Kicking Television- Where should I go with Wilco now?

It depends on what you like. Each of their albums are different. "Yankee Foxtrot Hotel" is a classic, but can be a little more experimental and abstract at times. "A Ghost is Born" is like YFH, only more experimental and a little more boring. "A.M." and "Being There" are both firmly planted in the alt-country genre - and both are excellent. "Summerteeth" is alt-rock combined with Spector-like pop. "Sky Blue Sky" is similar to 70's rock (with a little twang).
And their newest, "Wilco (The Album)," combines pretty much the sound from all of their prior releases.

If you're interested in picking up a few more of their CDs, I would say "Yankee Foxtrot Hotel," "Being There," and their newest self-titled disc are essential.

The only album I don't listen to much ever is "A Ghost is Born." I like the songs "Company in my Back" and "Handshake Drugs," but I can't get into the rest of it.

Also, download the song "Venus Stop the Train" for free from this link: http://icecreamman.com/2009/05/song-...top-the-train/. It's an outtake from when they made YFH, but I think it's one of their best songs.

I pretty much agree with Wanker, but I'd save the new one 'til later and get Summerteeth instead (especially since it makes such great summer listening, appropriately enough). I completely agree on A Ghost is Born. Those songs sound strangely inert on the album and all of them are better represented live.

You've probably made a good choice starting with Kicking Television, kingfan. It gives you a taste of most of their albums, but through the filter of the new lineup (possibly their best live incarnation yet, even if it hasn't yielded their best studio albums, necessarily). Plus, you get better versions of every song on A Ghost Is Born except for a few.

My theory on A Ghost is Born (I think it's incredibly underrated and it's my "favorite" Wilco album, even though it's clearly not the best...Summerteeth and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot are much better).

Create a playlist and sequence the songs so that they're running backwards. Works much better that way...so much so that I wonder if it's something that's meant to be done.

There might be something to that running order theory. The songs aren't bad at all (in fact, "Kidsmoke" may be one of my favorites of theirs in live or studio form), and, as I mentioned above, some of them really shine live. There's just something about the album that doesn't add up for me.

Sky Blue Sky is probably the easiest Wilco album for what it's worth. I think it gets a bit unfairly hit by people, too. It's certainly not taking any chances, but it's a really mellow listen sitting on the porch with a beer as the sun sets.

I'm not even sure A.M. is even really a Wilco record anymore considering where they've gone. It's a lot more Uncle Tupelo/Golden Smog than it is Summerteeth/YHF.

Yeah, but A.M. is worth a purchase for "Dash 7" alone. The rest of the album is a bonus.

Oh, I totally agree. I hope nobody misread my statement as saying it wasn't a decent album. I just think it could be a bit jarring for someone working backwards through the catalog who thinks of them in terms of their more eclectic music.

If anyone is feeling industrious I'd suggest tracking down non-album tracks Student Loan Stereo and The TB Is Whipping Me. Both are favorites of mine.

Edit:

Student Loan Stereo: http://hypem.com/track/763882/Wilco-Student+Loan+Stereo
The TB Is Whipping Me: http://hypem.com/track/857127/Wilco+...Is+Whipping+Me

Same here. AGIB and even YHF contain great material that I somehow prefer listening to in their live versions on Kicking Television... it's the 'Stop Making Sense' effect I guess (i.e. live versions being so good they're permanently preferable to studio recordings).
SBS got called 'dad rock' in the Pitchfork review, but I find the impeccable musicianship highly infectious, and they're all good to great songs. It's the album that gets the most playthroughs from me.
New album leaves me a bit underwhelmed though. Still classy and crafted, but somehow no material that grips me after repeated listening. I'll be seeing them live this summer, curious to see if the new stuff will stand out in any way.

Not that it should be your next Wilco purchase (that should be Being There), but at some point, you'll want to get at least the first volume of the Mermaid Avenue sessions.

What are your thoughts on the second volume? I got the first one about five years ago after hearing "California Stars," but recently began enjoying the rest of the album quite a bit more in the last year.

I remember hearing that the second volume was a little bit of a letdown.

It's certainly not as good as the first, but there are some fine tracks that rival the stuff on Volume 1. Wilco's got "Airline to Heaven," "Blood of the Lamb" and "Joe DiMaggio's Done It Again." (Some might put "Secrets of the Sea" on that list, but I find that song kind of boring and by-the-numbers). Bragg's got "All You Fascists" and "Black Wind Blowing."

The second volume always felt to me less like a second volume and more like the leftovers. The leftovers still are pretty good stuff, mind you.

Speaking of leftovers, I just gave Son Volt's American Central Dust a spin the other night. How much things have changed. Fourteen years ago when AM and Trace both drop, Jay Farrar seemed like he was going to be the guy that was going to break out. Trace is an excellent album, much more consistent than AM and with a much more distinct voice, and it made me assume he was the talent behind Uncle Tupelo.

Fast forward fifteen years and Wilco has continuously evolved and advanced, and Tweedy is a well respected artist and musician. Farrar? He's released half a dozen albums that sound pretty much like Trace leftovers. They've basically gone opposite directions than where they seemed to be headed with their first post-Uncle Tupelo albums.

Oddly enough, I think Farrar was the main talent behind Uncle Tupelo, at least until the last couple UT albums. It's just that he's apparently really good at one style of music and ran it into the ground in the early part of his career. Tweedy started matching him song-for-song by the end of UT (if not surpassing him - I like "New Madrid," "We've Been Had" and "The Long Cut" better than anything else on Anodyne), but his real talent turned out to be evolving a little with every album, and that wasn't all that clear until Being There.

Yes, totally agreed. "We've Been Had" even pops up in Wilco sets every now and then (I was lucky enough to hear it the first time I saw them; it came right after the excellent "Not For the Season" which went on to get a weird name and weirder performance on some other Tweedy project).

Yes, they are amazingly tight live, and (as mentioned above) their current lineup is certainly their best. If you ever get the chance to see them, definately do it as they are one of the best bands playing these days (in terms of live shows, though I happen to think they're among the best as far as music, too). The new DVD Ashes of American Flags is really good, too, and you should check out the documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart as well.

Grarrr. My Lowell MA gig 2 days ago got cut short by the stupid rain. Arrrgggh! It was a good set, but they had just started really cooking, and I know that last 6-8 songs was going to have some of the key moments.

Still, I'm happy with what I got. The last 2 songs were an extremely long and different version of Spiders, then I'm The Man Who Loves You. Nels took this Spiders into a different dimension, even farther than the recent DVD and Austin City Limits versions I've seen. Then, they covered up the band's gear with some little tents, and hit us with probably the best version of ITMWLY I've heard. Half the arena was on the way out (don't know where the hell they thought they were going, there was no shelter from the rain and a long ass walk back to their cars), and it was pouring down, but me and those who stuck it out were moved into some joyous cathartic dancing.



As for the albums, everyone is different with their perceptions. Most of the recent ones sound incomplete or half full, then your mind gradually fills in the blanks, and they end up feeling like they are exactly as they should be. It took a couple years for me to love all of Ghost, but I definitely consider it one of their masterpieces now. I'd advise a newbie to buy them in this order:

1.YHF
2.Summerteeth
3.Being There
4.Wilco The Album
5.Sky Blue Sky
6.A Ghost Is Born

...then Anodyne by Uncle Tupelo, then maybe AM after that if you are feeling hardcore. The Ashes Of American Flags DVD is aces, too.

If AM or the UT stuff tickle your fancy then there's worse directions to go than Golden Smog after that, too. Radio Kings still to this day might be my favorite Tweedy song.

It's definitely worth checking out Jim O' Rourke's album "Insignificance", as it features most of Wilco in a backing band capacity. Awesome album. In a similar vein, the first Loose Fur album is fairly great, as far as side projects go.

I passed some Wilco advice to a friend on facebook the other night -->

As much as I love "Summerteeth" and "Being There", I've played them to death by now. "Kicking Television" makes for a pretty great primer, so it's good that you have that one already. "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" is absolutely essential. I listen to the new one and SBS the most these days, though. Once you get those three, that'll do ya right for a good while. Rent the IATTBYH DVD sometime too. It's worth seeing at least once. I haven't seen "Ashes of American Flags" yet, but hope to soon.

You should go back and listen to A.M. Some of those songs are downright fantastic. I actually think the new album sounds like a combination of SBS, Being There and A.M.

Good choices getting Being There and Summerteeth, those are the two I'd recommend. YHF is a masterpiece--set aside some time and get a good pair of headphones to listen to that one. I think A Ghost is Born is pretty fantastic as well, though it's inconsistent. Like any great band, every Wilco album is different, but they all have something unique to offer.

Any Son Volt fans here? All I know about them is that they're (or some of or one of?) the other Uncle Tupelo guys after that split. I've been curious ever since getting into Wilco (and Uncle Tupelo retroactively) around when Being There came out, but for one reason or another never followed through. The band seems to have been steadily putting out albums, though obviously not to the popular and critical success of Wilco.

Did they stay in the UT "alt-country" vein as opposed to Tweedy et al's pull toward experimentation, or find their own style, or what? Any opinions around here on their stuff?

Son Volt is far more set in the alt. country vein, although I wonder sometimes how much that has to do with Jay Farrar's distinct voice and limited vocal range. The dude's voice just oozes country. The first two albums, Trace and Straightaways are great--pick those up for sure. Wide Swing Tremolo is a little rockier, a little more REM-esque and not quite as good as the first two, but still worth a listen. The last two--Okemah... and The Search--aren't very good, but the new one I like quite a bit, it's a return to the traditional, more country-folk material, less rock. The Son Volt Retrospective is quite good too.
Farrar's solo albums are the most experimental--he indulges in some genre hopping, with some electronic stuff (drum loops, etc.), and some Flaming Lips-esque stuff courtesy of Steven Drozd. That's the most "Wilco-y" of his material.

Ah, looks like I should start from the beginning with them, then. Thanks!

You're probably right. Back in 2003, just after growing infatuated with YHF, I dove all the way in and bought all of Wilco's albums within a couple of weeks. Might've moved too quickly and A.M. never got a chance to stand on its own for me. I liked it ok then, but I probably haven't listened to it for a few years now. Will dust it off and give it another go soon.

I'll chime in and say that you can't really go wrong with any of the Wilco albums. In my mind they are all really good to great, and that includes AM. I will say that it has taken me some time to get into their last two...and I'm still not quite there with some of the songs. I just don't feel a lot of energy in them unlike AM --> Ghost. Obviously that is my own perception, and everybody will have their own favorites and views on a particular album. The Ghost tour was really a great tour, though. I saw them twice, and both shows were two of my favorite shows I've ever been to.

One other thing I will mention, and after scanning this thread I don't think I saw mention of this, but I would highly recommend you search out a couple of Jay Bennett albums. Jay was a vital member of Wilco during (what many consider) Wilco's best run of albums. In my personal opinion, and I say this knowing not everyone will agree, Jay's albums The Magnificent Defeat and The Palace at 4:00 AM are better than any of the last three Wilco albums. I am saying this as one that loves every Wilco album. I simply enjoy those two energetic Bennett albums a lot more than the laid back feel of most of the last two Wilco albums; with it being real close when comparing to Ghost. Again, that's my personal preference with my own tastes.

The below link takes you to a site where you can download a Bennett album for free called Whatever Happened I Apologize. It is a legit free download. This is not an album I would compare to Wilco, it's just a really good sparsely produced album of mostly just Jay and an acoustic guitar. It might not appeal to most people, but hey...it's free to try, and he explains himself and his motivation for the album on the site.

http://rockproper.com/jay-bennett/wh...apologize.html

No, they're not really that experimental, all things considered. They're just kind of weird for a pop band or a band that started from country and folk.

But you're also approaching them at a point that they've synthesized a lot of their various sounds. The gap between A.M. and YHF in terms of arrangement is pretty pronounced, but they've kind of taken aspects of that YHF sound and brought it back around on the less ornate singer-songwriter fare of the earlier albums. It was a gradual progression to the relative weirdness of YHF and A Ghost is Born, and if they'd kept going in the direction of "Radio Cures" or "Kidsmoke," there might be more to that "experimental" label. But the last two albums kind of bring things together, for better or worse.

If you want to hear some really experimental Wilco, buy THE WILCO BOOK, which comes with a CD of unreleased experimental demos. About as far from Summerteeth as you can get.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukOEXaGIQLw

Kind of a cool little story from Tweedy about running into Jay Farrar.

As you can read above, I'm a huge Ghost is Born fan and I agree that the first couple of songs are some of Tweedy's strongest. It feels really honest, that album. The biggest problem is the song order. It feels purposefully disjointed.

While I agree that AGIB has a few great songs (At Least That's What You Said is one of my favorites from their discography), all total it feels like the least soulful Wilco album to me. And there are several on the last half of the album I really don't like* the studio versions of, especially Company In My Back, I'm A Wheel, and The Late Greats. However, I really dig some of the live versions I've heard of the last two. Ashes of American Flags is just an awesome DVD from beginning to end and includes some of the best live versions I've ever heard of many of their songs.

*The final 12 mins of noise on the 15:04 Less Than You Think are ridiculous and not in a good way.

Yeah, "One Wing" was the first song from the new album to really grab me. It's fantastic.

I'm curious to know what others think about the first track, Wilco (The Song). I thought it was silly and annoying the first couple of times I heard it, but now I think it's fun and really dig it.

I loved Sky Blue Sky to pieces (possibly my current favorite Wilco album) and I'm starting to have similar feelings for Wilco (The Album) overall.