tropicalports:After their wild experimental streak of the past decade, Wilco's sixth studio album might feel like a bit of a comedown. Sky Blue Sky is mellow, moody, and uncharacteristically monotone, opening with a pleasant jangle and Jeff Tweedy singing a simple song: "Maybe the sun will shine today, the clouds will blow away." He doesn't even follow it up with a barbed punchline. Could it be that the restless Chicago band has settled back into its gentle Americana roots--or does this sudden mid-career reappraisal represent Wilco's gutsiest move yet? Mostly written in the studio by the full band, it's certainly the group's most cohesive album in ages, presenting a dense song cycle padded with intricate guitar work, brushed rhythms, and '70s soft-rock accents. In places it sounds like Wings ("Hate It Here"), in others Harry Nilsson ("Walken"), and in the middle it goes a bit Grateful Dead ("Shake It Off"). At the same time, there's a distinct sense of hearing a band finally at ease in its own skin. Sky Blue Sky represents the sound of Wilco finally pulling through its petulant adolescence. --Aidin Vaziri
Sobriety Breeds Perfection First let me say I think Jeff Tweedy is the very best male talent around today period (Jewel being the best female). This is his very best album, he uses Nels Cline to perfection, the writing is sharp and clear and the sounds delightful. This is the sound of a mind set free after years of addiction and just hard living. Like it or not WILCO is Jeff Tweedys project to do , say and use people in his vision. And here he uses everyone to perfection. This album is a bloomer if you dont love it at first try try again. Some of the very best songs took me a while to set in, SHAKE IT OFF for instance, I thought was the weak link first few listens. Now I think it one of his very best songs. This is WILCO's very most Joy filled album. I highly recommend it to all, especially to you 40 and over people desperate for something as good as the classic rock we knew.
tropicalports:Named in honor of the three-word codes used by short-wave radio operators, Wilco's fourth album sounds like a late-night broadcast of some weirdly wonderful pop station punctuated by static and the sonic bleed of competing signals. Songs that begin with simple, elegiac grace--"Ashes of American Flags" and "Poor Places"--end in a cathartic squall of distortion. The results can be initially jarring, but it's these tracks more than the sturdy jangle pop of "Kamera" or "Heavy Metal Drummer" that demand, and reward, repeated listens. Mixed by studio experimentalist Jim O'Rourke and produced by the band, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot harkens back to a time when the words "pop" and "sonic adventurism" weren't mutually exclusive. The Beatles and Kurt Cobain knew this, and clearly so do Jeff Tweedy and company. --Keith Moerer
Imagine Cloning Blonde On Blonde With Sgt Pepper What if Bob Dylan joined the Beatles? That is Wilco! Jeff Tweedy is the driving force behind this group. Is Yankee Hotel Foxtrot that good? Can it rank up there with Blonde On Blonde and Sgt Pepper? You decide.
tropicalports:Wilco's de facto frontman, Jeff Tweedy, sports a colorful past, one where he wrote paint-peelers dedicated to late Minutemen founder D. Boon as a member of the feted (and maybe fated) Uncle Tupelo and where he dolefully crooned Woody Guthrie lyricson 1998's Mermaid Avenue. But Wilco's Summer Teeth shows hardly a tatter of Tweedy's herky-jerky postpunk intensity or the agrarian rootsiness that so often came in the past from him. Instead this layered album spreads its digits far into guitar-heavy Britpop, with full-group backing vocals carrying bouncy choruses and synths whistling over the melodies. The tunes sound like a crosshatch of orchestral plans and an execution drawing on Alex Chilton and Big Star, the Kinks, and, only distantly, Wilco's debut, A.M. "We're Just Friends" and "Via Chicago" stand as harmonized twists on ballad formulas, the latter recalling Mermaid Avenue's "California Stars" with the opening line, "I dreamed about killing you again last night / And it felt all right to me." So it's not always uplifting or cheery, but it's got dozens of surprises in a mere 15 songs. --Andrew Bartlett
4.5 Stars: My Favorite Wilco Album It might not be Wilco's best album (many would argue Yankee Hotel is), but Summer Teeth is my favorite by the band. As far as the musical arrangements go, it's their most keyboard-heavy release. It has piano, organ, harpsichord, and Magical Mystery Tour-like synthesizers. It also has banjo, strings, horns, harmonica,and bells. No whistles, though. Unlike the band's last two albums, "A Ghost is Born" and "Sky Blue Sky," it has no extended guitar solos. And throughout, there's very little dissonance. Here, Wilco is more influences by the Beatles and solo Lennon material than--as they would be on Yankee Hotel--Radiohead.
The songwriting is among the band's best. Highlight's include "She's a Jar" "Shot in the Arm" (containing the great line, "The ashtray says, you've been up all night") and "Via Chicago." Wilco strikes an interesting balance here between warm musical arrangements and sometimes disturbing lyrics such as "She begs me not to hit her" ("She's a Jar") and "Dreamed about killing you again last night and it felt alright to me." ("Via Chicago"). A well-paced album that stands up to repeat listening.
tropicalports: essential recordingWilco's follow-up to A.M. impresses first with its size: 19 tunes fill the double-CD package, and the packaging unfolds like a larger-than-life 1970s-era gatefold album cover. But the love affair with the artwork is short-lived, fading as the music takes center stage, making plain the band's overwhelming stretch into innumerable styles. Jeff Tweedy's love of pop and the mechanics of making pop albums is clear almost immediately, as he and his cohort utilize the studio to create and manipulate undertows and snaky recorded elements throughout many of their tunes (a keyboard touch, a guitar's flair, a cymbal's unexpected crash). There are the plainspoken acoustic numbers, recalling Tweedy's tenure in Uncle Tupelo, and there are also unwinding swoops of tinted, guitar-heavy rock--one of which collapses into chromatic jabs at a piano only to resolve in silence on "Sunken Treasure." Oodles of influences fill Wilco's collective mind, and they're perfectly content to pile the trace elements atop each other and make scrambled pop perfection. --Andrew Bartlett
Wilco's last country/roots rock albumn I love Uncle Tupelo and the early work of the two splinter bands: Son Volt, led by Jay Farrar, and Wilco, led by Jeff Tweedy. Although this is only the second albumn from Wilco, it is their last as a country-rock band. The song writing is solid. The instrumentation is simple and direct. Tweedy's raspy vocals and Jay Bennett's guitar playing really came together well. For people like me who love the roots rock stuff, this is a great albumn, and the last before Wilco got into some strange alt-pop stuff.
tropicalports:The infectious twang and pop hooks of Wilco's former efforts may be fading fast, but A Ghost Is Born is still a rewarding effort that demands repeated listening. The group's fifth album extends upon the experimentalism of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot with angular, blues-soaked guitar riffs ("At Least That's What You Said," "Hell Is Chrome"), a handful of sparse, yet catchy tunes (smack dab in the middle of the disc) that will surely keep college radio stations smiling, and a lengthy track that descends into mere static ("Less Than You Think"). Frontman Jeff Tweedy's songwriting continues to evolve: "Hummingbird" is a dreamy Randy Newman-styled love song; "The Late Greats" is a sly ode to the world of pop tacked onto the end of the album (as if using such a fun song on this understated disc was an afterthought). Meanwhile, producer extraordinaire Jim O'Rourke manages to make the most complicated arrangements here sound minimalist and laid-back. All told, it's another great addition to the Wilco canon. --Jason Verlinde
Works for me... I loved this record immediately. It surprised me, no doubt, as it is a departure from previous stuff. But on the first listen, to the first track, when the noise started, I was thrilled. Any child of the 70's probably misses this kind of guitar playing. And I guess some people who didn't grow up in that decade miss it.
I welcome the addition of Nels Cline, have been listening to Sky Blue Sky a lot lately and absolutely love the work they're putting out. It transcends categorization to me--I think it will sound just as good in 20 years. But, as you can see from previous posts, it's not for everyone. Which is totally fine in my book.
tropicalports:Comprising frontman Jeff Tweedy and other former members of alt.country legend Uncle Tupelo, Wilco was an apple that didn't fall far from the tree. A.M., the band's debut, continues that older group's brand of updated country-rock (emphasis on "rock") and emotionally powerful songwriting. However, many of the best creations here--the driver's-licenseless drunk in "Passenger Side," the bar-band celebration of riverboat gambling on "Casino Queen"--sport an unprecedented sense of humor and are unexpectedly catchy, too. Best of all might be "It's Just That Simple,"in which Tweedy turns the mic over to the high and mournful singing of bassist John Stirratt. --David Cantwell
The first in a series of worthwhile Wilco cds This record is a solid example of alt-country or country rock. For fans of those genres, aficionados of Uncle Tupelo or lovers of Wilco it is, of course, essential. For the rest of us A.M. is simply good listening. Jeff Tweedy has an affecting voice. The musicianship is uniformly excellent. The lyrics are pretty well what you expect from music that sounds like this - simple, not very deep, occasionally amusing. I buy Wilco's disc as they are released. I'm not a huge fan. However, whenever I play one of their discs, as long as it is for listening and not as background, I enjoy. If you like Tom Petty or Gram Parsons you should like this.
tropicalports:Recorded over four-nights in front of a sold-out hometown crowd at Chicago's historic Vic Theatre in 2005, Kicking Television: Live In Chicago is the first official live release from Wilco. It's remarkable to think that a band so well known for for its richly varied, inspiring live sets waited so long to get one these things out. At the same time, it's a little foreign hearing songs that once felt like personal treasures, plus a set-closing cover of Charles Wright's "Comment," handed over to the masses - the quietly disturbing "Misunderstood" is transformed into an audience sing-along, "Handshake Drugs" becomes a communal jig, and "Heavy Metal Drummer" a certifiable party anthem. Luckily, the whoops and clinking cocktail glasses can't take away from Jeff Tweedy's compelling laments or the band's full-throttle charge, particularly on a knuckle-gripping reworkings of "A Shot In The Arm" and "Ashes of American Flags." --Aidin Vaziri
There is always pressure on great "live" bands to release that one live album. Loyal fans of course will scream 'till they are blue in the face that they will never be able to capture that feel from actually being there and seeing it live. I think that is generally because the people that have actually seen the band live like to separate themselves from the masses, you know, feel specialand all. Well, after listening to the first disc of this album you are ready to tell those prima donnas, hey, they are doing it! The first disc is magic. There are three songs on it that I might not have chosen, but overall, tremendous, shines bright. However, the second disc sees the band go into a lot slower numbers that could cause one to scratch their head. It's not that they are bad songs, just that they are not anywhere close to being rockers, which is kind of what I am looking for at a concert. The Sparkler starts to burn out a bit. Although, "Poor Places" and "Airline to Heaven" really do shine bright. Of course, how a song like "I'm Always in Love" does not make it on this release is a mystery to me, arguably Wilco's biggest crowd pleaser. Overall, the release is solid, showing excellent musicianship, but disc 1 proves quite superior to disc 2. So, if you were to rip a disc for your car stereo, you might want to lean on that more.
tropicalports:This splendid documentary captures the band Wilco's struggles (both with their record company and within the band itself) while recording their album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart is completely engrossing, whether or not you are familiar with the band. As they work on the album, there's some tension between singer-songwriter Jeff Tweedy and bandmate Jay Bennett, but overall the band members are happy and enjoying exploring their music. But when they turn in the finished songs, their record label drops them, leaving them adrift with the album that promises to be a huge artistic leap. For fans of Wilco, this gorgeously photographed movie will be a thrilling look at the life of the band and Tweedy's creative process; but even novices will be drawn into the contrasts between art and commerce brought out by the conflict. --Bret Fetzer
tropicalports: essential recordingWhen you first heard that Billy Bragg and Wilco were teaming up to set some Woody Guthrie lyrics to music, you knew it'd be an interesting project. But did anyone realistically think Mermaid Avenue would also wind up being one of 1998's finest albums? That's exactly what it is, a distinction it pulls off by simultaneously honoring Guthrie and blasting away any folksy expectations we might have of his music. Walking Guthrie's World War II-era lyrics into the 20th century's second, rock & roll half, Bragg and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy take turns on lead vocals, and the entire group collaborates on a sound that draws on folk- and country-rock, from Bob Dylan and the Band to Gram Parsons and Uncle Tupelo. The results are nearly flawless, ranging from yearning laments and playful children's rockers to horny ballads and brave protest songs that are not merely political but also profoundly moral. Like all of Guthrie's work, Mermaid Avenue is music to live better by. --David Cantwell
Thanks Nora! Great Idea We should all thank Nora Gutherie for selecting Billy Bragg and Wilco to put this album together. What a fantastic combination. There are several wonderful songs on this cd. My favorite is "Hesitating Beauty". I was lucky enough to see Wilco perform this on Prairie Home Comapanion last week. It caused me to revisit this album and I'm glad I did.
Album Description"Sky Blue Sky" has hints of early-seventies Southern California folk-rock sweetness in the harmonies. The album is filled with brash guitar solos that take songs like "You Are My Face" and "Shake It Off" in unexpected directions. The Deluxe Edition includes a bonus DVD, which contains more than 45 minutes of footage of the band performing songs from Sky Blue Sky. The DVD also contains interview segments with all six band members. The film was directed by Christoph Green and Fugazi's Brendan Canty, the creators ofthe Jeff Tweedy solo concert film, Sunken Treasure: Live in the Pacific Northwest, as well as the acclaimed documentary series, Burn to Shine.
sterile sound mix ruins album Sounds like Wilco is trying to merge their alt-country roots with the newer sounds they explored in "A ghost is born" and "Yankee hotel foxtrot". Unfortunately it doesn't work andthe album is disappointing and uncompelling even though some of the songs are very good. To me the biggest problem with this record is the overall sound: For a supposed return to alt-country the sound on this album is remarkably cold, sterile and unsatisfying. The music has no warmth and this is largely due to the sterile sound mix. This could have been a stellar album because some of the songs are really great: "Shake it off", "Walken", "On and On" and my favorite song on the album "What light", but the album is ruined by the disappointing sound mix.
