A Robin Or A Wren is a beautiful song with some great lyrics. I like the dichotomy of the powerful lyrics being set against a somewhat jaunty song (especially the live version). The understated solo on the recorded version is great, but I like the live version with JE too. And Sammy? Sammy's the secret weapon of this record. You can't beat family harmonies.
"A Robin Or A Wren" has wonderful, powerful lyrics but, for me, the music doesn't match up. The lyrical concept isn't new, but I find it much more effectively done in Freedy Johnston's "The Mortician's Daughter", probably one of my favorite songs period and one that never fails to make me cry. This one is nice but the lyrics on their own are perfection and, for me, the music is too jaunty for the sentiments being portrayed by the words.
Blood harmonies, I've heard them called. Everly Brothers, Beach Boys, Bee Gees, Jacksons, Heart...nobody sings harmony together better than family.
"A Robin or a Wren"- Listen to those lovely guitars and beautiful harmonies! This is my favorite song on the record. It has the country vibe, but doesn't sound like an over the top parody like the last song. Sammy gets all the vocal love on the Tweedy show, but as shown above, Spencer also has a good Tweedy voice. He has an album up on bandcamp and it sounds so much like a young Jeff. The lead guitar on this song gets into some Chet Atkins territory. Not only is it a bird song, but it also wouldn't be out of place on a Byrds album in the Sweetheart of the Rodeo era. Absolutely fantastic! 5/5
Add Liam, Elroy and Harper I absolutely love Robin or a Wren. It's just such a beautiful song, Fantastic melody, lyrics, harmonies, guitar playing. There's time when I laugh at just how brilliant JT is, this album is one of them. I could imagine a solo Mark Knopfler writing something like Robin or a Wren. And to top it off, the Wren is such a canny little bird.
A Country-Western shuffle, but Jeff drops the affected vocal and sings in his normal voice. A hush-vocal, but it suits the song. Sammy sounds wonderful with his Dad, certainly that helps, and really it's just a lovely melody. Like a folk hymn. One of Jeff's best songs in recent years. Probably no coincidence that he had a writing partner, if only because he might have felt more motivated to make his collaboration with George Saunders really special. Maybe he should do a whole album with George.
Hmmm... but collaborators have never helped improve Jeff’s stuff in the past have they? Farrar... Bennett... O’Rourke...
Gwendolyn This is one catchy track. It's one of the best little rockers ("Let's get the party started! With some midtempo rock!") that Jeff has written in years. I absolutely love the main guitar riff and the sound of the guitar on here. That is some classic '70s sounding guitar. The drums are nice and simple from Spencer, just driving and moving. My head uncontrollably nods when I listen to this song. It is so darn bouncy and fun. Very nice lyrics as well. Interestingly, Jeff touches on a few of the lyrics for this song in his book How to Write One Song and it sounds like he wrote the book before the song was complete. He talks about being excited to see what kind of song these lyrics would end up in: And Gwendolyn, when she starts to speak To a county police with a plastic cup between her teeth Cool storytelling, good image. Nothing at all to do with Jeff--just a little character study. This section: That's right when I start missing home She holds my hand between her knees It's like a dream, I never know what it means reminded Jeff of being a teenager and holding sweaty hands with a girl at a social event in some church basement or something. The early teenage flowerings of awkward intimacy. This is a really charming song. I also love "Sun coming up like a piece of toast." What an incredibly endearing way to describe it. This song is just darn feel good and I've played it a lot. The music video is painfully 2020. Jeff wears a mask, which turns into a blue screen for the lower halves of the faces of many famous people to mouth along to the lyrics. I will admit to having a hard time telling who is who. I'm good with faces in general, but it's hard without the eyes.
Gwendolyn: Another nice one. 4 for 4! Sounds like something that could have been on the Mavis Staples record. I guess the old raw vocals are permanently gone, which is a loss, but perhaps the ‘smooth’ voice is easier on the vocal chords. I can’t stand the video, at least the ten seconds worth that I viewed before turning my phone upside down.
I didn't comment on "Opaline," not that I need to, but I dig the straight up country. This could be a Rhett Miller tune if it wasn't delivered so Tweedily. I'd like to hear the solo Ken Bethea would have put on this. (If you don't know the Old 97s, nothing I'm saying here makes sense to you.) "A Robin And A Wren;" I'm beginning to think Jeff has his own version of Cosmic Country. Not sure. A song like this could have been a country hit back in the day, if it was delivered more straightforwardly and with some pep. Edit: Oh, wow, I just realized we're up to "Gwendolyn." This should have been a Wilco song. Another way to put it is, this is a Wilco song. Am I making my point clearly? I'm trying to hear the Nels solo when Jeff does it. Or even the Pat solo! I bet a few of us are.
you got it! catchy and poppy, I like it ... not sure about the video, though, but I rarely watch music videos anyway
Ok, ok. I knew I should've checked ! But Paul still wins : Blackbird, Single Pigeon, Bluebird, On the Wings of a Nightingale, This One, Jenny Wren, Long Tailed Winter Bird (+ And Your Bird Can Sing). And don't get me started on Shearwater ! Anyway, Gwendolyn… This is pure Jeff in a rocking, riffing mode, indeed pretty close to some of the Mavis records, and some Sukierae/WARM(ER) less downbeat songs. There's a common thread going through all those "solo" uptempo bluesy tunes, World Away/Low Key/Why Why Why/Some Birds/Family Ghost/Empy Head/Life Story/At a Distance/Gwendolyn, songs based on fuzzy electric guitar riffs, the pattern of which can be traced back to the Mavis track Only the Lord Knows, that Jeff seems particularly fond of, as he played it extensively on his Tweedy tour. and Gwendolyn is clearly one of the most energetic of the bunch. Here, like on most of these, the main vocal melody is almost note for note the guitar riff itself. What do I make of it ? I don't quite know yet, I'm just noting it for now! Four songs in, we're still waiting for the first bad track, or even the first "difficult" one. Will it ever come ? I don't think so…
And we're suddenly into Wilco territory with Gwendolyn. This is one of those songs that gives me deja vu, too similar to a dozen other Wilco songs. It also reminds me of the first time I heard Everyone Hides, when I had to search the title on Jeff's other projects to make sure that wasn't a remake of an old track. Gwendolyn feels exactly like that, for me it's a skip.
woooooow, didn't know about that! And I watched St. Vincent, maybe the song got stuck in the back of my mind?
Like a number of you, I have not really spent any time in this record - well apart from hearing the title track when the record was announced, I have heard none of it - was waiting for the arrival of the actual album before digging into it. But after reading the comments I decided to dive on it. So starting today I will be going through the songs - hopefully I will get caught up and can go through songs "fresh" each day - each day when they are discussed. "Love is the King" is a good song. I like it "lyrically" a lot more than I like it "musically" - if that makes any sense. I do love Jeff's guitar work on it (as many of you have already commented on). I suspect that this is one of those songs that is going to be a "grower" as I spend more time with this record. A few weeks ago I was on a very, very rare work trip in Lexington, Kentucky and spent the night within walking distance of Joseph A Beth, one of my favorite book stores anywhere. They had a number of "signed" copies of Jeff's book - I had not made a decision on whether to buy it or not (it's not the largest book for the price I have ever seen), but could not resist. Have not started it yet. Until going through the thread I had no idea there was any relationship between that book and the songs on this record. Makes sense, though.
“Gwendolyn” is a catchy, great-sounding tune. I certainly can hear this done as a Wilco song, but this solo version sounds just right as it is.
"Gwendolyn"- I agree that this sounds like a Wilco tune. The bass line is very John, but Spencer has a unique enough style that gives it away that this is a Tweedy song. Even the guitars have some Nels attitude going on. This is a song that would make me nervous if I was in Wilco. Do you think they discuss it? I can imagine Pat's telephone ringing. It's a call from John in Maine. "Hey, have you heard Jeff's new song? It kind of sounds like he is trying to play all our parts! I should have never lent him my bass! Uh Oh!" A catchy tune that sits right in that 70s sweet spot musically and lyrically. 4.5/5
"Opaline" is a good song - like "Love is the King," its not a song that overwhelmingly jumps out at me on first listen. There are a lot of really nice elements to it - much like the album opener, its a song that I really think will be a "grower." And I totally could see Johnny Cash taking a go at this song. It's a song that would have been right in his roundhouse.
Another good song. I like the lead guitar and the bassline, and the lyrics are interesting. I also wanted to shout out the "sun comin' up like a piece of toast" line. Have you seen the t-shirt?
