Albums that really really grew on you.

Dunno if I'd call it brilliant but it did grow on me a lot. Same with the last one.

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I was on board from at least Being There. I remember listening to AM when it came out and thinking it was kind of dull. I definitely dug the stuff with Bill Bragg and Summerteeth.

Still, YHF seemed pretty much like normal Wilco plus sound effects and fuzz guitar solos. I've never understood their rep as an "adventurous" band. They're like a next gen Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers with a couple krautrock albums and Sonic Youth tee shirts in their closet.

For me it was more like "Oh, somebody's been listening to too much Radioheadcop0"
 
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I think I ended up with this one before Decoration Day and while I immediately like "Carl Perkin's Cadillac" and "Goddamn Lonely Love" it took me awhile to acclimate to Hood and Cooley's voices. " The Sands of Iwo Jima" was particularly hard to make it through, but over the years they've become one of my favourite bands, and I think we all now how I feel about Jason Isbell.... :embarrassed:


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I had a girlfriend around 2003 that was really into indie music and the two albums she constantly spun were Pedro The Lion's Control and this one by Bright Eyes. I really didn't get either one much, but Conor Oberst's warble and enunciation was really off-putting. I didn't really come to appreciate Lifted until a few years later when I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning came out; I went back and listened to all the earlier Bright Eyes albums and it finally clicked.
 
For me it was more like "Oh, somebody's been listening to too much Radioheadcop0"

I don't get that comparison...all that "American Radiohead" stuff was just shorthand for the shared audience of white grad student listeners that the two bands shared for a time.

If you look at the actual songs and sonic elements, they're not really similar bands at all. Wilco, and this is why they get called dad rock, is little more than a more intellectualish Jayhawks or similar. Pills and depression probably kept them from being Toad the Wet Sprocket or Matchbox 20 some other AAA snoozefest. Still, post-rehab Tweedy has been a singlemindedly boring auteur. His current elder statesman guise has turned him into a walking, talking avatar for the very worst NPR-audience traits. He's probably 10 years out from becoming Garrison Keeler 2.0.
 
The Wall is where Pink Floyd lost pretty much everything that I like about Pink Floyd. Not atmospheric, no sonic texture, obnoxious storyline and theme, tons of filler, totally understuffed for an epic double-LP, etc.

That said, since I avoid commercial radio like the plague, every blue moon I'll hear 'Comfortably Numb' and I'll have enough distance from it to appreciate and think "this is a great fucking song".

That said, it's ok, and pretty tolerable. It's not at all a strong dislike, where I kinda honestly judge people who dig post-Wall Floyd.
Waters fired Richard Wright during the record! He and Gilmore were the sound of that band IMO
 
It's hard to pick one, lots of albums were like this for me.

I'll go with one from a long time ago, because I'm listening to it right now. At the time, I was a little biased against anything that seemed "new wave." Plus, my roommate was too aggressive about trying to turn people on to stuff he liked, and it made you want to not like it. :tongue:

It didn't take me long to recognize its brilliance, though.

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I don't get that comparison...all that "American Radiohead" stuff was just shorthand for the shared audience of white grad student listeners that the two bands shared for a time.

If you look at the actual songs and sonic elements, they're not really similar bands at all. Wilco, and this is why they get called dad rock, is little more than a more intellectualish Jayhawks or similar. Pills and depression probably kept them from being Toad the Wet Sprocket or Matchbox 20 some other AAA snoozefest. Still, post-rehab Tweedy has been a singlemindedly boring auteur. His current elder statesman guise has turned him into a walking, talking avatar for the very worst NPR-audience traits. He's probably 10 years out from becoming Garrison Keeler 2.0.

Agreed, and feel that Radiohead is 100 times the band the Wilco ever was...

However, I think he did a great job producing the Mavis Staples and Richard Thompson albums that he worked on.
 
Agreed, and feel that Radiohead is 100 times the band the Wilco ever was...

However, I think he did a great job producing the Mavis Staples and Richard Thompson albums that he worked on.

I'll have to check out those records he produced. They've kinda been off my radar. I feel like Radiohead writes more interesting types of songs, even when I'm not super into those songs. At their least interesting, Tweedy's most recent songs are gauzy, formless mewlings that almost invite parody.

I smoked Indiana out of cigarettes
And passed out in 40 thousand Port-o-Lets
And the light in the sky was a blight on my mind
And you might have a thought if you were so inclined

This is prairie fever story time
And a tall cool drink of night
Calling long distance yesterday
Feeling so uptight
 
I'll have to check out those records he produced. They've kinda been off my radar. I feel like Radiohead writes more interesting types of songs, even when I'm not super into those songs. At their least interesting, Tweedy's most recent songs are gauzy, formless mewlings that almost invite parody.

I smoked Indiana out of cigarettes
And passed out in 40 thousand Port-o-Lets
And the light in the sky was a blight on my mind
And you might have a thought if you were so inclined

This is prairie fever story time
And a tall cool drink of night
Calling long distance yesterday
Feeling so uptight

Yeah, a strength of the Mermaid Avenue records is that the songs are better than Tweedy's.
 
Uh, Tweedy wrote the music and melody to Guthrie's lyrics on the ones he sang. I guess you mean lyrics.

Yes, I meant the lyrics specifically. I certainly don't mean to downplay Wilco's contribution to those records; they were tremendous.

That said, I'm trying to imagine them without Billy Bragg, Natalie Merchant, etc., and I suspect that they would be a lot more maudlin.
 
Yes, I meant the lyrics specifically. I certainly don't mean to downplay Wilco's contribution to those records; they were tremendous.

That said, I'm trying to imagine them without Billy Bragg, Natalie Merchant, etc., and I suspect that they would be a lot more maudlin.

From what I read on those sessions, the tunes Jeff sang, Bragg had nothing to do with. He and Jeff didn't get along.

In fact, Wilco recorded a lot of it without Bragg even there, which fueled some of the fighting.


I'm be never listened to the tunes Bragg sang, I've never really liked him, so I always skip them when listening.
 
Only one that I can think of is Echo..

I remember picking it up when it was released and listening to it twice and putting it away..

I wasn't used to hearing Tom singing about divorce and depression..Kicked my ass..

Then I decided to give it another spin and learn to play a few tunes,(simple stuff)..

It is in my bank of just another great Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers record today.....

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I think I ended up with this one before Decoration Day and while I immediately like "Carl Perkin's Cadillac" and "Goddamn Lonely Love" it took me awhile to acclimate to Hood and Cooley's voices. " The Sands of Iwo Jima" was particularly hard to make it through, but over the years they've become one of my favourite bands, and I think we all now how I feel about Jason Isbell.... :embarrassed:


Lifted_or_The_Story_is_in_the_Soil%2C_Keep_Your_Ear_to_the_Ground_%28Front_Cover%29.png


I had a girlfriend around 2003 that was really into indie music and the two albums she constantly spun were Pedro The Lion's Control and this one by Bright Eyes. I really didn't get either one much, but Conor Oberst's warble and enunciation was really off-putting. I didn't really come to appreciate Lifted until a few years later when I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning came out; I went back and listened to all the earlier Bright Eyes albums and it finally clicked.

It took me a while to come around to Patterson's voice, but I dug Cooley's from the start. Southern Rock Opera was the first one I bought and I pretty much skipped Patterson's songs for a while.
 
From what I read on those sessions, the tunes Jeff sang, Bragg had nothing to do with. He and Jeff didn't get along.

In fact, Wilco recorded a lot of it without Bragg even there, which fueled some of the fighting.

I'm be never listened to the tunes Bragg sang, I've never really liked him, so I always skip them when listening.

I understand that, I just mean that the different personalities balanced the album nicely.

I like Billy Bragg, and feel that you're missing out.
 
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