Wilco (The Album Stream)
A month and change before its proper release, Wilco (The Album) is streaming at Wilco (The Band)'s site. The humped album art might've hinted at something funny, but the sounds are pretty sober (and also just pretty). Maybe the way they relate to Shriner camel and his orange hat/orange cake in the sunny photo is the crisp, uncluttered midday brightness of the recordings. You've heard opener "Wilco (The Song)" and "One Wing," now hear the rest, including the Feist duet "You And I," at wilcoworld.net.
Wilco (The Album) is out 6/30 via Nonesuch.
Posted at 12:13 PM by brandon
Tags: Wilco
Mind you, only two songs through, but wanted to express my gratitude for how good 'Deeper Down' is - the little changes throughout are a nice touch. This is making my Wednesday - oh, this and Lost finale, sorry :)
Score = 2
Holding out until release day for this one, but it's so tempting. Internet response has been pretty great so far, which is encouraging.
Score = 0
How much mileage (are we going to get out of this joke)
Score = 24
Sounds good so far... like Bull Black Nova
Score = 2
I don't have time just now but I do recall loving the changes in "walken" the last sneak preview around...
Score = 0
While I really enjoyed the first half of the new album (especially Bull Black Nova and Deeper Down), the latter half left me feeling somewhat dissatisfied. Also, at first listen, the album seems to lack the structural unity and coherence of earlier Wilco LPs and feels more like a collection of songs. Despite these issues, however, as a devoted Wilco fan, I will be purchasing the new album when it comes out at the end of June.
Score = 0
Listened to half before it timed out on me for some reason, and I must say, "I don't care anymore." Seriously, what's the deal with Wilco? As soon as they bring a great guitarist into the fold, they turn into crap? That might sound harsh, but I didn't find much to admire with Sky Blue Sky and this sounds worse than that. The duet You and I just sounds lazy. From the lyrics to the music. Nothing inspired here (unless its all contained in the second half...but I doubt it).
Score = -5
"Seriously, what's the deal with Wilco?" Seinfeld, is that you?!
Score = 21
You do know it leaked, right? A downloaded version won't time out on you.
Score = -3
don't worry bout the thumbs down. there are those of us who agree with you 100%, and then there are the others here who love everything that they're "supposed" to like... regardless of whether its good or bad. Why do you think Animal Collective has a following? Liberal Arts students eat that shit up.
On a better note, Veckatimest is the shit.
Score = -2
Wilco (These Parenthetical Title Jokes Are Getting Lame)
Score = -16
Jesus, Wilco posts always elicit the most sincere comments. When are you monkeys going to start throwing your poo at each other?
Score = 2
"deeper down" and "bull black nova" absolutely kick ass
Score = 5
I think the middle-part of the album is pretty good. Especially "Bull Black Nova" (I could take a whole Wilco record with these themes throughout) and "You Never Know" (which sounds a lot like Steely Dan to me). But, I'm with Panoptijohn in that there isn't a whole heck of a lot of unity in the songs to make it an "album". It sounds like they should have released the record with a "leftovers" disclaimer. And I always throw out half the leftovers anyway...Otherwise, it isn't bad. It'll just have to grow on me I suppose.
Score = 7
I think the middle-part of the album is pretty good. Especially "Bull Black Nova" (I could take a whole Wilco record with these themes throughout) and "You Never Know" (which sounds a lot like Steely Dan to me). But, I'm with Panoptijohn in that there isn't a whole heck of a lot of unity in the songs to make it an "album". It sounds like they should have released the record with a "leftovers" disclaimer. And I always throw out half the leftovers anyway...Otherwise, it isn't bad. It'll just have to grow on me I suppose.
Score = -3
Being There>A Ghost Is Born
Score = 0
I prefer to think of the Kicking Television versions of the Ghost songs as the real versions.
Score = 3
I haven't spent as much time on a single band's web site since "In Rainbows" crashed Radiohead's site. The album is really, really, really good.
There's also a full stream of their show in Milwaukee on the site. I may never leave.
Score = 9
So does "You Never Know" actually sample that guitar bit from Harrison's "My Sweet Lord," or does it just sound EXACTLY like it?
Score = 8
My thoughts exactly. People on the ViaChicago message board have also definitely noticed it.
Score = 1
I was thinking it was an homage more than an outright rip off. That whole song had a Phil Spector/All Things Must Pass sort of vibe.
Score = 3
this is a good record.
Score = 5
This is a solid record. "Bull Black Nova" is powerful good stuff. The Feist duet is pretty good too. This sounds like the record that should have come after "A ghost is born." After a couple listens, this record would rank as my #3 Wilco record (behind #1 YHF and #2 Being There).
Score = 0
Immediately sounds like a band more excited and energised than the one who made 'Sky Blue Sky'. Fortunately.
Score = 5
This sounds like the proper followup to Summerteeth. Good-timey sound with less good-timey lyrics (save Wilco (the song)), and one out-and-out murder ballad (Bull Black Nova, which gave me chills). Time will tell, and it probably won't surpass YHF or Summerteeth in my book, but it's a very, very solid record.
Score = 5
One Wing is beautiful.
Score = 7
Nobody notices they somehow forget to plug in the guitars...?
Score = -5
Animal Collective (the better album)
Score = -84
Can you please just shut the fuck up?
Score = 10
-24! You did it, Ron!
Score = 3
I'm no public intellectual, but this is a big step up from SBS.
Score = 0
Ahh, now I remember why I love Wilco, have a feeling im gonna be spending some summer days with this album.
Score = 8
i'm disappointed. the band sounds uninspired lyrically and musically. i thought a ghost is born was terrific, and sky blue sky was a drop-off in quality, despite having a few good songs, but this is about the same or worse.
Score = 3
It's soooooooooo hard to tell after one listen. I really find reviews before 3-4 listens of an album to be uninformed. That being said, there's no "Side with the Seeds" or "Impossible Germany" that wowed me musically right off the bat like they did with Sky Blue Sky.
Score = 5
Not even Bull Black Nova?! That did the trick for me.
Score = 2
I'm no public intellectual, but this is a big step up from SBS.
Score = -1
can't wait to hear "Bull Black Nova" live. epic.
Score = 7
this album is one for the history books....instant classic!
Score = -3
Tweedy is not the good songwriter he used to be anymore.
the first half is good, though not great, the 2nd is boring.
Score = -2
Good, a brown and orange driving to the beach album was just what they needed...".Bull Black Nova" is the most striking...early 70's Fleetwood Mac song "Morning Rain" was the song in my mind when I finished...CLASSIC rhythm sections don't grow on trees...
Score = 3
It sounds like everything I've ever heard before.
Score = 1
One thing that still always manages to raise the fur is the VU Live 69 version of "White Light White Heat"..."Bull Black Nova" gets in that territory.
Score = 1
What a terrible day for my favorite band to start streaming their new album (finals week). Reading all this stuff is giving me needs.
Score = 1
So shouldn't you be studying rather than reading all this stuff? Otherwise, why not just stream the album with the time you've spent reading all this stuff? Priorities, friend...
Score = 1
just more boring dad rock from what used to be my favorite band. i've been listening since "Anodyne" , and this is another record i won't be buying. how can this be the same dude who wrote Summerteeth and YHF? jeff has always written his best stuff in collaboration with someone named Jay. whether it be Farrar or Benett. and then has a big falling out with them. so who's the 3rd Jay? Leno? Reatard? Z???
Score = 1
So the five best albums of the year (thus far) looks like this:
1. Grizzly Bear, “Veckatimest”
2. Sonic Youth, “The Eternal”
3. Wilco, “Wilco (The Album)”
4. The Horrors, “Primary Colours”
5. Animal Collective, “Merriweather Post Pavilion”
Score = -21
woah, slow your roll homey
Score = 19
Those are the 5 best albums of the year? I don't think any of them are worth buying. The Cymbals Eat Guitars album is better than all of them in my OPINION. I emphasize opinion for those of you that have such a hard time distinguishing between fact and opinion.
I will never understand how this band is so popular now when the music back in the "A.M.", "Being There" and "Summerteeth" days was so much better (so were the shows...and they were cheaper and in better venues). YHF is the only thing they've done since Summerteeth that was actually worth the purchase. Uncle Tupelo reunion please.
Score = -11
couldn't disagree more. wilco is at the top of their game, especially in regards to their live shows. what i don't understand is people who claim that everything after YHF has been shit. how can you praise YHF and not - at the very least - appreciate a ghost is born?
Score = 7
Wilco > Grizzly Bear
Score = 31
Wilco ≤ A Ghost is Born
Score = 3
Wilco >>> Grizzly Bear & >>>>>>>>>>Animal Collective.
The fleeting AC worshipers writing this record off are on the wrong side of history.
Score = 12
At least half of it is really, really good. Though the You and I collaboration is kind of a disappointment. Anyway, it wouldn't take much to be an improvement over Sky Blue Sky..
Score = -3
(Long sigh) Rather than subject myself to repeated listens like i did with SBS, I think I'm just going to act like this didn't happen, and pretend that Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was their last album.
Score = -9
fuck you, calendar, it's officially summertime.
Score = 4
I am getting tired by these Wilco rednecks. How can you listen to such ugly music :(
Score = -55
This record is very, very good. Like everyone says, Bull Black Nova is stunning... and Deeper Down is very "Radio Cure-ish" .... loving it. But what's with all the hate? I'm sick of this Animal Collective > Wilco garbage. I give the AC credit for doing what they want (and being creative about it) but let's face it, their albums don't come CLOSE to anything Wilco does.
Score = 4
wilco's become like your grandmother who gets drunk at the christmas party...you know they shouldn't be doing it but no one cares because you love them and let them do what they want
Score = 9
Are the people who like this album also the ones who thought Sky Blue Sky was great when it leaked? I predict 3 stars from Allmusic.com, which would put it on par with AM as their lowest rated. I've listened to it twice now and only like I'll Fight and You Never Know. Wilco (the song) has it's charm but is minor, and Bull Black Nova does sound like it could be cool live, but then why not inject some of that coolness into the album version? And people thought SBS was dull. Didn't a band member say he loved One Wing for some extended solo by Cline? Uh, it wasn't in the version I heard.
Score = -5
keep in mind that allmusic gave YHF - the album that many people consider a major musical touchstone of the 2000's - a 4 star rating, and gave being there and summerteeth better ones. i personally (and i don't think i'm alone here) think that YHF is loads better than being there... therefore, who cares what allmusic/pitchfork says.
Score = 4
Why the hell are people comparing AC to Wilco???????? Did I miss something?
Score = 10
They're doing it for attention. I think most of the people who continually impose their Animal Collective fandom in the comments for non-AnCo-related posts are trying to both start their own meme (to no avail) and trying to get attention because: 1) their girlfriend cheated on them, 2) they got kicked off Gawker for making 'lewd' comments, 3) they are trying to compensate for the fact that they secretly 'just started listening' to Animal Collective and if you told them that you loved SUNG TONGS or mentioned HERE COMES THE INDIAN or expressed your desire to see 'Deakin' rejoin the band for the next album, they would look at you with the kind of befuddlement seen on sea mammals just as a killer whale is sinking its teeth into their wet, soft, steak-grade-tender skin. I hate this 'trend' and I hope it goes away soon.
Score = 8
But didnt you just do that in the -54 comment? Compare them to AC?
Score = -3
What are you talking about?
Score = 1
yeah, what's with the AC thing? two totally separate kinds of music- can't really compare them (for the record, i love AC's new album- been on repeat for awhile now). I'm glad other longtime wilco listeners are disappointed with the last few albums as well. sucks that some bands that defined some big periods of my life- wilco, ween, weezer, the SP's- have gotten so blah in the last few years. at least radiohead is still putting out consistently amazing stuff. if they ever put out a half-assed record like these other dudes, i'm gonna throw up.
Score = 1
I agree. These Animal Collective and Wilco comparisons are just stupid. They're two completely different bands.
Having said that, you're out of your fucking mind if you think this (album) is better than Merriweather Post Pavillion.
Score = 0
How can anyone get down on Wilco for making a great record that sounds like a "collection of songs" Isn't that what this is all about. I've been listening all day, have already ordered the CD and can't wait to hold yet another collection of great songs in my hands! This music is so much better than most of the over blogged.......stuff.....out there today! Keep it up Jeff and Co.
Score = 2
considering YHF is the musical masterpiece of the decade alongside Kid A and the Moon and Antarctica, I respect anything musicians of that caliber put out. and yeah otherwise its pretty good on its own
Score = 8
I want to say if you like Wilco you'll like this album. They're just that band so good you can't deny them that is...... if you like them (funny how they're highlighting this in this album.) They're like a musical ice-cream store and If every other album they've put out has been either chocolate or vanilla this is their orange flavor or maybe I'm just too caught up in their cover photo. It's kind of cool to hear them comfortable enough with themselves that they don't really need to strive for anything you can just hear them catch themselves in a new place. It's kind of like Summerteeth with the organic oriental organ guitar squiggles and lyrically it's much less disparaging and more adult like not caught in this sort of severe anxiety. I didn't have high expectations for this album and I wonder if that's why I'm enjoying the difference they're making.
Also one last thing, Wilco is a band of people first and foremost not a culture novelty
Score = -2
Where is Nels???????
Score = 2
I'm currently still employed by Wilco, but if you're a successful rock and roll band looking to forever harm your legacy, I can add unnecessary, headache-inducing extended guitar solos to your albums. Email me if interested: jaybennett>me@gmail.com
Score = 10
Show a little self-respect Nels. You're much more talented than that greedy jealous slob Bennett. Don't let those "Wilco purists" tell you Wilco was better before you added a whole new level to their sound.
Score = -1
Actually, I am still self absorbed and greedy. However, sometimes what could seem as distinctly "more talented parts" does not make a better whole. Like when Nels came on, and Jeff decides to get lazy as fuck and start writing choruses and 5 verses then tell Nels to play some shit for transitions and then noodle some sly shit elevator dad rock noodling over an hour of boring and uninspired song construction. While he and I did fight, and I occasionally made him throw up (which probably has nothing to do with the fact that he was a neurotic junkie while I was in the band (lol!)) we created something tight and memorable out of that tension. Plus I was hilarious.
Score = 0
Way better than Sky Blue Sky, but nowhere near Being There, Summerteeth or Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Wilco (The Song) is great, though.
Score = 4
take the album's best song for example: "Bull Black Nova." Fantastic sounding song. But here Tweedy talks about what sounds to me like some kind of murder but it doesn't ring true at all. Back during Summer Teeth era when he sang Via Chicago it was actually disturbing and engrossing because it seemed like it was coming from an honest place within him. an expulsion of demons. but the "blood on my hands. blood in my hair" of Bull Black Nova sounds like he's a tourist in Murder-Ballad-ville when we all know his real home is back on main street where he sings insipid love ballads with an ipod spokesman.
Score = -1
You're putting far too much emphasis on the lyrics, no wonder you can't enjoy this album. How about taking the songs as a whole? There's so much going in that song musically, and you're complaining about not sensing his "conviction" in the lyrics. Not to mention the extreme prejudice you appear to have, judging by that last sentence there.
Score = 3
After i heard SBS i formulated this really contrived comparison between wilco's musical progression with that of the Beatles. Now i'm not saying wilco have made albums anywhere near as good as the beatles stuff, but stylistically this is how i see it; A.M. was straigtht alt country much like the early Beatles records (please please me, meet the beatles, beatles for sale) were straight rock n'roll albums. Being There opened up Wilco's sound with more acoustic songs mixed with the sound of their early albums much like Beatles 65' and Help! did for the Beatles. Summerteeth left behind the alt country for the most part using the studio more as an instrument in creating more textured songs, hinting at what would follow , as what the Beatles did recording Rubber Soul/Revolver. YHF completed the change from altcountry rock to full blown studio induced music that completely changed wilco's sound and how they were perceived musically. Ditto Sgt. Pepper's. AGIB was the sound of a band with no limits or restrictions especially for Tweedy after getting rid of Jay Bennett and the record company fiasco left him pretty much with the mentality of, "should i put on a song with 12 minutes of mindless buzz? fuck it why not". The Beatles er white album saw all of the band members writing and recording their own stuff as infighting began thus giving the album it's mishmash feel. Finally SBS is Wilco's Let it Be. After years of experimentation they went back to the basics to refreshen their chops just playing as a band. Now does this mean that Wilco (the album) will be their Abbey Road?? Not sure, but as you can tell i've thought wayyyy too much about this.
Score = 3
I've totally thought of all of that before too, and am convinced this is their Abbey Road--the comparisons are scary. Everlasting = The End in my opinion, Ringo drumming, Penny Lane-horn, and it just feels so...final.
Score = -1
I might get murdered for being honest but here it goes. Why do we buy albums by bands we love or have interest in? Because we believe in the music and what it makes us feel like. Why do people think that bands have to put out the same album over and over? When a band puts effort into making a record, they most probably in a different place than the consumer is when they're making that piece of art to release to the world. We're so used to listening to past works that we never give the new art a chance. Probably because society's attention span is so low in this day and age of "I want satisfaction fast and I want it now." It's like this record. Have some of you actually "really listened" to it. And I just can't believe half the people on this post don't like SBS. Did that record sound like any other record that was released that year? Let me give you people a big wake up call: Wilco aren't going to release Being There every single year but in a different package. Has anyone ever watched the interview with Jeff on the SBS dvd? Remember when he says he wanted to make songs that he could sing to his wife? Does anybody relate to that at all? Ever singing something you created or showing something you created to express how you feel about someone you adore? You probably do it everyday and don't even notice your doing it. Even Radiohead hate listening to Ok Computer: they admit it themselves. So why would an artist just release the same piece of art everytime it makes it? Sit down and actually listen to the record with headphones and not through cheap little computer speakers. There's depth to this record. Quit treating art like a masturbation process: quick satisfaction. Treat it like it's gonna mean something to you. It's never going to be what you expect the first time people. Never. So keep an open mind when your listening to one of the great true artistic bands left out there.
Score = 19
I completely, COMPLETELY agree. Sky Blue Sky doesn't deserve an ounce of the flak it's received. It's unquestionably Wilco's most honest and sincere effort. It's also a masterpiece. Most of the people who have panned it are obviously post-Summerteeth fans, when the band was hitting its experimental streak. Sky Blue Sky is a comedown from that phase as it's a more homogenous, natural-sounding album. But by no means is it regressive. Retrospective, perhaps, as it does recall earlier efforts. However, it also sounds like nothing else the band has accomplished. The twelve songs are seamlessly constructed without ever sounding calculated. The playing is immaculate. There's a heightened confidence in Tweedy's singing and his vocals have reached a new peak in soulful expression. The lyrics are not as obtuse as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born. There's a sense of clarity, soberness that prior to Sky Blue Sky, the band could never quite grasp. It's a personal and artistic triumph.
Score = 1
This album blows... I've listened to it maybe three or four times now. Its the lyrical equivalent of Ashton Kutcher talking politics. I really think all the steam they had up until A Ghost Is Born has emptied out. If this was another band's debut effort, none of you would give it a second look... and if you did, you probably like everything and therefore you have no taste in the first place. Listen to Veckatimest and get over Jeff Tweedy.
Score = -21
AC > Wilco
Score = -18
My dick > yours. Wasn't relevant, but I thought I'd mention for the sheer irrelevance of it.
Score = 12
what's up with all the hate? SBS is fantastic, and so is most of what AC and grizzly bear does. why is there the need for comparisons? they all make great music.
Score = 2
yankee hotel foxtrot > than any record by grizzly bear or animal collective
that's why wilco receives this kind of attention
grizzly bear doesn't come near to garnering that kind of attention
animal collective is damn close because their one of a few bands who can claim that their last 3 full lengths are as solid and well received as say wilco's were during summerteeth, yhf, and agib.
however comparing the music on the records is useless
like what you will,
that still doesnt take away from the fact that grizzly bear is vastly overrated
Score = 4
I have to wonder why so many people who clearly don't enjoy Wilco are bothering to comment on (the Album). Of course this is a different record than A.M. or Being There. Are all y'all the same as you were in 1995? If so, well, that's troublesome, isn't it? I for one, want the art I listen to to grow and change, because I sure have. Whether it grows and changes in a direction in which I still have an interest will dictate whether I stay with the artist or find something that works better for me now. If Wilco doesn't work for you, move on. I, for one, will stick around awhile.
Score = 6
Well put baxterk. I'm in full agreement with you.
Score = 2
What a great album. Its so nice to hear them taking the next logical step from Sky Blue Sky. I kind of look at post AGiB Wilco as a new Wilco and i think i see them maturing all over again. I'd love for them to release YHF again, but i stopped expecting that of them and going into this album fresh made me really love it. Wouldn't mind some more prominent Nels though...although im sure the guitar on these songs will be life-changing when i see it live.
Score = 1
I like the album. It's solid, nothing groundbreaking. I was hoping for a more proggy album, something more along the lines of Loose Fur. Maybe safe, but some pretty songs nonetheless.
Score = 1
lets see (some titties up in this bitch)
Score = 6
this is good.i have to admit, i got on the Wilco bandwagon after YHF, and after a couple of years of them i decided to go back and revisit Summertheeth... i just don't like that one at all.. is anybody there with me? did i alter the order of the universe by saying this?
Score = -4
Your opinion on this one is about as bad as your spelling of "Summerteeth"
Score = 4
I really tried to like this, but some songs just seem too forced. Wilco (The Song), One Wing, BBN, and I'll Fight are great songs. I didnt like SBS at first, but now I think 70% of the album has amazing songs. With this album though I don't thing I will ever like more than 50% of these songs. Oh well...can't win them all. Wilco is still an amazing band. WE'LL GET 'EM NEXT TIME!
Score = 3
Any chance of a premature evaluation on this Stereogum? We've all been going back and forth to push this thing to the top of the comment tally, you've had plenty of time - weigh in! ;)
Score = -1
Wilco (The Song) washes me over like a golden shower from a unicorn. Yes, it's that good.
Score = 0
First of all, all of you SBS haters can suck it. Second of all, all of you AC fans can suck it. Third, and finally, this albums is bee-u-tee-fulllllll. It is so nice to know I will have this to listen to out on the lake this summer... Peace out, suckas.
Score = 0
Great music, but I'm still not sure about the album cover.
Score = -1
The Quietus has their track-by-track review up: http://thequietus.com/articles/01677-wilco-the-album-track-by-track-album-review. Pretty ridiculous the writer didn't take the time to look up the fact that Feist is the "female vocal" on "You and I."
Score = 2
I wish I could give you more than one UP arrow.
Score = 2
Did they take down the stream?
Score = -1
As a music collector I have always been a Wilco fan because they make great ALBUMS. Each and every album has a common thread running though it that makes it an ALBUM. A vibe, a feel. Not that the songs sound alike but that when you listen to one of there songs, you immediately know what album it came from. I do not hear the cohesiveness on Wilco (The Album). What I have found is a group of really good songs that are very poorly sequenced. Once I re-sequenced the songs on the album all of a sudden it became an ALBUM. And a very good one at that. Probably as far as Wilco albums go I would rate it somewhere in the middle, which is better than most of the stuff you hear today.
Score = 0