Wilco - New Album- Star Wars - Free download

[joyfulgirl]

Damn. That is good. I used to read his reviews religiously the many years I lived in NYC and read The Village Voice cover to cover. Now I just don't think to seek him out.

I think I know YHF lyrics (and other criticized Wilco lyrics) by heart to the point that I have long since stopped thinking about them, but I still think lines like "I want to hold you in the bible-black pre-dawn" are gorgeous.

Much as I love YHF, I think that's the record where I do get what laz means about his vocals. To me the songs are so rich but the vocals are restrained to the point of being almost lifeless - maybe because he was so sick during recording. The new Pitchfork review refers to his vocals as "disheveled," which is perfect.

 

[cobl04]

Wilco Rushmores?

Sunken Treasure / Misunderstood / I Am Trying To Break Your Heart / Heavy Metal Drummer

I love the lyrics to Sunken Treasure so much. What a beautiful way to look at a fractured relationship.

There's rows and rows of houses
With windows painted blue
And the light from the TV
Running parallel to you

But there is no sunken treasure
Rumoured to be
Wrapped inside my ribs
In a sea
Black with ink

I am so
Outta tune
With you

I am so
Outta tune
With you

If I had a mountain
I'd try to fold it over
If I had a boat
You know I'd probably roll over

And I leave it on the shore
I'd leave it for somebody
Surely there's somebody
Who needs it more than me

I am so
Outta tune
With you

I am so
Outta tune
With you

For all the leaves we burn
In autumn fires and then return
For all the fires we burn
All will return

Music is my saviour
But I was maimed by rock and roll
I was maimed by rock and roll
I was tamed by rock and roll
I got my name from rock and roll

 

[lazarus]

I know I was being hyperbolic earlier about Christgau. But seriously, go to his 'consumer guide'. Achtung Baby gets a little lit-fuse-bomb emoticon. EYKIW ATYCLB (fucking motherfucking typos) gets a two line, vaguely positive review and an A-.

That's some kind of fucked up.

And on that ATYCLB review he concludes with "If I know anything, which with this band I never have, their best."

At least he's admitting he just doesn't get them in the way everyone else does. And he gave B+ to the critically-divisive R&H and TUF.

 

[joyfulgirl]

Wilco Rushmores?

Sunken Treasure / Misunderstood / I Am Trying To Break Your Heart / Heavy Metal Drummer

I love the lyrics to Sunken Treasure so much. What a beautiful way to look at a fractured relationship.

Gorgeous song.

I don't love Heavy Metal Drummer the way everyone else does. Maybe I'm tired of it? Love the intro.

I'd go with Via Chicago or At Least That's What You Said instead. Maybe even Ashes.

Did we ever do a Wilco survivor?

 

[gump]

I love this Wilco talk. A Survivor would be great - I might even pay again for the ability to create polls. After we are done with the Rolling Stones, I guess.

I can't do a Rushmore. Too many to choose from. My shortlist would be:

Sunken Treasure
Poor Places
Spiders
Jesus Etc
One Sunday Morning
Impossible Germany

I will hate this list in a few minutes, but I feel it's a good combination of their various styles. Perhaps I'm missing some of the more jammy songs, but I tend to like those more in concert than in the records.

 

[joyfulgirl]

Poor Places, One Sunday Morning

Poor Places might have to be on my Rushmore. Too many to choose from.

There are the headphones Rushmores, the road trip Rushmores, the live Rushmores....

 

[u2popmofo]

I don't love Heavy Metal Drummer the way everyone else does. Maybe I'm tired of it? Love the intro.

I don't like it either. It kind of epitomized what I disliked about the band for a long time.

I do have to say that I like Jesus Etc. quite a bit as of the last few years.

 

[joyfulgirl]

I do have to say that I like Jesus Etc. quite a bit as of the last few years.

Who are you and what have you done with our friend mofo???!

 

[u2popmofo]

Who are you and what have you done with our friend mofo???!

.....

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

It makes me happy to see so much Wilco talk here! They're my other favorite band besides U2. I thought the end of last week was going to be all about getting excited about seeing U2 for the first time in ten years, then Star Wars dropped. I'm disappointed they're not coming through my area again this tour. They used to play Baltimore/DC and Philly really regularly. In the meantime, I have an excellent album to hold me over.

 

[corianderstem]

I've only listened once but liked it quite a bit.

Super excited to see them (FRONT ROW WHAAAAAAT) in a few weeks.

 

[bono_212]

I listened to it again on the way home from work. It's really solid. I mean, I don't think it's spectacular or anything, and I kinda lose a little interest about halfway through (which isn't a good thing for such a short album), but it's a solid 7, 7.5 and I don't dislike a note on it.

No matter what, though, I'm glad it exists for You Satellite alone.

 

[gump]

It makes me happy to see so much Wilco talk here! They're my other favorite band besides U2. I thought the end of last week was going to be all about getting excited about seeing U2 for the first time in ten years, then Star Wars dropped. I'm disappointed they're not coming through my area again this tour. They used to play Baltimore/DC and Philly really regularly. In the meantime, I have an excellent album to hold me over.

Hadn't seen you here in a long time. We missed you in the Wilco thread.

I'm disappointed they are skipping the Northeast, but hopefully they'll extend their tour. Their latest shows in NYC (I think it was 2013?) were wonderful.

 

[No spoken words]

One Sunday Morning

One Sunday Morning

It makes me happy to see so much Wilco talk here! They're my other favorite band besides U2. I thought the end of last week was going to be all about getting excited about seeing U2 for the first time in ten years, then Star Wars dropped. I'm disappointed they're not coming through my area again this tour. They used to play Baltimore/DC and Philly really regularly. In the meantime, I have an excellent album to hold me over.

Hello.

 

[cobl04]

I would definitely be keen for a Wilco survivor. I listened to Being There for the first time in ages today (gosh I've been on such a Wilco kick this past week or so). I had grown irrationally annoyed of it, because Misunderstood and Sunken Treasure are just by so far the two best songs on it for me, and so it was like "urgh I really wanna get into this but I just wanna hear those two songs, the others are all filler of varying quality" for a while. But today I was going on a long-ish drive and so I put the whole thing on and I had forgotten how enjoyable it is. Great record for driving. If you just put the album on and let it play nearly all the songs reveal their own charm and it makes for a great listen overall. There's some great vocal moments on it too... his voice has a creak to it and there are several times where he almost cracks, it's great.

Gorgeous song.

I don't love Heavy Metal Drummer the way everyone else does. Maybe I'm tired of it? Love the intro.

I'd go with Via Chicago or At Least That's What You Said instead. Maybe even Ashes.

Did we ever do a Wilco survivor?

Heavy Metal Drummer is the expendable song on my Rushmore (which I'm already not happy with). You could replace it with Ashes of American Flags or Hotel Arizona or a handful of others. And I suspect a tune or two from Summerteeth will get on there, just ordered it.

Also, Sunken Treasure, Misunderstood and I Am Trying to Break Your Heart are all essentially the same song, six-ish minutes long, mostly acoustic indie balladry with some really noisy, almost atonal turns. So I definitely have a type

I don't like it either. It kind of epitomized what I disliked about the band for a long time.

I do have to say that I like Jesus Etc. quite a bit as of the last few years.

Jesus Etc is prob my least fav on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Heavy Metal Drummer I just find super fucking fun and catchy, but also has a bit of weight to it.

It makes me happy to see so much Wilco talk here! They're my other favorite band besides U2. I thought the end of last week was going to be all about getting excited about seeing U2 for the first time in ten years, then Star Wars dropped. I'm disappointed they're not coming through my area again this tour. They used to play Baltimore/DC and Philly really regularly. In the meantime, I have an excellent album to hold me over.

I listened to it again on the way home from work. It's really solid. I mean, I don't think it's spectacular or anything, and I kinda lose a little interest about halfway through (which isn't a good thing for such a short album), but it's a solid 7, 7.5 and I don't dislike a note on it.

No matter what, though, I'm glad it exists for You Satellite alone.

This is pretty much how I feel about it.

 

[CrashedCarDriver]

It takes some nerve to name an album Star Wars

 

[BVS]

If anyone knows Ryan Adams you know that he's obsessed with cats and Star Wars, as soon as I saw this cover I thought, "he's going to be pissed he didn't do this first".


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference

 

[cobl04]

Sat down with Summerteeth last night. Really liked it. It's probably the most consistent thing I've heard from them, in terms of both flow and songs. No obvious lulls or low points, really. Starts very strongly with the opening three of Can't Stand It, She's a Jar and A Shot in the Arm. I'd single out other highlights but it's pretty strong all the way through. Via Chicago is obviously one of the better ones.

Do have to say though, two lyrics really stood out to me - the last line of She's a Jar and the first verse of Via Chicago. They're a little bit troublesome, no? Looks like his wife has commented on it.

 

[nielsgov]

Do have to say though, two lyrics really stood out to me - the last line of She's a Jar and the first verse of Via Chicago. They're a little bit troublesome, no? Looks like his wife has commented on it.

Please elaborate. What did she say?

 

[LemonMelon]

Those couple of lines are unsettling, but at least they risk something instead of being bland or total gibberish.

In general, I think that album hits the spot between relatable and abstract. It's a personally revealing set of lyrics that also manages to resonate. I slightly prefer YHF as a whole for its sonic coherence and consistent quality, but Summerteeth has Tweedy's best lyrics and many of Wilco's best songs.

 

[cobl04]

Please elaborate. What did she say?

From quotes from (rap)genius.com, apparently taken from a book

She's a Jar

Obviously Jeff has never hit me. And I know I have to give Jeff his creative license. And I have no way of knowing whether he could have written as cool and brilliant an album without having to go through everything he went through that year. I think that’s one of our most common myths, that artists have to me miserable to be creative. I don’t think that’s true. I hope it’s not true. I don’t wish that kind of misery on anyone."

Via Chicago

“I’m not interested in shock value,“ Tweedy told the Utne Reader. "Those were the things that came out of me, things I thought were powerful to sing. I can imagine that some people will be turned off by the darkness of some lyrics.”

Salon: “You had to know that lines like “I dreamed about killing you again last night and it felt all right to me” would raise some eyebrows.”

Tweedy: “It raised an eyebrow for me. It’s just something that came out subconsciously, just singing melodies, singing the first words that come into your head, kind of free association. And it was like, “Wow, I’ve got to hang onto that one.” It felt honest and close to something real.”

Those couple of lines are unsettling, but at least they risk something instead of being bland or total gibberish.

Yeah agreed.

 

[gump]

In general, I think that album hits the spot between relatable and abstract. It's a personally revealing set of lyrics that also manages to resonate. I slightly prefer YHF as a whole for its sonic coherence and consistent quality, but Summerteeth has Tweedy's best lyrics and many of Wilco's best songs.

Generally agree with this. I think YHF still has the better songs, even when you remove all the noise and weirdness from it, but it's a close call. Via Chicago and A Shot in the Arm are obvious highlights, but as cobbler said it's a very consistent effort. There's an argument to be made that Summerteeth is their album that best translates live. Some of these songs really take off live.

 

[corianderstem]

Wilco was frickin' awesome the other night. I didn't realize they were playing all of Star Wars to kick off the show. They played well over two hours, 32 songs in the Seattle setlist. Loved the acoustic encore at the end. Bill Frisell was a special guest, and Jenny Lewis/Ben Gibbard came out to sing and play tambourines for California Stars.

Jenny Lewis was great as well, although damn, 40 minutes was way too short for all the great songs she has.

The only other bummer was losing my sweet front row spot. Security decided to not give a fuck for people coming up to stand between the reserved seats and the front of the stage. I reacted too slowly and found myself with motherfucking heads in my way. Oh well. You snooze you lose. At least I could still see mostly well.

1. EKG
2. More...
3. Random Name Generator
4. The Joke Explained
5. You Satellite
6. Taste the Ceiling
7. Pickled Ginger
8. Where Do I Begin
9. Cold Slope
10. King of You
11. Magnetized
12. Handshake Drugs
13. Kamera
14. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
15. Art of Almost
16. Sunken Treasure
17. Hummingbird
18. Heavy Metal Drummer
19. I'm the Man Who Loves You
20. Jesus, Etc.
21. Born Alone
22. Via Chicago
23. Impossible Germany
24. Forget the Flowers
25. California Stars
26. Box Full of Letters
27. Theologians
28. The Late Greats
Encore:
29. Misunderstood
30. War on War
31. It's Just That Simple
32. A Shot in the Arm

 

[LemonMelon]

Great setlist, but they're playing A Shot in the Arm acoustic?

 

[corianderstem]

Me being me, I ducked out during It's Just That Simple, knowing that I'd be able to still hear the next song (which, thankfully, I assumed correctly was the last) as I walked to my car. Was bummed I didn't stick around for it, as it's one of my favorites. Would have been happy to even hear it acoustic.

Heard the crowd singing all the way to my car.

 

[gump]

That's a great set, Cori. Seems to be a bit on the post-Summerteeth side, but a lot of earlier gems. This made me miss live Wilco a lot. I think I've gotten Sunken Treasure a couple of times before, but it's my Wilco equivalent to Bad. Such a transcendental song.

Two favorite Wilco live moments:

- "Music is my savior / I was maimed by rock and roll" (the Sunken Treasure DVD contains an amazing version).

- Poor Places -> Spiders (this is their Power Out -> Rebellion / Please -> Streets moment, IMO).

Edit: I will add a third one, more of a rarity - The Lonely 1 with Nels on a lap steel guitar.

Me being me, I ducked out during It's Just That Simple, knowing that I'd be able to still hear the next song (which, thankfully, I assumed correctly was the last) as I walked to my car. Was bummed I didn't stick around for it, as it's one of my favorites. Would have been happy to even hear it acoustic.

Heard the crowd singing all the way to my car.

Early departures

 

[corianderstem]

Shut up, I was home in less than a half hour.

 

[gump]

Shut up, I was home in less than a half hour.

I thought you were lining up for the next show.

 

[cobl04]

I cannot abide this leaving early, Cori. You wouldn't have died if you stayed

 

[cobl04]

Can you link me to this live version of Sunken Treasure pls gump