the Alex Winter documentary Showbiz Kids, released last Summer.
Yes. And maybe also "Whisper" from the Good music charity album, last September, if someone has it… You had to buy it on a given day, which I failed to do . As a side note : it just occurred to me that the “hold me anyway” title (not part of the lyrics) is the direct answer to the “love is everywhere” affirmation: it's like he's saying "love may be everywhere, but I still need you to hold me. Please…" For me, Ode to Joy is the best six members Wilco album. And I see it as their most original and genre defying work, along with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Back a hundred pages ago, we’ve been instructed not to make too many “this song sounds a bit like this or that” comments by our head mistress. But it is NOT the reason we almost never did it in the last 11 days. The reason is we just couldn’t, because nothing here is derivative of any specific sound. If it was, I can assure you we wouldn’t have resisted it. I know I wouldn’t’ve!! All the other Wilco records are defined by whatever section of their record collections they were exploring at the time. Not this one. Take the drums parts, for instance. A touchstone of the “tribal” sounds could be Peter Gabriel III, the melting album, and especially its lead off track Intruder. But Glenn’s work takes it to a completely different level, to the point where it can’t even be described as an influence anymore. I’ll add that it’s exactly what Tweedy & co. set out to do. He said they decided they wouldn’t consciously reference anything from rock history this time around. But it’s one thing to decide it, and another to pull it off… The songs are all good to great but in this case, it’s the album that counts. Lots of people complained about the sequencing, but I suspect Jeff wrote it that way, almost song after song, like a concept album. It works that way for me, not lyrically, but musically. It chronicles the rebirth of the band, and how they come back into Jeff’s world and reconnect with him and where he's at artistically. At first, they are almost menacing, creating some kind of ominous chaos around him. But gradually, it all gels, they’ve adjusted to his new approach to songwriting to make it their own. And in the last few songs, they are gloriously enveloping, the music being like a huge blanket for him and us to cuddle in.
Can you jog my memory, how that story goes? I read the memoir, but don't remember that part. "An Empty Corner" is a nice tune, although I think the lyrics heavily rely on the listeners to project themselves into certain key phrases to really get something out of what he's saying. If you feel like you have an intimate understanding of his life story, then some lines seem heavy with meaning. If you have a close-knit family support, then "you've got family out there" feels especially powerful. But at the same time, it's all elusively vague. Telling without telling. Which is an artful trick to pull off, but I think it's also what keeps me at a distance. I don't feel a strong connection to what he's written, here. Comparing his wife (probably) to downed power lines, "Whipping sparks around, like angels touching down," is an interesting addition to the canon, though. More interesting when I also think of how he's written about her before. See what I mean? He's world-building. I think Ode to Joy is a good album that I might like better if I just dropped "Bright Leaves" and maybe shuffled one or two songs from Side A into later slots in the program. As it is, it's a very slow starter, not as much exuberant joy as I would like. Although the band clearly put great care into the arrangements, it still feels too much like a part of the Warm project (and I probably like the best ~14 songs from that project better than this set of songs, too). Rather than building tracks with Spencer, Jeff is just telling Glenn how he would like the drums to sound (in his story, he makes it out like he just guided Glenn toward an epiphany, but he was cleverly directing Glenn to play what he wanted, as the boss would do), then bringing in the others to fill out the basic tracks. They are sidemen on retainer, now. But I also feel like Wilco could be so much more. Their music could be so much more if there were more push and pull, or "whipping sparks around," in the collaborative process. I hope that next time out, they really do fulfill Jeff's promise to make celebratory music, songs that invite you to sing and shout, jump around or dance. Less music that requires close listening with headphones in the dark, scouring lyrics for clues about Jeff's marriage and thinking about how his thoughts on grief and depression might relate to my own. I am ready for a fresh change.
I believe it’s from the store he worked in as a teen. A memory that evoked the aimlessness of life in his small town.
I hate to point it out, but I made the same mistake at least twice previously in this thread. Horses have reins, and kings reign. I think it was Gabe K. who quietly noted "reins" in his response, to which the thought bubble over my head responded, "Oh, ****!" I need to spend more time around horses and kings. Good point about John "The Invisible Man" Stirratt. Dude's been with the band since before the band, and it's like he's not even there.
It's interesting to think about the degree of "Wilco" involvement on Ode to Joy. On the one hand, I can see the perspective that it is like Warm dressed up with more adornment in Wilco clothes. There are lot of detailed and unique flourishes you wouldn't see on a solo album. On the other hand, it also kind of feels like a Jeff Tweedy-Glenn Kotche project primarily. There are no cowrites. Nels' parts are much more ambient/atmospheric than muscular lead guitar running through a song. For comparison's sake, check out Joan Osbourne's new album, which Nels guests on in a more shackle-free, traditional lead guitar role. It's not like listening to a Nels Cline Singers jam or anything, but it showcases a different side of him that would be nice to see in Wilco again. Jeff was still going for the minimalist approach, as opposed to the full carnival of Sky Blue Sky through The Whole Love. Ode to Joy is just not a stretch-out kind of album, and it suits the material and the tone. It would be nice to see them attempt that next however (assuming that's even possible in an individual quarantine recording set up).
"An Empty Corner" is a suitable closing track for Ode To Joy. It's a lovely, moving song, even though the lyrics don't really make sense to me in a direct fashion. The song is successful, however, at imparting a feeling of warmth and succor, which is what I respond to more than the words. It's one of their better album closers, although I don't think anything can top "One Sunday Morning".
I asked him about that when I met him on his book tour and he admitted that he was having trouble writing new songs. He's put out a couple of albums since that time now, but I guess it was a problem at that point.
I believe it was when he was commissioned to write the song for Al Purdy that things opened up a bit. He’s not as prolific as he once was, but he’s a good example of an artist maintaining a high standard into his 70s!
Ode To Joy is certainly the Wilco/Tweedy album I like the most in the post-The Whole Love period. I also think that it is an album that will continue to grow in stature for me with repeated listens. On the other hand, I suspect that it is always going to be an album that I have to be in a certain mood to want to play. This is in contrast to all of Wilco's album up through TWL, which I can play pretty much at any time (well, Summerteeth might be an exception!). I do find the album a bit depressing, at least in my current state of mind. Too much focus on family and personal memories for me; "Citizens" is the track I find the most refreshing here because of its outward outlook. I very much hope that the next Wilco album follows that direction more. I do find the album sonically interesting, far more so than any of Tweedy's solo albums. As many have said, this seems to very much be a "headphones" album. I rarely listen to music with headphones, and certainly not at home, but this might be a good one to test out that way. Ranking the songs on Ode To Joy by preference: Love Is Everywhere (Beware) Citizens Before Us Everyone Hides An Empty Corner Quiet Amplifier White Wooden Cross Bright Leaves We Were Lucky Hold Me Anyway One And A Half Stars My final (through 2020) ranking of Wilco albums in order of preference: 1. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 2. Being There 3. A Ghost Is Born 4. The Whole Love 5. A.M. 6. Sky Blue Sky 7. Kicking Television: Live In Chicago 8. Mermaid Avenue, Vol. II 9. Mermaid Avenue 10. Ode To Joy 11. Schmilco 12. Summerteeth 13. Wilco (The Album) 14. Star Wars
