WilcoWilco (The Album)
# of spins (out of 5):
Have I ever told you how much I love Jeff Tweedy? Even when he disappoints me (i.e. A Ghost Is Born), I love him. It’s because I deserved it. I know how he gets when I act that way. He does it because he loves me. As Carole King once sang “He hit me and it felt like a kiss.” I’m just saying – Tweedy can use and abuse my musical faculties in any way he sees fit and I will continue to embrace him for it, because he is the man behind such musical masterpieces as Being There, Yankee Hotel Fox Trot, Sky Blue Sky, and the Mermaid Ave. series with Billy Bragg. Tweedy might be all I ever need.
That being said, he in no way abuses my sensibilities on Wilco (The Album). If anything he reminds me why I fell in love with him in the first place. All the way through his voice sounds like it’s caught on the verge of shatter between a whisper and a scream. Lyrically throughout Tweedy has bouts of depression (“Sonny Feeling” and “Country Disappeared”), introspection (“One Wing” and “Everlasting Everything”), hopeless romanticism (“You and I” the undeniably great duet with Feist, and “I’ll Fight”), and all around good humor (the sarcastic “Wilco (the song)” and “You Never Know”). More than any of their previous albums this collection feels like a roller coaster through fragile and temperamental psyche of Jeff Tweedy. We get to see him for better or worse in every frame of mind.
Musically, this does feel vaguely like a continuation of the aforementioned Sky Blue Sky, but that can in no way be taken as a criticism. My biggest problem is that there is very little tempo variation throughout the album, they found mid-tempo and stuck with it. But again, this is Tweedy and I’ll take what he gives me. Daddy knows what I need better than I do.
And really, when it comes to Tweedy doing anything, it goes without saying, one must tune in for his ability to craft darkly clever lyrics; like in “Solitaire” when he sings: “Once I thought the world was crazy/Everyone was sad and chasing/happiness and love and/I was the only one above it.” How can anyone not love his ability to be self-deprecating and sarcastic, while mocking the feeble minded people we all try to avoid?
SO if you’re not a Wilco fan, then Wilco (The Album) will not convert you, and if you are already a fan, it won’t surprise you. It’s just a healthy dose of medicine from Doctor Tweedy.
# of spins (out of 5):
Have I ever told you how much I love Jeff Tweedy? Even when he disappoints me (i.e. A Ghost Is Born), I love him. It’s because I deserved it. I know how he gets when I act that way. He does it because he loves me. As Carole King once sang “He hit me and it felt like a kiss.” I’m just saying – Tweedy can use and abuse my musical faculties in any way he sees fit and I will continue to embrace him for it, because he is the man behind such musical masterpieces as Being There, Yankee Hotel Fox Trot, Sky Blue Sky, and the Mermaid Ave. series with Billy Bragg. Tweedy might be all I ever need.
That being said, he in no way abuses my sensibilities on Wilco (The Album). If anything he reminds me why I fell in love with him in the first place. All the way through his voice sounds like it’s caught on the verge of shatter between a whisper and a scream. Lyrically throughout Tweedy has bouts of depression (“Sonny Feeling” and “Country Disappeared”), introspection (“One Wing” and “Everlasting Everything”), hopeless romanticism (“You and I” the undeniably great duet with Feist, and “I’ll Fight”), and all around good humor (the sarcastic “Wilco (the song)” and “You Never Know”). More than any of their previous albums this collection feels like a roller coaster through fragile and temperamental psyche of Jeff Tweedy. We get to see him for better or worse in every frame of mind.
Musically, this does feel vaguely like a continuation of the aforementioned Sky Blue Sky, but that can in no way be taken as a criticism. My biggest problem is that there is very little tempo variation throughout the album, they found mid-tempo and stuck with it. But again, this is Tweedy and I’ll take what he gives me. Daddy knows what I need better than I do.
And really, when it comes to Tweedy doing anything, it goes without saying, one must tune in for his ability to craft darkly clever lyrics; like in “Solitaire” when he sings: “Once I thought the world was crazy/Everyone was sad and chasing/happiness and love and/I was the only one above it.” How can anyone not love his ability to be self-deprecating and sarcastic, while mocking the feeble minded people we all try to avoid?
SO if you’re not a Wilco fan, then Wilco (The Album) will not convert you, and if you are already a fan, it won’t surprise you. It’s just a healthy dose of medicine from Doctor Tweedy.
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