A Modest Proposal From Wilco HQ
Love it or hate it, you've probably already had a few listens of Sky Blue Sky, whether you took Wilco HQ up on their listening parties or you succumbed to more illicit means. Either way, as they say, Wilco HQ urges you to do the right thing. Via Via Chicago:
Greetings to you all from the east coast branch -- where we've been burning the midnight oil for months getting ready for May 15. And it is finally upon us.By now, you know that next week is the official release date of Wilco's 7th album (or 9th depending on how you count). Hence the slightly serious tone of this note. Tuesday, to be precise, marks the US release of Sky Blue Sky on Nonesuch Records. If you haven't had a chance to listen to the on-demand stream, by all means click here and take it for a spin. We're pretty sure you'll enjoy the ride.
But once you've done that we hope you'll take a moment to reflect (see, I told you this was serious) on how this dynamic has worked over the years -- the dynamic between us and you. We (and this "we" means the band, first and foremost) expend a lot of time, energy and other resources trying to make this something you are not just a witness to, but a participant in and we genuinely hope you can feel that.
We've been asked many times if we'd consider changing the way we do things, usually by people who are convinced we'd be more successful if we did. And either out of stubbornness or something else, we keep refusing. Instead, we just do what we do and somehow it all works. We continue to make lots of music available free to all in the road case, continue to allow taping/photos at shows, and basically just try to keep the things we do charge for of a quality that make you feel like you got a bargain. You know, mutual respect and all that. We like the way it works... a lot. We really do believe in trying to keep as much of it as free and open as is humanly possible. That seems pretty obvious... but somehow it remains a slight novelty in the modern day music business. So much so that people continually mention it in their stories when they write or speak about the band or the somewhat sad state of the music business.This grassroots campaign to have you vote with your feet was instigated before Pitchfork's 5.2 and DeRogatis not feeling Tweedy's need for "fresh sheets and clean dishes." Sounds like everybody wants another Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. We sorta love the record, actually, but sounds like Wilco could use your help.Anyway, what we're getting at here is that right now we need you to participate in a way that is part of what has made this nice little story work. We're actually asking you to please go out next week and do the right thing for Wilco. That is, vote with your feet and prove the band's faith well-placed and buy the record. It's available from Tuesday at all kinds of retailers everywhere. Ask for it by name. It's also available here, and for those of you who are more digitally inclined, here.
Okay, enough campaign speeches. You get the message. And we trust that you'll act on it as you always have.
Posted at 10:03 AM
Tags: Wilco
In general...people should buy records again. C'mon!
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I agree with what they are saying, but things like this always seem like a case of preaching to the choir. If you're a big enough fan to be reading that message where it was originally posted, you probably have every intention of buying the record.
I still buy actual CD's if it's a band i'm enthusiastic about or if it's just such a great album that I feel like shelling out $15 is an appropriate tribute. Otherwise, I'm more apt to download. I alleviate any piracy guilt by using a subscription download service and then running the songs through a handy converting program so I can transfer to my Ipod. Technically, I'm paying for the music, I'm just not paying 99 cents per song. That's for suckers.
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Wilco is awesome because If you buy the vinyl of the new album you get the cd copy included. Thanks!
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Yeah, dannygutters. That's pretty common now actually.
I have a hard time believing that a lot of people are going to go out on release day and buy this, especially if they've already heard it. It might be the worst Wilco album ever made.
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Too true Adam.
I rarely buy CDs anymore, but will get this new Wilco record on account of being a huge fan. I wouldn't bother otherwise, unless it was an awesome album and I wanted to get a vinyl copy, or if there was a free DVD with it (which I think there is?).
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You know a band is starting to suck pretty hardcore when they have to beg their own fans to buy their new record.
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Listened to the album, didn't like it, not buying it. Someone likes Sky Blue Sky, they currently getting a 79 on metacritic (P4K's review not yet worked in to the calculus). From the Entertainment Weekly rave review: "This may be the best Eagles album the Eagles never made." Shit sandwich.
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I've been listening to the album for a few months now, and I think it's brilliant. And I didn't even start listening to Wilco until Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, so I wasn't pining for the days of A.M. or anything.
I'll buy the album - no doubt. But, I agree, that anyone who reads messages on the Wilco site is probably a big enough fan to buy the record anyway.
Still, tell your friends?...Wait, that should be a statement - Tell your friends.
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I love how everybody gushed about this record until all of the mediocre reviews started leaking out. And now that Pitchfork etc. have given the OK, it's very hip to hate on Wilco.
I'll gladly be in the minority of people who enjoy this album.
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a modest proposal was a piece of satire. this note from wilco doesn't have the ring of satire to it. so boo on them for misusing literary allusions. i was expecting them to suggest we eat babies to save the music business. alas.
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I just love how wrong Pitchfork is. Sky Blue Sky is the best Wilco record since Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
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best album since YHF???? in other words, better than a ghost is born...
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I'm going out tomorrow to buy the physical cd because I respect them enough as a band to do it. Wilco are one of the few that I would actually shell out cash for a new album and not by other means. Sky Blue Sky's no Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but it's still a much better album than a lot of reviews give it credit for, especially Pitchfork. Big plus for bringing the slide guitar back into their sound.
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Lone Wolf, people who gush about records and then reverse positions when mediocre reviews come out are totally tools, yes. But I know plenty of people who thought like me that this was shit from the moment they heard it. Please get off your cross, we need the wood for the fire dumbass.
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Where can you buy it digital?
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While I agree with just about everything that the Pitchfork review said, I thought that 5.2 was a little harsh. It's not a bad album at all, it's just not anywhere near what we expect from Wilco. It's a Wilco record that my dad can get into, and there's really nothing wrong with that.
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While I agree with just about everything that the Pitchfork review said, I thought that 5.2 was a little harsh. It's not a bad album at all, it's just not anywhere near what we expect from Wilco. It's a Wilco record that my dad can get into, and there's really nothing wrong with that.
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i bought that shit on CASSETTE......
love it, love it, love it...
best american band out there right now....
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well since when have Wilco been a balls out rock and roll band? if people are changing their opinions because the high school newspaper staff at pitchfork say so, then we are truly a legion of slackjawed yokels. do yourself a favor and listen to the record before you shape how you feel about it.
the shit sandwich reference above was ace, by the way.
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I dig it the most!
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Evan, you douche. Use your brain, please.
Pitchfork is full of shit, as usual, but I'm actually not that fond of the album, and I'm a huge Wilco fan. It's just kind of airy and a little 'blah,' really difficult to grab ahold of. I'll give it more time, but I'm disappointed. It's a chore to work through, at the moment.
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yeah, wilco just aren't ironic enough for my hipster taste.
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For what it's worth, I've been listening to this album for about a month now, and it really does grow on you.
Nels Cline really shreads in that George Harrison way where on the surface everything just seems to just fit but if you listen specificly to him it sounds amazing.
Wilco's always been about jeff, but I think this linup will be really good for wilco. It's finally like they are playing togehter rather than Jeff + friends each doing their own thing. Hell if jeff can find a group of guys to work with positively all the better.
Also, I enjoy negative pitchfork reviews. It clears the hipsters out of the shows I want to go see.
ALSO, isn't it time for the Eagles to be hip again? I mean if Yes can come back in the collective unconsious, then surely the eagles.
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This is the first time I've ever completely agreed with an exceptionally negative Pitchfork review. Sky Blue Sky is HORRIBLE. Pure crap. It's amazing to read Jeff's interviews when he's talking about the record. How can he believe what he's saying? The problem is that he does. And don't get me wrong, I love all of Wilco's work (and everything Jeff has done for that matter) and I wasn't looking for "A Yankee Hotel is Born 2.0" or anything like that. Sky Blue Sky just has no continuity at all, like they gave up and settled for less.
I will say one thing about these songs and that is they sound a lot better live than on record. Last summer "Impossible Germany" blew me away, but listening to it now it sounds hollow and empty. I think the big problem with Sky Blue Sky is how they recorded it.
I ordered the album a month ago, I'm always going to support Wilco...but I don't know how many new fans they'll get after this.
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Horrible? Pure crap?...Did you really listen to the record?
Granted, it's not the most exciting work they've ever done, but it's a solid album that does - as a previous poster noted - grow on you.
I like how it actually sounds like a group of musicians sitting in a room with their instruments, something too few albums achieve these days. Can't wait to hear these songs live.
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Sky Blue Sky is a classic rock album, pure and simple. No, it isn't Yankee My Spanky, or Wankee My Tankee... Look, I like that album too, but it's legendary status is overblown and needs to be removed from the confusion.
Sky Blue Sky redeems Wilco from the What-The-Hell-Mess that was A Ghost Is Born. Sure, people aren't going to like the new one. Hell, they've already said they downright hate it. But I'm saying that new ears will appreciate the straightforwardness of it and it will, when all is said and done, not be the fatal misstep people are regarding it to be.
It's better than The Fray. That alone makes it genius.
DwD
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I've been listening to the album since they put it up on their website and by that point I had heard all of the songs that had been played live last summer. My problem isn't the whole groovy 70s rock feel. My problem is that they tried and failed miserably at it. Almost all of the songs feel like they were picked up out of the gutter. The only track that really blows me away is "On and On and On" because there's some real feeling in it. I understand Jeff's happy and healthy and clear now, I'm glad that he's at a better time in his life, but I don't want to listen to him talking about doing the dishes and mowing the lawn. "Shake It Off" sounds like the band is having an epileptic fit (in a bad way) while Nels covers it in burts of liquid guitar crap (a problem that rears its ugly head throughout Sky Blue Sky). They don't pick "Let's Fight" but keep that?!
I was talking to a few friends about this when the album first "leaked" and one hit it right on the head: this is music you'll hear on the soft rock station in your dentist's office when you're getting your teeth cleaned. If any other band made this album I wouldn't care about it at all, but again, I'm fine with the style but the poor execution and lack of direction make Sky Blue Sky horrible.
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why do people even read pitchfork reviews? seriously? is previewing via the internet not porous enough? it alwasy baffles why art fans have to get a concensus from some lame online webstie as to whether or not somethings any good.
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Even in a world where record reviewing did not exist, this album would still suck out loud.
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But fortunately, we live in a world where we both record reviews AND assholes like Paul exist to let everyone know how much this album sucks. We are truly blessed!
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whatever. this album is brilliant.
i still believe wilco is america's best band and this just solidifies that title. the musicianship is impecable and the production is a new approach for the band -- they aren't hiding behind the studio -- everything is front and center, crystal clear.
i know it's been said, but just because pitchfork didn't really listen to it (or read their own interview with tweedy) doesnt mean you have to write i off like they did. it's okay to like music with good musicianship. seriously, it's okay.
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Paste loves it too, apparently:
http://www.pastemagazine.com/action/article/4185/wilco_sky_blue_sky
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I just bought the record, not on itunes, in a record shop, just cause the tweedster told me to. thanks man.
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I've tried to let the album grow on me, but it just hasn't clicked. Each time I listen to it, I like it less. I personally hadn't encountered any negative response to it until the Pfork review, and like a previous poster, it was one of the few times I have ever agreed 100% with one of their bashings. Between that review, the Volta one, and the love for the new Battles record, I've got to admit that I'm kind of down with the Bill O'Reilly of internet music journalism right now.
Sky is easily their worst album since A.M. and I don't think they have another YHF or Summerteeth in them at this point.
To be perfectly honest, though, Tweedy hit his peak with New Madrid and has been in freefall ever since.
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Some of the most beautiful guitar jamming I have heard on a record in many years. I am not a big fan of jams, but the guitar sections on this album are gorgeous, especially on Impossible Germany.
I bought the deluxe version CD/DVD on release date, even though I have listened to the album about 50 times before then.
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I'm of the crew that thinks the writers at Pitchfork deserve a 0.1 for their total lack of credibility and the fact that they NEED A FUCKING EDITOR!!!!!!!!!! Every time I read a review about an album I know, I find tons of mistakes that range from simple grammar to the staff just not listening to the music with enough intent to tell the difference between an acoustic guitar and an electric(See: Smog "Knock Knock") or not knowing who in the band is opening the album (Grizzly Bear "Yellow House"). I find it very funny that I can predict how well they will rate an album (Arcade Fire, Battles, Bjork, Deerhunter). It's all a formula now, Pitchfork are the tastemakers, and they don't taste this Sky Blue Sky, which in my opinion is a very good effort from a band trying to get the reins on that beast of a line-up they have going now. Seriously, Wilco are just taking a breathe, and when they get going, those motherfuckers in their hip little office will be kissing their feet.
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Bought two copies of the CD: one for a friend and one for myself? Why? Wilco are one of the few bands out there who treat their fans with intelligent respect. How many other bands would stream their new album for two months prior to it's release? How many other bands stream live shows on a constant basis? How many other artists (Tweedy's solo DVD) provide free downloads of the audio from their DVD's?
As for the album it's a brilliant addition to the Wilco catalogue. How many other artists would put out something so radically different from the winning formula of their last three albums (including Kicking Television). I love Tweedy's attempt to make an album which keeps a mood and style for the whole record. Songs like "Either Way", "Hate it Here", "Side with the Seeds" and "Impossible Germany" manage to be both simultaneously similar and different from his past work.
As for the Pitchfork review? Who cares? Interesting that they criticize "Sky Blue Sky" for being conventional while lauding Arcade Fire's "Neon Bible" which is just as conventional (albeit with some horrible lyrics and complete absence of choruses). The best thing about Pitchfork is their news section.
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Here's what my ears here: totally unmemorable songs; lyrics that don't say anything or even turn a phrase; guitar noodling sound that I hate (regardless of whether Nels Cline is a legend) or not; Jeff's voice way too upfront and overly "sincere" -- been listening since it leaked, nothing's grown on me. From a huge Wilco fan. Oh well, life goes on, just not my cup of tea. Still love the band.
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Phish + Wilco= Philco
This is not a knock on the album-- I personally like it (but I admit to listening to Phish and other Jam bands in my college years). If you watch the DVD included on the deluxe edition, you can appreciate that this album was recorded more or less live without alot of overdubbing or heavy production.
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It seems most of the criticism is based on Tweedy et al not doing what was expected of them. However, that's exactly what people should expect - he's never going to serve up something just because he thinks people want it. The album is maybe a little slick in places, but what the feck - it's WILCO ya dummies! They are still the greatest.
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