npr is streaming wilco's new album.
i have a complicated relationship with wilco. as anyone who's read this blog more than once knows, i bring them up often. they are my beatles. my stones. my bob dylan. my chevy chase. they are the band i hear when i think back to major moments in my life.
being there- i remember listening to this at bruce's house on the upstairs stereo. to be honest, i bought the album because it was a double album but best buy was selling it for 9.99. it was on the rack they have where they feature new bands. can you believe best buy was once cool enough to be featuring wilco? i didn't love it at first. i let bruce borrow it and he dug the first track on both records. so i gave it another listen. and fell in love. it was a little angry. a little excited. a little stunned. in 1996, that's pretty much what i was in a nutshell. in and out of comedy. in and out of new experiences.
summerteeth- this album was in the post-high school, early college nebulous phase. it was at that point when everything seems possible. that the chains are just starting to be taken off your life and it's about to springboard into some new world order. what's funny is that summerteeth is one of the most depressing albums you've ever heard. read the lyrics. jeff is at his lowest on this album. yet it sounds so beautiful. and it was the soundtrack to this new euphoric period.
yankee hotel foxtrot- sam houston. huntsville. 9/11. all those things come to mind. staying up late at EVN drinking or at my apartment playing cards. released after 9/11 right at the beginning of the most amazing period of american history known as bush part two. there was room to exist in that album. i could hide in it. i heard a voice saying things that didn't make sense from a straightforward perspective. they made sense if you looked away and not directly at it. kind of like peripheral hearing. i still rank that album as one of my favorites of all time.
a ghost is born- i had graduated and moved back to houston. i was working the overnight shift at fox sports. i was somewhat confused about how i ended up at that point after college. working at night. working with strange people. i was living on my own for the first time. no roommate. i was staying up late on my nights off. writing. furiously writing. somehow the world looked different at night. a ghost is born is the sound of someone staying up too late. they should have gone to bed. there are extended frantic solos. there are tracks that are quick and cutting. there are tracks that are marathons, leaning on you as you listen. almost trying to get you uncomfortable.
sky blue sky- back in school. only two albums later i was back in school. i was engaged and living with my fiancee. i was a calmer person. wilco was now a calmer band. jeff had reconfigured the band. the sounds were serene in a way. very forward looking while still looking back, if that makes sense. thinking about where you're ultimately going in life while knowing that what got you there can't be ignored. i remember one sunday i had a paper to write and i stayed in front of the computer almost all day writing listening to sky blue sky streaming on wilco's website. i was upstairs right around the corner from where we hid from the hurricane. there are places to hide from hurricanes.
wilco the album- this is a very confused album. there are all kinds of parts of wilco. nothing seems to fit right. and some of it kind of sucks. by this point i was married and wanting to get out of houston. as fast as i could. i had a job i hated but didn't want to leave because of the economy. there were parts of me pulling at me at all times. wanting this. trying to get there. and it sucked.
the whole love- ah, love. not only love, but the whole love. the reinvention is done. i am in colorado. i am working away. things are going well. the pushing and pulling is finished. but although the immediate reinvention is done, there is still work to be done. eventually you accept who you are while knowing you can still be better. little things like making coffee and getting up early make you happy. listening to 'wait, wait don't tell me' on a saturday morning with the windows open and a cool breeze in your house almost makes you cry because it's so peaceful. it's more than you could have imagined you'd get out of life. the whole love is playing too. i'm making lunch with my wife. soon we'll be in the garden. the whole love is still playing.
i think i'm growing old with wilco. and the relationship is complicated because that's what happens when you get older. there's a lot of baggage. but underneath all that weight, is a respect and admiration that pulls it all back together. so there it is. that's the soundtrack to my life so far. we'll see what other songs are still to come.
