About a minute into the first track of Wilco's new release "Ode To Joy," I started to fidget. About 30 seconds into the second track, I actually said aloud to no one, "I can't do this." But I did, for another two and a half songs, and then I folded. I blamed myself and promised I'd revisit "Ode To Joy" soon. Later...maybe.
I am a Wilco fan and I was excited for a new release, especially after the first single, "Love Is Everywhere" sounded more like the Wilco I loved. Then, last week, the headlines started.
"Wilco's Ode To Joy: Best Record In Years."
I'm not really impressed with that headline. If it said, "Best Record In 8 Years," I'd think, "Oh yeah. Of course. The last two were "Star Wars" and "Schmilco." A few hours later, and a palette cleansing spin of a New Orleans R&B classic, and I was ready for "Ode To Joy" once again.
At this point I'd like to mention that, I don't believe music needs to be immediately accessible. I am not that person. I love pop music as much as I love Ornette's "Free Jazz" and all points in between. The progression from Wilco's debut "A.M" to the next record "Being There" and then to the next "Summerteeth" and then "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," all the way through 2011's "The Whole Love" felt natural. As different as each of those records are from each other, I was sold. There was music, simple and complex, heartfelt and chaotic, accessible and demanding. Wilco was trying. Even if the days of a sloppy drunk country rocker were long behind them, Jeff Tweedy and friends still made that all important connection. They aged like fine wine. They hadn't lost me the way Radiohead had lost me.
I know there are Radiohead fans out there who would disagree with me and my thoughts on the band's post-"OK Computer" output. There are also a certain few who know, that I have never given up on Radiohead. Just as I try every few years or so to understand the appeal of "Blade Runner," a film that put me to sleep in the theatre, and again and again during each subsequent attempt at watching it all over the last 30 years, I go back to "Kid A" and "Amnesia" and the rest, because I love "OK Computer" so much, I want more and I want to hear what other Radiohead fans hear. But I never do. And I have never seen more than 45 minutes of "Blade Runner."
But I digress.
If "Ode To Joy" is an ode to joy, the message is not immediate. The first twenty minutes of the new record feels like a stress test full of monotonous clanking beats, garbled whispers passing as vocals, and an overall feeling of dread. It's not demanding, it's exhausting. There is a difference. It's only by the 5th song, "Everyone Hides" where the band finds a semblance of melody and song. The next song, "White Wooden Cross" continues with the same vibe as "Everyone Hides." Same tempo and basically the same arrangement, but with a nice nod to George Harrison on the bridge. As a matter of fact, the second half of "Ode To Joy" made me forget how uncomfortable I felt during the first twenty minutes. "Hold Me Anyway," is quite simply beautiful, though it seems to fade out prematurely. Even Nels Cline is relegated to a fleeting moment of wizardry on Side Two.
I gave "Ode To Joy" a third pass this morning and it felt right. Even those first four songs bothered me less the third time around. The second half of the record saved "Ode To Joy" as well as quelling the fear of Wilco becoming my new Radiohead. I don't expect any artist to keep churning out crowd favorites and radio-friendly tunes. But I do want to feel like they are trying, and Tweedy and company gave me some doubt over the last few years. I was ready to throw in the towel, as I have not yet warmed up to either "Warm" or "Warmer." "Ode To Joy" will not rival any of the band's masterworks, but it is the best record they've made since "The Whole Love."
I am relieved.
7 comments:
I used to love Wilco, and saw them many times early in their career, especially around AM and Being There. But as they changed, so did I, and either I lost them or they lost me (or maybe both). The last full album I enjoyed was YHF. The next few albums had a couple songs each, but overall I could not play a full album. It's just my opinion, but they became more abstract and pretentious. They stopped writing songs with good melodies and just created noisy art pieces. And lots of their songs just were not interesting to me.
I want to like/love them again, but I haven't heard anything in years that would make me change my mind. There may be a song or two on this new album for me, but I suspect I won't be moved to listen more than once. Bummer.
I gave it a spin yesterday afternoon, and I gotta say I loved if all the way through. It is getting late in the year and it looks like "Ode To Joy" and Sturgill's new one will be on my top 5 for 2019.
Dear Sal,
If you've never made it through Blade Runner, for the love of god don't go see "Blade Runner 2049." It's 163 minutes long and makes the original seem sprightly. You'l get narcolepsy or simply never, ever wake up.
MIchael "I'm a replicant" Giltz
Like Wilco, do not like Radiohead.
sounds like they're embracing Tusk-era Buckingham, complete with Kleenex box percussion.
I know how you feel. But I spent a few days with A Moon Shaped Pool on headphones while outside and it began to work on me. It's a grower!
When a band does three great records with a band member and a bunch of shit after he leaves...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Bennett
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