What you once were isn't what you want to be anymore

I read an article in The Age 'EG' section yesterday about Wilco (yay! Countdown to the show is on) and their new album which is called Sky Blue Sky. It's described in the article as 'tender and stripped back', whatever that might mean. I don't really care as long as it's good, hopefully as good as A Ghost is Born. It seems to be a little less energetic from what I have read, maybe like Get Lonely as opposed to The Sunset Tree from the Mountain Goats (still both good albums but The Sunset Tree is more interesting).

Jeff Tweedy said he wanted to make an album you could listen to all the way through, which kind of got me thinking. First of all I thought about what he meant. I can listen to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost is Born all the way through very easily. I find it more difficult to listen to the others because they sound samey after awhile, apart from a few standout tracks or they are just really long (like Summerteeth, which in no way could be called 'samey'). Also, I suppose you could describe Wilco's first and second albums as 'stripped back'. But on the whole I find these albums a lot less interesting despite their good points. I am hoping the new album has a bit of variety in it in terms of song style and structure, but I suspect I might be a little let down.

I absolutely love the songs like I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, Poor Places, Shot in the Arm and Spiders (Kidsmoke) and other similar numbers, so I'm a little disappointed not to be treated to more of the same distortion and multi layered sounds. But I do also like the more simple tracks like Theologians which is really just straight out rock, The Late Greats and heaps of other less complicated stuff.

All this talk of albums and production values is almost meaningless because I haven't actually heard the album. It doesn't come out here until May 19th (which is a Saturday). You can look at the track listing here if you actually want to. It also comes with a free DVD. Along with 'Triple J featuring albums before their release', I really hate pre-emptive reviews. They are just unfair. So you got to hear it first. Big whoop to you. Let the rest of us hear the f*ing album before you pass judgement upon it and stop showing off!