Can't remember the last time I played this one. Not bad really, just never the one I reach for when I have that Wilco itch. YHF and Being There are my go-tos for Wilco.
This is a great point, and I agree, that's the sign a good band. I do wonder though, for those that prefer Wilco's later output (including Sky Blue Sky), are those the albums that you heard first, and then you slowly worked backward? I tend to think that we generally prefer what we hear first (if we like it at all).
He's no longer a drug addict, that's the change. I see no drop in songwriting quality though. Just a bit different and he is alive which may not have been the case otherwise
I think there may be truth in that. Personally, I gave them a go with AM - probably 10 years ago or more, and it just didn't catch. I didn't dislike it, but it just went passed me. I then returned on the back of YHF - and that definitely worked for me. I then worked back and forth through their catalogue. For me, personally, the low-light is Ode. I don't hate it, but I find it a little boring. Schmilcho starts with a real bang - super opening tracks, but then fades (imo). And I've just not spent enough time with Star Wars to have a solid opinion. Everything else, I like a lot. And, personally, I do think Cousin stands up with their very best. I've found myself listening to it a lot.
While I do enjoy their later albums, it would be nice to see them switch things up again. The slower, mid-tempo stuff causes some of their material to run together for me.
Yeah - and I think this is a pretty clear consensus. I personally now find YHF to be overrated; “overrated” in the sense that it’s the only Wilco album that I ever see appear on any “best-of” lists. IMO the band didn’t figure out how they wanted these songs to sound until a few years later. All of these songs opened up onstage, and if I want to hear YHF now, I just play Kicking Television.
SBS is a very solid album. I think it’s the anti- AGIB/YHF. It has this mellow vibe that seems the opposite of AGIBs angst. There are a handful of Wilco albums that I would rank above it, however on its own, it’s still very good.
I was in on Wilco from the very start, as I had just fallen in love with Uncle Tupelo around 1992. And was bummed when they split up!!! So I've lived with these albums for a long time time now. Of the first few, the only one that has fallen in my rankings is Summerteeth - something about that record now feels like a "Hey we got protools, a Mellotron and analogue sythns - lets use them - ON EVERY TRACK." That's the only Wilco album where I've really had a change of opinion. I guess maybe too much Jay/Jeff manic behavior on that one.
I listened to it the year it came out, found it dull, and haven't felt like listening to it since. At the time, it felt like an enormous drop off from A Ghost Is Born, which I loved and listened to constantly.
I've never understood the adulation for "Summerteeth." It's a rather pedestrian album to me. Wilco's very best albums (for me) follow right after it: YHF, Ghost, and Sky Blue Sky. It's refreshing to hear a bunch of you saying the more recent releases are forgettable, that they've gone downhill after that peak period. I agree. I have a friend who goes ape **** every time they release an album, saying how great it is. I want to say, "there's so much less to this than you think."
I think there was a relative dip with Star Wars, Schmilco and Ode to Joy. I put Cruel Country right up with the likes of Sky Blue Sky and The Whole Love. I am not sure Cousin is quite as good, but it is slowly revealing it's charms. I also haven't seen any of the songs live yet which tends to change my opinion of them.
Possibly the greatest show I’ve seen by anyone, ever - was that incarnation of Wilco in January 2003 at the Palace Melbourne. Just unbelievable from start to finish. Over 3 hours and an epic journey!
I feel the exact same way as you about the recent 5 albums! Star Wars, Schmilco and ode to joy are all forgettable. Cruel Country is fantastic and Cousin gets better the more I listen, and especially after seeing some of the songs live. The cruel country and cousin songs are absolutely majestic live.
I love Sky Blue Sky, it's the Wilco album I go to the most, closely followed by Summerteeth. Either Way, Impossible Germany, Side with the Seeds and On and On and On are all top notch tracks.
YHF is very much a "studio" creation, though. They pretty much destroyed that version of the band figuring out the sound of that record.
I don't disagree with this assessment, but I think that the album is a bit too claustrophobic, staid and demo-ish, compared to what they did with the songs later. I think highly of the songs on the album and consider the album as solidly belonging among their top run of albums, but - considering how much the songs were improved outside that context - I cannot personally rank it as Wilco's best (or second or even third) best any more.
I was at one of the shows at the Vic in Chicago recorded for Kicking Television. Great show. The new lineup was steadier although perhaps not as dramatic as the Summerteeth/YHF era band must have been (I never saw them, although some of my friends were at the July 4 2001 final show of the YHF lineup). Incidentally, in 2003 I got to spend a few days at Jay Bennett's studio as my band hired him to mix a live record. He did have quite a collection of analog keyboards.
Nowhere near their best and the start of their decline as far as I’m concerned. Quite a few tedious releases over recent years and were a far better band when Jay was around
