I don’t consider SBS to be among their best albums, and I think the follow-up is just as good (and I like Whole Love slightly more than both). But, that notwithstanding, we’re still talking about the years in which I was still a big fan. Also, IMO Wilco’s best tours were in that 2006-2012 range. I especially loved the summer tour where they were mostly playing in minor league baseball fields.
I actually like Star Wars almost as much as Sky Blue Sky and (the album). They were starting to repeat themselves.a bit for awhile there and I thought Star Wars was a nice breath of fresh air.
While I agree that the later albums would poll lower, it still doesn't change the fact that "Sky Blue Sky" is pulling close to 20%, which by simple math would put it fairly high in the rankings. In this poll from 2018 (choose 3 favorites) it finished 5th- behind the big 3 "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot", "Being There" & "Summerteeth" & just behind "A Ghost Is Born". I don't think any of the albums after "Schmilco" are likely to be overtaking that in any new poll, so a solid 5th, out of 13 albums, puts it above the top half & closer to the top 1/3. Poll : Choose your favourite Wilco / Tweedy Albums Personally I think their later albums are all still varying degrees of great. For me, they are as favorite a band as I have & their catalog sounds pretty impeccable from soup to nuts. That later albums might not make my top 5 Wilco albums doesn't mean that I don't still prefer them to most other artists best works & I do. But that's just weighing in on that issue... To which I'd add... Take the best Wilco & Jeff Tweedy/Tweedy solo tracks from the last how many ever years/albums & you still have a body of work that precious few artists even approach equaling over the same time period. For me, the only major artists up there recently would be Yo La Tengo, St. Vincent & Paul Simon... Tedeschi-Trucks Band & later Leonard Cohen being not far behind them... But I don't anyone else on the sonic landscape eclipsing/overtaking them & to be that great, this late, is a rare thing indeed & something worth celebrating for me
The only post Sky Blue Sky album that has really resonated with me is Wilco Schmilco. There have been good stuff on most of the albums but nothing that works as a complete whole for me since Ghost. Then again I’m one of those awful Wilco fans who feel the band really fell off after Jay was kicked out.
That larger poll does kind of prove my point. It got beat by the four albums I listed. I don’t doubt that Sky Blue Sky would finish 5th in voting. It’s about exactly where I would imagine it would place. Maybe I would have guessed A.M. would place higher but it’s close. I did say it would make my top half of the albums but just barely. For me I rank A.M. higher and it’s close between Sky Blue Sky and Schmilco. I don’t hold the same esteem towards the later albums as you do. You’re right that there are good stuff on nearly all the stuff they’ve done but the albums as whole don’t really work for me. I did enjoy Warm and Warmer.
I think their peak was Summerteeth to Sky Blue Sky, all superb. Obviously YHF is their masterpiece though. And their last 2 records are brilliant too (as is The Whole Love).
I think even Jeff Tweedy doesn't like Schmilco! Candidate for their weakest album (but it's still pretty good!)
My third favorite after Summerteeth and Yankee Hotel. Being There and Ghost are also nearly as good. Anyway it's definitely one of their best, confident and mature and emotive without being melodramatic. It caught some flak when it was released for being "dad rock," which I still think is stupid.
I'm in the camp that thinks that everything that that came before SBS was better, including Mermaid Avenue 1 & 2. Sky Blue Sky was the start of a different phase for Wilco. I guess I just prefer the earlier stuff (which is common for any band) as it seems more memorable to me, regarless of whether it was country, rock, experimental or something else. "Impossible Germany" is fantastic though.
SBS set the template for the rest of their career. They haven’t really changed things up since. Kind of a weird band in that they are consistently solid but, for a long time, never great. They are more than happy to stay in their comfort zone.
It's a strange situation when Wilco "fans" can kind of dump on the band, but no decent is allowed from Swift fans in the discussion of her new record, or any record.... There is no consensus, three or four albums generally seem to aspire to that place and then there are some who really like Whole Love or Cruel Country. Wilco for me is a sum of its parts band, they're all great musicians with a desire to explore and push boundaries. I like the production, textures and ideas as much as the songs. If their music is "boring" so is music made by Taylor Swift, Kiss, The Rolling Stones, Leonard Cohen, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan....
From what I've seen there is a dissent amount of criticism of Taylor Swift's most recent album, especially some of the lyrics.
Sky Blue Sky is a good album. I’m not sure what their best album is. I like them all and I think that Cousin is very good, as is Cruel Country. I do know they have loads of great songs and we still love catching them on tour. Never fail to entertain!
Yes, but there's a significant amount of well meaning men (on SHF) that try to shut it down very quickly.
Hate it Here should not have made the cut, prefigures tedious self-absorption-bordering-on-aggression like "I love to take my meds". It's sort of an oddly sequenced album. Impossible Germany is the closer to end all closers, possibly their best single track.
I can't speak for finest. But it is absolutely one of my most listened to albums. I do skip a couple whereas the albums before I don't skip songs. But the level of some of the songs on SBS are extremely high and enjoyable.
It's difficult to say, but I'm going with "yes". I love the laid-back nature of it, even if it isn't their most groundbreaking or daring. Whenever I'm in the mood for Wilco it's often the first album I consider listening to.
For me it's Summerteeth followed by Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Sky Blue Sky is actually the beginning of their decline IMO.
I don’t know about best, but my favorite Wilco memory is seeing them on this tour at Marymoor Park near Seattle. Specifically, that simple solo that Jeff plays on a Martin acoustic during the title track, ringing out through the warm summer night.
Coming from a pretty big fan… YHF and GIB are my two favorites , and in my opinion are their best albums. Summerteeth is close. SBS was a pretty big departure for them at the time. It was literally the album that coined the phrase “dad rock” (thanks pitchfork). it’s gotten some serious accolades over time due to the live performances of some of the best songs on that album. But the album cut of Impossible Germany doesn’t quite hit the live jammy feel. The A side of SBS is fantastic. The B side has a couple tracks that prevent it from being “perfect” in my eyes. I also really love the songwriting on Being there which out of all their albums is probably the closest relative to Sky blue sky. Other then Wilco the album, which is one of my least favorite records due to the songs feeling uninspired oin comparison. As far as post - SBS :Whole love is my favorite : I also enjoy a little bit of each album. Finally … would recommend the warm/warmer Jeff solo albums, as I think lyrically it’s some of his best songwriting .
This is where I come down too, although I'm a fan of the much-maligned Wilco (The Album) because to me it's their catchiest set of tunes post-YHF, and The Whole Love is a quality album. I respect A Ghost is Born more than I enjoy it. SBS on the other hand bores me to tears, and as much as I periodically try I cannot get into the Star Wars/Schmilco/Ode to Joy run of albums. All of these albums have their champions and I'm happy for anyone who loves them, but they don't do it for me. Cruel Country I enjoyed although like most doubles it'd be better as a single (with mostly the tracks from its second half) and Cousin was very good although I have to revisit it to see if it holds up since it's been a couple months since I listened. In the end though their Being There-Summerteeth-Mermaid Ave-YHF run was their peak, as it is with most artists at a similar point in their career and the rest are variations on a theme.
