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Wilco - Sky Blue Sky Audio CD

A fair review of the Wilco "Sky Blue Sky" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Wilco reviews here, or go back to the Wilco tabs.

Wilco Band: Wilco
Title: Sky Blue Sky
Rating:
Release Date: 2007-05-15
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Either Way 2: You Are My Face 3: Impossible Germany 4: Sky Blue Sky 5: Side with the Seeds 6: Shake It Off 7: Please Be Patient with Me 8: Hate It Here 9: Leave Me (Like You Found Me) 10: Walken 11: What Light 12: On and On and On 13: [CD-ROM Track]

The elegance of simplicity - great songwriting, great recording
It also sees the debut of current guitarist Nels Cline, a refreshing and welcome addition to the band's sound. Wilco's 6th studio release, Sky Blue Sky, is their most easily accessible album yet - song structures are complex and edgy, but recording is pure, warm and soulful. And he is good. Most songs are purely relaxed rock arrangements, but in true Wilco fashion, each is shaken apart at some point with some razor sharp edginess that takes the tune to a new creative realm that reminds me of why I love these guys. Wilco is brilliant. Jeff Tweedy is a masterful songwriter, and this is a truly enjoyable CD. GENRES: Lite Alt, Rock, Mellow Rock.

BUY IF YOU LIKE: Ryan Adams, Neil Young, Son Volt.
MUST HEAR TRACKS: "You Are My Face," "Impossible Germany," "Sky Blue Sky," "Hate It Here. " .


"Either you will or you won't" (meet Wilco, the commitmentphobes)
Nels Cline suggested dueling guitars while Jeff Tweedy suggested a collective affinity for Fela Kuti. The making of "Sky Blue Sky" had some secrecy attached as well as confusing bits of information the band offered to their audience. Drummer Glenn Kotche suggested that people should just wait and find out. My wife and I couldn't help but try and predict what was next for everyone's favorite alt-country-whatever outfit. I thought they would continue to branch out and get weird. She thought they would regress to a rollicking style a al "Casino Queen" from "A. M. "

We both were wrong. "Sky Blue Sky" is Wilco's safest album. Whether it be music, lyrics, or production, the band took no chances with this album. Everything is, for better or worse, extremely even-keel. "Impossible Germany" is the one song here that possibly sounds like it could take flight, but the same track would be considered a snoozer had it appeared on "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" or "A Ghost Is Born. "

A term that everyone used to describe this album was "dad rock. " I'll refrain from using it since I'm not entirely sure what that means. I will say that compared to Loose Fur, Nels Cline, Glenn Kotche, and Jay Bennett solo albums, and just about every Wilco album prior to this, "Sky Blue Sky" feels like triple contraception. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Nothing lost, neither.


Please be patient with this record
Sure, A GHOST IS BORN wasn't great, but there was enough to like about it and I could respect a dip in inspiration following on the heels of the glorious YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT. Wilco
Sky Blue Sky
2007; Nonesuch Records

My Rating: 10/10

Have you ever bought a record that you listen to once, scratch your head, but back on the shelf for a year, pull out again, and listen to non-stop for the next year? When I first bought SKY BLUE SKY upon its release in 2007, I was immediately disappointed. But by the time SKY BLUE SKY rolled out in 2007, I was ready for WILCO to find their footing and deliver another left-field masterpiece. Instead I discovered what I thought at the time was a band on cruise control.

The thing is, you won't find anything strikingly revolutionary on SKY BLUE SKY, but that may in fact be the most wonderful thing about this record. It took me selling my copy of this record and then re-buying it to discover that SKY BLUE SKY is in my Wilco Top 3, and when all is said and done, may be right on top. SKY BLUE SKY is the sound of a band arriving. The lineup TWEEDY employs on this record came together shortly after the release of A GHOST IS BORN, and has been with him since. With SKY BLUE SKY, Tweedy makes the boldest statement of his career: "My songs and this band are so strong that I don't need anything to make a great record but a few microphones and a room big enough for the six of us. "

From the opening, there is something sweet and pastoral about this record. The interplay between Tweedy's songs and the rest of the band is effortless. Opening with the softly swaying "Either Way", the band quickly finds the zone with "You Are My Face" and never lets up. "Impossible Germany" is one of the album's highlights, featuring the best three-guitar interplay of any Wilco record and some of the best I've ever heard anywhere. The title track keeps things soft and dreamlike, while "Side with the Seeds" is another album highlight. Thought I hesitate to say it, "Shake It Off" might be the album's low point, although even it feels integral to the record's progression.

The album's second half features another handful of soft, dreamy tunes in "Please Be Patient With Me," "Leave Me," and closer "On and On and On. " "What Light" is as sunny and optimistic a song as you're likely to hear from Tweedy, while "Walken" and "Hate It Here" lend a little more drama to the album's second half.

All in all, it's understandable why many people walked from SKY BLUE SKY after its initial release, but in my view there is no other record so deserving of a second chance. I love this record, and given enough time, so will you.


Sky Blue Sky
This item was in perfect condition when i received it; just as the description said it would be.


Wildo
. Alt-country's seminal masters offer another master class as to why their songwriting stays consistently compelling in what on the surface could seem little more than contractual fulfillment but reveals sturdy layers and crafty composition upon each revisit.


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