[recstar24]

I have had this album for at least 2 years now, and for some reason its finally hit me. I understand it, ive absorbed enough of it to be able to clearly say that i love it and its a classic. Weird, i listened to it consistently but never really "got" it, but now i do...its beautiful, one of those things that really had to take its time on me and grow and develop on its own, i really am a firm believe that great music needs time to "break-in" and that one should take the time to really get to know an album before they dismiss it, which i almost did with this one.

Just sharing some thoughts...

 

[fyrfytrhoges]

i feel ya on that one, however, a ghost is born has not grown on me yet.

 

[bln]

Quote:

Originally Posted by recstar24 i really am a firm believe that great music needs time to "break-in" and that one should take the time to really get to know an album before they dismiss it, which i almost did with this one. Just sharing some thoughts...

On the other hand, unless you've been listening to it several times a week for 2 years, which would be hundreds of listens, you sort of did dismiss it, right? I always try to give new music a full opportunity to reveal itself to me right away, so I don't end up regretting the months and years I didn't appreciate it.

 

[recstar24]

it was somewhat enjoyable during its stay in my collection; however, for some reason it just recently started making sense, like i could really groove to it and understand what he's talking about and all that jazz, it really aged on me and as time went on i simply had a deeper appreciation for it grow more and more...so in a sense i didnt dismiss it, rather i needed the time to catch up with what it was trying to tell me, if that makes any sense...

 

[bln]

It does make sense, I just never had a record take that long for me to get it unless it had simply gone unplayed the whole time. Undeniably an awesome album, glad you enjoy it.

On a related note, cool to see an audio reviewer with good taste in cans (Hp-2!) and music (Ta det lugnt!). Hehe, now you sound like carlo, don't pull a disappearing act.

Ben

 

[Jacobh]

My first few exposures to Wilco, I wasn't terribly impressed. I think I heard some tracks off of AM or Mermaid Avenue. I later heard A Ghost is Born and really liked it outside of the 7 minutes of random noise near the end. I decided to give YHF a shot and I've really enjoyed that one as well. Not sure which I like better as they're both very good albums. Nice blend between rock and more experimental stuff.

 

[bwu]

Both YHF and Ghost is Born took a while to grow on me, too. In fact, it wasn't until I saw them live that I started liking YHF. I really recommend catching them live if you get the chance - they are phenomenal, and the addition of uber-guitarist Nels Cline makes a huge, huge difference too.

 

[bln]

Yeah, that guy Cline can play. I saw Wilco at one of a series of shows they filmed for a live CD/DVD that ought to be released at some point. It was fantastic.

 

[recstar24]

This parellels my experience with Radiohead as well. MY 1st radiohead cd was OK computer, i listened to airbag, thought it was cool, and as soon as paranoid android started, i turned it off, put away the cd, and didnt listen to it for a whole year. When i did, i fell in love with it lol.

Kid A i absolutely could not get almost to the point of hating it, but then i saw Radiohead perform the majority of the songs live in Chicago August 2001, and it totally rocked and gave me a better appreciation of Kid A - now its my favorite album.

bln, thank you for the nice complements - hopefully i can get some of these hardcore speaker audiophiles into headphones, who knows with their vast budgets and spending habits what kind of headphone rigs they could concoct

 

[catachresis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bwu Both YHF and Ghost is Born took a while to grow on me, too. In fact, it wasn't until I saw them live that I started liking YHF. I really recommend catching them live if you get the chance - they are phenomenal, and the addition of uber-guitarist Nels Cline makes a huge, huge difference too.

Yeah, I saw them live, and -- like the kid in Almost Famous says -- they were 'incendiary'. One of the best live pop/rock shows I've seen.

You can't blame that Jeff Tweedy feller for being lazy: YFH has got two or three shiny patent pop classics, and all the rest of the stuff is very interesting. Tweedy likes [beat] poetry and has done [is doing] some kinda therapy, so he's digging deeper than the average indie popsmith. But I still think he gets a mite too self-absorbed sometimes, and that obstructs the consistently high-grade musicianship. I grew to like the album pretty quickly, and then found that parts became hard-going for repeated listening (for me anyway).

I haven't had the nerve to purchase A Ghost is Born yet.

 

[burndtjamb]

Like everyone else, it took me a while to appreciate this great album. After I finally did however, I found out that I enjoy it more if I listened to the entire album than listening to individual tracks. It has the same effect as watching a movie where the scenes and moods change and but is taking you on a single journey. It just feels complete to me.

A Ghost is Born is not worlds apart from YHF but it doesn't have the pretty guitar riffs and solos that Bennett contributed, instead you get the experimental and very disconnected guitar solos from Tweedy that sometimes works but at other times gets too self-absorbed. Still it is also a wonderful album, just not as complete as YHF. Perhaps I need to listen to it some more...

 

[jumping jupiters]

It's funny...Wilco, Dylan, Bright Eyes and the like seem to be aquired taste that need to be grown into. Once I connected to a few lines of Dylan the rest opened up like a flower...Wilco seems the same. I first enjoyed YFH for its sonic experimentalism and then later began to recognize Tweedy's lyrical tallent. Has anyone heard the LP's...very good! Check out www.musicangle.com it's the analog guy from Stereophile web site. He rates Wilco's albums as being sonically strong.

I have A Ghost Is Born on LP and it is fantastic...one of the best sonding I have.

 

[Nick Dangerous]

recstar24: Right with you on this one, bro. YHF is one of my personal Big Moments In Music. Here's how it happened:

Heard "War on War" on Rhapsody radio in early 2003. Nice track.
Heard it again. Bookmarked the song.
Played the song. Bookmarked the album.
Played the album. Was OK. Still preferred the "hit".

THEN

Played the album again and.... *click* I understood. It's deep. Big ideas swirling around in there. YHF is one of the greatest American rock albums of all time. Ghost Is Born is not in the same league in my opinion, but it is a good Wilco album.

Since early 2003, I never found another CD that grabbed me by the hypothalamus until discovering Brian Wilson's SMiLE a few months ago. It has *the magic*. Strangely, it also requires a few spins to make it *click*... how odd.

 

[elrod-tom]

I think I'm going to have to give this one another full-length listen sometime soon. Of all of their albums, it's probably my least favorite. However, given the collective opinions here, I can only conclude that I'm missing something somewhere. Oh well...wouldn't be the first time.

 

[catachresis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick Dangerous Since early 2003, I never found another CD that grabbed me by the hypothalamus until discovering Brian Wilson's SMiLE a few months ago. It has *the magic*. Strangely, it also requires a few spins to make it *click*... how odd.

Yes, I agree that YFH has taken on some of Smile's lineal Pop DNA. Smile was intended to be a big-ideas album, an experimental prodigy, that nonetheless maintained its ties to accessible pop music. Some of the songs like "Vegetables" are simply good-natured but looney. Others, like "Surf's Up" are sublime - probably way closer to serious poetry than any of Jim Morrison's posturing death-anthems.

Surf's up
before the tidal wave

People who have never really paid attention to the song miss the irony that the title of the song that seems to be the most banally cliched reference to the Beach Boys surfer-dude roots is really an elegy for Western civilisation, which Brian imagined would be reborn in true American innocence. If the end of the last milennium had a soundtrack, I've always argued that "Surf's Up" has to gravity to be the final song.