#Wilco / Schmilco ##Label Dbpm Records
DJ Stace
Reviewed 9/26/2016
Mostly acoustic, melodic and eschewing the in-your-face idiosychracies (like a quarter hour of dialtone) of past albums for more embedded dissonance and oddity. This is a Jeff Tweedy singer-songwriter album, backed up by the superb musicianship of Wilco. It's been getting mediocre reviews, but I actually like this record a great deal more than the last effort, Star Wars. Great songs.
FCC Clean
Favorites: 1, 2, 8, 9, 11
- "Normal American Kids" ***** 2:47 - Personal favorite. Nice little quiet acoustic strumming riff with a little electric lead over the top of it on growing up different and feeling contempt for 'normal.' If Nick Drake had been an angrier sort of person. Play this alot.
- "If I Ever Was a Child" **** 2:55 - One of the singles from the album. Upbeat, with that killer little No Depression brush snare rhythm. Classic Wilco. Great for radio play. Also another one to play alot.
- "Cry All Day" **** 4:16 soft 30 second fade in to a freight train rhythm building urgency throughout the tune. Good tune that fits right into the Wilco canon.
- "Common Sense" ** 3:24 - The obligatory 'weird' tune on the album. Mid tempo, soft, but off rhythm, off key, off everything. A little crescendo at the end with Glockenspiel. Perfect for A Strange Pursuit.
- "Nope" *** 3:02 - Nice foot-stomping beat and wry lyrics ("Why kill a man when you can make him crazy").
- "Someone to Lose" *** 3:20 - Starts off upbeat, bouncy, acoustic, electric guitars flourish at 1:00 and thereafter.
- "Happiness" *** 3:00 Slow, steady and chopping acoustic guitar with a guitar slap and tambourine rhythm. Keyboard bells and soft chorus voices belie the wry lyrics. "Happiness depends on who you blame..."
- "Quarters" ***** 2:50 - Sweet & Salty meditation on sweeping up Grandpa's dive bar for quarters. Brief and soft greatness. Fades to a soft acoustic guitar reprise at 1:50 until the end.
- "Locator" **** 2:18 - Excellent. Military march snare-based rhythm and wonky slide bassline riff define this tune. Nice little Memphis "Grifter's-style" slide guitar solo. Brief but cool.
- "Shrug and Destroy" **** 2:52 Tweedy channeling Elliott Smith a little on a melancholy little waltz.
- "We Aren't the World (Safety Girl)" ***** 2:53 - Upbeat, snarky take on a world defined by helicopter parents and complaining on social media? Nice shuffling beat.
- "Just Say Goodbye" **** 2:45 - Bass riff defines the intro with it's snare shuffle rhythm at the beginning. Just another great mid-tempo alt-country pleaser whisper sung by Mr. Tweedy to close out another great piece of work.