-
Marc Landry 06/10/2010 9:46:00 PM
Wow man you nailed it. I feel your pain. Only thing is, I had been with them since the beginning where then at least you had simplicity, charm and a bit of an edge. That has all gone horribly by the wayside. I kinda liked Ghost is Born, essentially tolerated Sky Blue Sky and want nothing to do with Wilco "The Album". Thing I don't understand is when I saw them for the 7th and I think, last time, folks were frothing at the mouth for stuff off the new album. I felt like I was in some kind of maudlin universe where everyone was completely brain dead. I am not even curious as to what the new album will sound like.
-
bobothehobo 02/01/2010 1:26:00 AM
Mr. Reviewer - I apologize for the insult but you sir, are an idiot. It's apparent that you are a trendy bigot who is 'late to the game' concerning all things Wilco. Luckily, that's your problem. For those of us who have been around this music for years, many would probably agree, or at least not snicker at the proposition that Wilco have been & are indeed the greatest American band to consistently challenge new listeners for some time now. But, you'd have to listen and know what you're listening to in order to understand this.
You might want to take a break from Lady GaGa and take a deeper listen.
-
rene 09/15/2009 11:06:00 AM
NICE
-
08/03/2009 7:37:00 PM
Perhaps boring wasn't the most precise word. I'll offer up redundant. The music itself might not be boring to all, but the redundancy makes one bored with Wilco. Hence, discussing why Wilco is redundant becomes important. I think that is the thrust of much of this review, and I think it adds much more than a simple track-by-track recap of the disc, especially since you could download the whole thing in the time it takes to read said review.
-
Diggs 08/03/2009 8:15:00 AM
I still can't believe this guy called Jay Bennett a co-founder of Wilco. Clearly a firm knowledge base upon which to build a critique about the band's history/ trajectory. Wow. Also, to intimate that Tweedy is not "pop-friendly" shows an ignorance of his Uncle Tupelo and "A.M." material. Tweedy was the pop-friendly foil to sad-sack Farrar. It also reveals what must be a very strange opinion about what pop-friendly means -- no cuts from "The Palace at 4am" are destined for VW ads.
-
Jim Sheridan 07/31/2009 7:10:00 AM
A critique of "an album for white people to relax to," written for a periodical aimed at white people, probably written by a white guy too. While we're at it, can we admit that most rock, college rock, alt rock, and alt-country has a sizable white audience? Hello? Try writing for Vibe or Ebony, tuff gong!!
Better yet, try making sense. Nothing "elemental" about Wilco? Sorry, Vanilla Powell, half of this band's material is 3-chord rock. Plenty elemental. Nothing passionate? I give you "Misunderstood," I'm Always in Love," "At Least That's What You Said" - oh, wait, passionate can only be blatant emo chest-pounding for you, I guess.
Why "alt-country"? Do some homework and find Uncle Tupelo. Take it from there. Don't Forget the Flowers. As for Wilco being "boring," well, that's a word most often used by ADD-afflicted teens or people who don't understand what they're dealing with, whether it's a Kubrick film, Pynchon novel, or Wilco album.
"Sky Blue Sky" sounds like half of "Being There" other than the addition of synth and poetic verse? Two words: Nels Cline. The guitar work all over "Sky Blue Sky" makes it sound very different from "Being There," as does Tweedy's newly non-nicotine-addicted range. Come on now. A music critic needs to listen to an album fully before writing. Listen to it more than once. Remove head from ass while listening.
You say the new Wilco album is both "bland" and "weird." Your words. Spot the contradiction.
Wilco happy songs: I Got You. Kingpin. Walken.
Wilco sad songs: Less Than You Think. Wishful Thinking. The Lonely 1. Please Be Patient With Me.
However, because the band recognizes that life is ambiguous and multi-faceted, much of their material leans that way too. That in a nutshell is what makes many adults enjoy Wilco; that is part of their maturity. They are not all breezy rock, not all snarling cock rock, not all angsty emo. You seem dazzlingly confused about what maturity is, much less what Wilco's maturity is, as evidenced by this dazzling paragraph that undoes (dare I say deconstructs?!) itself:
"I didn't understand what critics and friends meant when they said Wilco had "matured" because they sang about doing the dishes and mowing the lawn. Teenagers do the dishes and mow the lawn. But most teenagers aren't relaxed. They don't face their shortcomings. They could never see a relationship of ellipses and quiet misunderstandings as one worth having."
Yes, Tweedy is unafraid about singing about the small parts of life - dishwashing etc - while ruminating on larger issues. The key is that he can put his ideas out in straightforward terms, sometimes in a whisper, sometimes in a shout, sometimes with restraint, and that's OK. I wouldn't want Tweedy still banging out the power chords at age 40 ALL the time; leave that to Angus Young or any Ramone left alive. I mean, you nailed it in your last two sentences of that paragraph; when listeners listen to Jeff Tweedy, they hear a musician intelligently, soulfully, and passionately address shortcomings, ellipses, and quiet misunderstandings rather than address his dick.
You should try that sometime too.
-
Adam F Kritzer 07/18/2009 9:07:00 PM
Access a proper defense of Wilco at:
http://www.culturecatch.com/music/wilco-album
Leave comments and create cultural dialogue.
Adam
-
zez� 07/17/2009 9:36:00 AM
What did you want? The same stupid teen music we always see on MTV. Were you expecting for another fall out boy album?
-
Invisible Oranges 07/13/2009 12:33:00 PM
I thought this was brilliant, actually. We can read "reviews" of the album and hear it for ourselves in a hundred other places. Kudos to Mike for trying to get at what makes Wilco Wilco.
-
Dan Kilian 07/09/2009 9:21:00 PM
VV remains consistant in its selection of music reviewers who don't get good music, who are more concerned with being "edgy" or not "white" than whether the songs are good. Keep up the good work!
-
jch 07/08/2009 1:46:00 AM
Ah, sorry, I see you actually did go back and listen to their last two albums. I missed that the first time after trying to find the review through all the wilco-hate. But really, I want to read a review about their new album, not so much what wilco: the band means to you or your friends.
-
jch 07/08/2009 1:30:00 AM
Dude, give me a break. You tear down Wilco, then admit you didn't even listen to their two last ones, including Sky Blue Sky. It's excellent, by the way, but that misses the point: you are a CRITIC, it's your job to listen to music. Please do me a favor and listen to the band's albums before telling me that they suck.
-
matt 07/07/2009 6:52:00 PM
How can anything he has to say about the music have relevance after I read a 1500 word essay on "why I hate Wilco"? I also never knew Wilco's music/lyrics/sound were confined to race. Thank you for the clarification!
-
caviartothegeneral 07/07/2009 7:32:00 AM
ad hominem, ad hominem ... this is reprehensible music writing.
-
Kyle 07/04/2009 5:11:00 AM
Ah, sorry for not paying attention to music blogs/major critical venues for the past several years and discovering interesting music on my own. I'm a little flabbergasted that Wilco have, in fact, become the American Radiohead - a bullheaded group of dullards long past their prime who have amassed a sickeningly defensive college-aged fanbase. Nice Christgau namecheck, ray. That sure won't come back to bite you in the ass.
-
ray 07/03/2009 11:59:00 PM
Can you find a brain in this review? If you had one - and a point of reference beyond your own jaded snobbery you might have heard more of the music and written a better, fairer and more revealing piece. Not only have you blown the opportunity to write a major piece about a major band - you've done a disservice to the artists and the reader with your punkass petulance and I'm pissed enough to let you know about it.
God I miss Christgau.
-
Felix 07/03/2009 4:41:00 PM
Mike, if you liked the album, or kinda liked it, the review doesn't work. 'Cos it doesn't give that impression.
Wouldn't you say the title track shows a sense of humour? It ain't spooky earnest, anyway.
There are some valid parts to your review, but mostly it's a juvenile attack or big statements that don't stand up, not criticism. I mean, Jeff Tweedy's not dangerous? Who cares?
PS eg of Truly Sad Song: At Least That's What You Said.
-
mike powell 07/02/2009 8:12:00 PM
i know it's sort of weird commenting on this article having written it, but isn't that what comments are for? i.e. discussion?
anyway:
@ mitch: i was trying to write a "critique" of the band and their trajectory. as far as mentioning specific songs go, i can never tell if that's really useful, especially in a time when we could all be streaming the album as we read the review. i definitely had interpretive comments about particular songs that i'd be happy to share here, but in the end, they didn't make my final draft.
@ john: i definitely don't mean to seem bitter. i actually really like this album -- i think it's much, much better than their last two. still, there's something strangely joyless about wilco that i tried to tap into while praising them. i really don't think it's a bad thing -- in fact, wilco's general lukewarm-ness is what makes them really, really unique.
@ MFB: i don't think wilco are an uninteresting band per se, but i definitely don't think they're a groundbreaking, edgy band at all. and in a way, being "boring" and even-keel is their most radical statement -- like, they never struck me as a band trying too hard, or rocking out too much, or crossing too many lines. so, to reiterate, yeah, it's wilco's blandness that makes them really unique, if that makes sense.
@ everyone, really: i do like this album and think people should listen to it -- especially people like me, who thought that their last couple of albums were sort of grating. and mitch: i might be a boring person, but i don't listen to andrew wk -- he's too exciting for me.
-
MFB 07/02/2009 7:37:00 PM
I have to come to the defense of this article, and I say that as a Wilco fan. I think he's saying that it's fine to like Wilco and they are quite talented, but don't kid yourself that they're doing anything remotely interesting. A fair assessment of the band, in my opinion. They are extremely pleasant music to chill out to, nothing more. It's time a critic in a decently read mainstream music rag come out and explain what is just so utterly banal about Wilco's music.
-
07/02/2009 5:17:00 AM
Mike, you do seem a bit obsessed with your bitter tone here. You seem to be reviewing the soul of Tweedy rather than the current new record. You score several good points, in my opinion, but don't really say much about Wilco (the album) other than your lukewarm damning praise.
What I do agree with is that Summerteeth was Wilco/Tweedy's masterpiece. Since then he has belabored hard to create something earnest and true, but has been suffering with his own demons.
And now Jay Bennett done and silenced himself. A tragedy for sure. The strains displayed in the Wilco movie are amazing. I was just describing the movie to a friend today. Painful.
I wrote a little piece about the pain in that fractured split between Jay and Jeff. (BTW: saying Jay was a co-founder of Wilco is like saying Little Stevie is a co-founder of Bruce Springsteen.) http://bit.ly/jay-bennett
Peace.
@jmacofearth
-
Mitch 07/02/2009 1:10:00 AM
Where's the album review? This is more a critique of the band, their history, and a chance for the author to pontificate on his superiority. I think he mentioned one of the songs, Bull Black Nova? This is why people hate rock critics. You seem like a really boring person, but I bet you still listen to Andrew WK.
-
Jake 07/01/2009 7:56:00 PM
Listen, I know music criticism is missing the whole "opinion" side these days, but come on, this is just arbitrary bitterness. The author is clearly embittered about Wilco's ability to make uncontroversial music, which I didn't know was ever a problem. YHF is as good a sounding album as anything I've heard in my lifetime, and I'm embarrassed to have seen someone writing for the village voice pan on it so.
-
PJ 07/01/2009 6:00:00 AM
"Wilco (the counter-review)": Boring. Bland. Lazy. No, not the new Wilco CD, I'm describing the review. I'm surprised the term "Dad Rock" didn't come up (though there was a reference to Tweedy's fatherhood status- like that's a bad thing?), a common label thrown at Wilco by featherweight critics who can't actually capture the feel of the music. Whatever. Wilco loves you, baby.
