I heard the new track today and am pleasantly surprised. I’ll defend Star Wars but Schmilco and Ode to Joy left a lot to be desired. I am hoping that the prep for the YHF shows has reinvigorated them and they recapture some of the weirdness and experimentation from the past. The group-recording sounds like something they needed to “do something new”
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The first interview Jeff Tweedy has done about Wilco’s new album Cruel Country which is out on Friday, May 27th.
I can’t believe I’m saying this about a record where Wilco does country music, but these two new songs have done nothing for me. I miss the Wilco that spent time in the studio crafting albums and I especially miss the Wilco that had big hooks and singalong choruses and dynamics in their songs. Finding out that this record was mostly live first takes had me nervous, and so far it sounds like something they spent a weekend on and then called it done.
From Sky Blue Sky, released 15 years ago this month. PopMatters looks back at it in the article below.
The aforementioned new songs didn’t do much for me, but the album is much better than I was expecting. Bird Without a Tail/Base of My Skull and Many Worlds both have nice extended jams that have been lacking on recent albums.
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I think the new album is tremendously boring, and such a waste of the talented guys who are in the band. Most of it sounds like a tossed-off Tweedy solo record.
I think I’ve listened to it a few times now, and frankly it became a chore. There are some decent songs (such as the two I mentioned), but there is a lot of bland Tweedy stuff. Some of the vocals are extremely grating. Pared down to the band songs, it’d be a decent Wilco album.
I think the days of great Wilco are passed us. Cousin is ok, but not spectacular.