His POLL in life was to be an echo - ILM Arist Poll #115 - WILCO | JEFF TWEEDY - Results Thread

https://i.imgur.com/AHchurN.jpg

Rollout starts tomorrow. Please forgive your first-time poll-runner for any hiccups and/or subpar image work.

h/t to Chinaski for the thread name!

Voting thread.

off to a good start! looking forward to it

For our first two days, I'll be posting everything that received a vote. First up is Side Projects.

https://i.imgur.com/Y14X8Ex.jpg

TIE 12. Golden Smog - Another Fine Day (2006)
10 Points, 1 Vote.

Big fan of the Jeff/Gary duet Kinks cover on this

https://i.imgur.com/AYNV0Sy.jpg

TIE 12. Jeff Tweedy - Love Is The King (2020)
10 Points, 1 Vote.

https://i.imgur.com/JbOPxHL.jpg

TIE 09. The Nels Cline Singers - Share The Wealth (2020)
30 Points, 1 Vote.

think i'm the voter for share the wealth and another fine day... two excellent records that couldn't be more different

https://i.imgur.com/nyBaWz0.jpg

TIE 09. Mavis Staples - One True Vine (2013)
30 Points, 1 Vote.

Totally forgot that Tweedy did another Mavis Staples album after You Are Not Alone! Will have to go back and listen to this one.

Our first multi-vote recipient...

https://i.imgur.com/N5Lgy3t.jpg

TIE 09. Golden Smog - Down By The Old Mainstream (1995)
30 Points, 2 Votes.

https://i.imgur.com/HhZ6JDz.jpg

08. Loose Fur - Born Again In The USA (2006)
40 Points, 1 Vote.

https://i.imgur.com/xv49F9J.jpg

07. Glenn Kotche - Mobile (2006)
50 Points, 1 Vote, 1 Nº1 Vote.

I did have opportunity to relisten to that one and it didn't grab me as much as I remembered. I like it in theory more than the actual product, maybe.

Curious to see if Uncle Tupelo will fully dominate the top of today's poll...

I was the Kotche voter and expect this will appeal most to people who tend to like more experimental music than is typically associated with Wilco. To re-share what I posted in the voting thread:

One side project I will campaign for is Glenn Kotche's 2006 solo album Mobile, which begins with Steve Reich-inspired ambient but quickly expands in scope and becomes a showcase for Kotche's tremendous talents as a multi-instrumentalist and composer. He plays drum kit, piano, vibraphone, mbira, and electronic drum pads. The whole thing is extremely rhythmic and musical in a way that might surprise you and appeal to fans of bands like The Books.

― Indexed, Wednesday, August 31, 2022 11:31 AM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

A beautiful, modest little record.

https://i.imgur.com/zC1HLbg.jpg

06. Jeff Tweedy - Warm (2018)
70 Points, 3 Votes.

https://i.imgur.com/CT9rOqi.jpg

05. Uncle Tupelo - No Depression (1990)
110 Points, 3 Votes.

https://i.imgur.com/Yss1nBi.jpg

TIE 03. Uncle Tupelo - March 16-20, 1992 (1992)
120 Points, 4 Votes.

nice to see warm so high, my favourite discovery of the voting period!

https://i.imgur.com/qSU9iAD.jpg

TIE 03. Uncle Tupelo - Still Feel Gone (1991)
120 Points, 4 Votes, 1 Nº1 Vote.

Excited for the rollout! Great thread title, too ;)

I didn't manage a side-projects poll - was just too daunting in the end.

https://i.imgur.com/36EPUsE.jpg

02. Loose Fur - Loose Fur (2003)
200 Points, 6 Votes, 2 Nº1 Votes.

https://i.imgur.com/DYSaXNy.jpg

01. Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne (1993)
220 Points, 5 Votes, 3 Nº1 Votes.

And that's a wrap on Day 1! Thanks for humoring me with this Side Projects poll.

Rank - Artist - Album - Points - Votes - #1 Votes

1 Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne 220 5 3
2 Loose Fur - Loose Fur 200 6 2
3 Uncle Tupelo - Still Feel Gone 120 4 1
3 Uncle Tupelo - March 16-20, 1992 120 4 0
5 Uncle Tupelo - No Depression 110 3 0
6 Jeff Tweedy - Warm 70 3 0
7 Glenn Kotche - Mobile 50 1 1
8 Loose Fur - Born Again in the USA 40 1 0
9 The Nels Cline Singers - Share the Wealth 30 1 0
9 Mavis Staples - One True Vine 30 1 0
9 Golden Smog - Down By the Old Mainstream 30 2 0
12 Jeff Tweedy - Love is the King 10 1 0
12 Golden Smog - Another Fine Day 10 1 0

Nice to see the love for Loose Fur, especially the self-titled placing that high.

Excited for this, 24 ballots is not bad.

i just voted for the two loose fur albums

Day 2 is dedicated to Wilco Albums. There were 12 studio albums, the 2 Mermaid Avenue collaborative albums with Billy Bragg, the Kicking Television live album, and a handful of EPs eligible.

https://i.imgur.com/TUi3RkV.jpg

14. A.M. (1995)
10 Points, 1 Vote.

Yeah, I wanted to vote for side albums but I’m don’t have enough familiarity. Loose Fur s/t would have my #1 for sure, it’s better than most Wilco albums.

(...Says the guy who is about to say) I’ve never been too into Uncle Tupelo but I did give Anodyne a good listen last night and enjoyed “no sense in lovin”. But mainly because it sounded like a Wilco song, heh.

I also thought Down With Wilco would make it

https://i.imgur.com/IosvUHc.jpg

13. Wilco (The Album) (2009)
20 Points, 2 Votes.

wilco (the poll)

https://i.imgur.com/MkSlPRO.jpg

12. Mermaid Avenue Vol. II (2000)
40 Points, 2 Votes.

cat

unlaminated version

14 radio
13 camel
12 cat

thinking top five might be

birds
guitar
egg
moon
sepia buildings

xp Love the album, a worthy companion to the first.

and there'll prolly be another cat appearance soon

i was hoping that rust bucket would place in front of guitars, but that's my fault for not voting in the side projects poll

moon

actually bubblegum

https://i.imgur.com/8JO2MPU.jpg

11. The Whole Love (2011)
70 Points, 2 Votes.

xp is that right? well shoot!

also, "Summerteeth = some are teeth. As in some are teeth, some aren't."

alright, well, that's two things i didn't know

I didn't know that either!

https://www.reddit.com/r/wilco/comments/nqva7z/summerteeth_cover_art/

damn. i knew about the "some are teeth" expression but never knew that was bubblegum on the cover. fits beautifully with it being their poppiest record (at the time, probably still). but is there a connection between "some are teeth, some aren't" and the song "Summerteeth"? Don't understand that title being matched to that song

Someareteeth
Summerteeth

https://i.imgur.com/7p4yTA5.jpg

10. Cruel Country (2022)
100 Points, 6 Votes.

Huh, did not predict that to beat out TWL.

it's better :)

I haven't lived with it long enough to judge tbh, it may be more consistent than TWL, but the TWL peaks really resonate with me.

Thanks to all the posters who made the poll enjoyable. Let me know if you would like your ballot retrieved. Here's mine (bold tracks dnp):

--SP--
Glenn Kotche - Mobile
Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne
Uncle Tupelo - March 16-20, 1992
Jeff Tweedy - Warm
Golden Smog - Down By the Old Mainstream

--Albums--
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Summerteeth
Being There
A Ghost Is Born
A.M.

--Tracks--
A Shot in the Arm
I'm the Man Who Loves You
That's Not the Issue
Poor Places
Summer Teeth
Pot Kettle Black
Airline to Heaven
Kamera
New Madrid
Jesus, Etc.
The Thanks I Get
The Ruling Class
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
Radio King
Forget the Flowers
Having Been Is No Way To Be
Love Is Everywhere (Beware)
Say You Miss Me
War on War
When You Wake Up Feeling Old
Acuff-Rose
Wilco (the Song)
Hummingbird
Pick Up the Change
Cry All Day
Dawned on Me
I'm Always in Love
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
Whole Love
I Got You (At the End of the Century)
California Stars
Company in my Back
Random Name Generator
Impossible Germany
Via Chicago
Casino Queen
I Might
Theologians
She's a Jar
Handshake Drugs

Amazing poll Indexed, thank you!

yes, definitely enjoyed - thanks indexed!

thanks for running this, great poll! pretty unexpected results really

my ballot:
Impossible Germany
Poor Places
At Least That's What You Said
One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley's Boyfriend)
Pot Kettle Black
Art of Almost
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
Ashes of American Flags
Laminated Cat
Via Chicago
Radio Cure
Chinese Apple
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
Heavy Metal Drummer
I'm Always In Love
Misunderstood
Bird Without a Tail / Base of My Skull
Wreckroom
Reservations
Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway(again)
Outtasite (Outta Mind)
Monday
ELT
Kamera
Jesus, etc.
Sad Kind of Way
Random Name Generator
On and On and On
You Are My Face
Hotel Arizona
Side With the Seeds
Sunken Treasure
A Shot in the Arm
Either Way
You Satellite
Muzzle of Bees
She's A Jar
Hearts Hard To Find
I'm The Man That Loves You
Handshake Drugs

honestly i really don't care for "california stars", it just plods along without much movement. the mermaid avenue vol. 1 recordings all sound pretty bad too because when they recorded them they thought they were just rough takes to be used as demos, but they never got the chance to re-record them properly that they thought they were going to get.

Spotify is updated:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4eG86mZ5GacO5YKGoZKjZ3?si=79a3a84c8f724979

You did an amazing job Indexed, especially for your first poll. Thank you for all your time and hard work, believe me I know how hard it is to do these. Again, appreciate it.

Baffles me that so many people still care about this guy

really like this version of laminated cat by tweedy (the band), featuring o'rourke making a rare live appearance

pretty much every version by wilco is great too

Not sure why this poll didn't have more discussion. It got a good amount of ballots and the music is there. I'm thinking that after the 2010s decade poll anything afterwards was going to suffer? Anyways, I loved this poll and look forward to this playlist for future discoveries.

It was a beautiful looking poll too, ILM has really stepped up its game on these polls.

i would have said a lot more except i was asleep most of the time lol

i expected "a shot in the arm" to do well but never would have expected it as #1. it's good but i don't like it quite as much as the other power-pop numbers, that piano line gets a little old. also a bit odd structurally

My ballot, ascending order, bdnp:

Albums
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Summer Teeth
A Ghost Is Born
Cruel Country
Being There

Tracks
Laminated Cat
A Shot in the Arm
Jesus Etc.
Passenger Side
D. Boon
Speak into the Rose
Art of Almost
I Am My Mother
Ashes of American Flags
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
Can’t Stand It
New Madrid
At Least That’s What You Said
How to Fight Loneliness
Poor Places
I’m Always In Love
Love is Everywhere (Beware)
Pot Kettle Black
Falling Apart (Right Now)
Impossible Germany
I am Trying to Break Your Heart
Red Eyed and Blue
Cruel Country
Walken
King of You
Via Chicago
ELT
Outtasite (Outta Mind)
I’m the Man Who Loves You
Handshake Drugs
Misunderstood
The Late Greats
Random Name Generator
I Got You (at the End of the Century)
Wilco (the Song)
Box of Letters
We’ve Been Had
You Satellite
Hummingbird
Monday

Great poll! but y'all need to listen to more AM & Cruel Country!

I hope all the Wilco enthusiasts have seen the episode of The Bear which uses Spiders (Kidsmoke) from Kicking Television, one of the best syncs I can remember in a TV show (except perhaps "Siamese Twins" in The Americans).

shot in the arm is an extremely worthy no. 1. i still remember losing my shit when they played it when i saw them opening for rem in.. 2003?

what you once were isn’t what you wanna be ANYMORE

More or less the order of mine:

1. "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart"
2. "Handshake Drugs"
3. "Heavy Metal Drummer"
4. "Fear of Falling" (Golden Smog)
5. "Airline to Heaven"
6. "Wilco (the Song)"
7. "When You Wake Up Feeling Old"
8. "Camera"
9. "You Satellite"

I went with the nine on my hard-drive. I'm so lazy, I didn't go in search of a tenth.

Cool poll, makes me want to put on Wilco!

Great number one. That seems like the song Wilco really has to play every night, or at least used to, and the song that always seemed to kick the set into high gear. It's just such a cathartic anthem. And of course it had double meaning when they kicked off their Millennium Park show with it summer of '21.

According to setlist.fm, their five most played live songs are:

I'm the Man Who Loves You
Jesus, Etc.
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
A Shot in the Arm
Impossible Germany

https://www.setlist.fm/stats/wilco-23d6982b.html

My ballot (I know it's the nature of these things but a whole bunch of this now feels like it's actually starting to coalesce into a proper ballot, ie Impossible Germany is weirdly low):

At Least That's What You Said
Ashes of American Flags
Hummingbird
Muzzle of Bees
Via Chicago
Jesus, Etc.
A Shot in the Arm
Fatal Wound
Kamera
One Sunday Morning (For Jane Smiley's Boyfriend)
Laminated Cat
Bob Dylan's 49th Beard
Radio Cure
Sunken Treasure
Misunderstood
Wishful Thinking
California Stars
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
Wreckroom
Poor Places
Handshake Drugs
Reservations
At My Window Sad and Lonely
I Got You (At the End of the Century)
Far, Far Away
Acuff Rose
What's the World Got In Store
Hotel Arizona
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
The Late Greats
Airline to Heaven
Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway (Again)
She's A Jar
Either Way
You Are My Face
Impossible Germany
Quiet Amplifier
One and A Half Stars
Remember the Mountain Bed
More Like the Moon

Don’t feel the need to post my whole ballot (“Either Way” was my #1 and I loaded a lot of summerteeth songs near the top). But out of 40 noms here are the 9 that didn’t make the top 77. Parentheses is how I ranked them on my ballot:

Pick Up the Change (8)
The Lonely 1 (20)
King of You (22)
I Must Be High (24)
More… (29)
What Light (30)
Taste the Ceiling (32)
Far Far Away (34)
Secret of the Sea (39)

They opened w/ Shot in the Arm @ Red Rocks in the summer of '21 after being postponed from '20 for covid and having the vaccine released. It was transcendent.

Just noticed that I forgot to bold "I am My Mother" in my list above, my favorite song on Cruel Country...

Dangerous dreams have been detected
Streaming over the Southern border
As bad as it seems, it's worse than expected
Fleeing through the night corridor
Oh, I've done the math
With a stick in the sand
I've kicked the can into a dead end
Oh, I can't mend
Every broken fence
I'm a new man
But I am still my mother
If it was up to me, I would have rejected
The idea that money could keep you poor
And as dark as it seems, it's worse than neglected
When you need the one who loves no more
I've done the math
With a stick in the sand
I've kicked the can
Into a dead end
Oh, I can't mend
Every broken fence
I'm a new man
But I am still my mother

Great poll! Been on holiday and offline a lot so didn’t follow the roll out but A Shot In The Arm is a great number one. Gun was my number one, glad to see it got some other support! But I am admittedly more a Uncle Tupelo fan than a Wilco fan, though I still love them. Sad to see I was the only Sunloathe voter, it always stands out to me on Schmilco relistens.

You did an amazing job Indexed, especially for your first poll. Thank you for all your time and hard work, believe me I know how hard it is to do these. Again, appreciate it.

― Bee OK, Friday, October 7, 2022 6:38 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Thank you, Bee OK! It was fun but I don't think I'll be signing up for another one soon ;)

I am actually surprised by the surprise around A Shot in the Arm. Only song I even considered for my #1. One of my favorite songs of the 90s! I polled some friends when I was making my ballot for their Top 5. Everyone said a couple YHF songs, but there was a lot of disparity in which ones. But think all but one said A Shot in the Arm.

I was more surprised by "Ashes" being so high. Very worthy, but not what I would have expected -- I would love to hear from its voters on that one in particular.

Great job Indexed, thanks for running this, I had a great time following along

Ashes is just beautiful, the longing, sorrowful guitar hook, lyrics could be a poem, no clunky lines like some of the other beloved yhf tracks have... I'm lookin at you, mr take off your bandaids cuz I don't believe in touchdowns.

I was convinced "Poor Places" would take #1. It's definitely my #1, but then again, I didn't vote.

"poor places" is such a triumph of o'rourke's "scene changes" as he calls them, the constantly shifting arrangement is so wonderful

I stuck with the ‘96-‘02 output for my ballot, but listening through the results this weekend, I should have at least made room for “Gun” and “The Late Greats.”

1. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
2. California Stars
3. Monday
4. She’s a Jar
5. Misunderstood
6. In a Future Age
7. Sunken Treasure
8. Candyfloss
9. Dreamer in My Dreams
10. Heavy Metal Drummer
11. Via Chicago
12. Outtasite (Outta Mind)
13. I Got You (at the End of the Century)
14. Hoodoo Voodoo
15. ELT
16. Far, Far Away
17. I’m Always in Love
18. Christ for President
19. A Shot in the Arm
20. I’m the Man Who Loves You

i didn't vote so i can't complain too much but i don't think anything from summerteeth would have even made my top 15; i.e. nope didn't see that #1 coming at all. "impossible germany" probably would have topped my ballot.

I love Ashes of American Flags. It feels like a song people will be listening to in 50 years (if, you know). That title is on the nose, the 'nobody gives a fuck' line is earnest, but the song - and Tweedy in general - is always retreating from that didacticism and what survives is the emotion, the ache. O'Rourke knew it too, which is why he's always trying to collapse the song from the inside. What your left with is like waking from a dream and only having the shadow of the dream, not the thing itself.

There are a few of their songs which make me stop whatever I am doing and pay full attention, and sing along even, “Ashes”, “Hell is Chrome”, “Bull Black Nova”, “Jesus etc.”, “Sky Blue Sky”, “Company at My Back” and so on. Not my top 5 but they’d be up there. I should have found a way to vote.
I think Wilco the Album is unfairly overlooked here, so many of the songs surpass anything from Schmilco onwards to me.

my ranked ballot, bolded dnp

Pot Kettle Black
You Satellite
Impossible Germany
Someone to Lose
Handshake Drugs
Side with the Seeds
Quiet Amplifier
Hotel Arizona
A Shot in the Arm
You are My Face
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
Wreckroom
Bird without a Tail / Base of My Skull
Bull Black Nova
Sunken Treasure
Ashes of American Flags
Hell is Chrome
Deeper Down
On and On and On
Radio Cure
She's a Jar
Poor Places
One Wing (insane this didn't place, whatever lol)
Via Chicago
One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley's Girlfriend)
Wishful Thinking
Chinese Apple
Someday Some Morning Sometime
Quarters
Panthers
The Late Greats
Random Name Generator
Muzzle of Bees
Laminated Cat
Mystery Binds
One and a Half Stars
Remember the Mountain Bed
Some Birds
Locator
Fatal Wound

strong agree on One Wing! I love Deeper Down too.

My apparently extremely normcore ballot - only 4 that didn't make the rollout, 2 of which are Uncle Tupelo:

Ranked:
You Are My Face
Ashes of American Flags
Impossible Germany
Laminated Cat/Not for the Season
Whole Love
One Sunday Morning
Sunken Treasure
I’m Always in Love
Summer Teeth
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
Airline to Heaven
Jesus, Etc
Remember the Mountain Bed
How to Fight Loneliness
Far, Far Away
One by One
New Madrid
Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway (Again)
California Stars
Radio Cure
You Satellite
Side with the Seeds
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
Random Name Generator
Art of Almost
The Long Cut
Born Alone
Poor Places

Last 10 unranked:
Can’t Stand It
Muzzle of Bees
Company in My Back
Via Chicago
When You Wake Up Feeling Old
We’ve Been Had
Wait Up
Bird Without a Tail/Base of My Skull
The Universe
I Got You (At the End of the Century)
Monday
Handshake Drugs

Albums:
YHF
Summerteeth
Sky Blue Sky
Being There
A Ghost is Born

Side Albums:
Anodyne
Loose Fur
March 16-20, 1992
Love is the King
Down by the Old Mainstream

23 of my 25 votes made the results, which is probably embarrassing for me but instead i'm going to flip it around for self-confidence and suggest that "Panthers" is a non-album track that I bet most people would like. during my big chrono relisten (which i assume at least some other people do but maybe not) I put it on my list it was during a blind listen of a deluxe version with bonus tracks where I didn't realize it was going into bonus tracks territory. in other words, it was a "true pick", and given that for almost no reason at all i made Wishful Thinking my #1 (i like that song, but that was not a true pick), i know that they weren't all true picks

"Panthers" is great, and so is "Wishful Thinking" even though it didn't make my ballot. On my first listen to AGIB I remember finding "Wishful Thinking" a little dreary, but like most of Tweedy's work that doesn't necessarily blow you away immediately, it's rewarded by deeper repeated listening. Also realized that rolling out 77 tracks means that a lot are gonna place

Surprise gig here tonight:
https://scontent-ord5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/307938794_10160395671230421_7987541954186310555_n.jpg?_nc_cat=1&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=9267fe&_nc_ohc=7DE7JVAImHcAX_m5Dqb&_nc_ht=scontent-ord5-1.xx&oh=00_AT_Z1QrhNcrgV37QZzytEHGW0XzGWiSEne8PN3inCCn9Wg&oe=63487800

Nice! Wish I'd seen this sooner :( Enjoy

I'm not going, lol. That was posted elsewhere.

Thanks for the great poll. I really cannot think of a more surprising ILM poll result! Until we got to the top 5 I genuinely thought The Lonely 1 was going to place. And very surprised that Solitaire and Cry All Day didn't make the cut.

Via Chicago
One Sunday Morning
Reservations
Impossible Germany
The Lonely 1
Ashes of American Flags
At Least That's What You Said
Jesus, Etc.
Company In My Back
Country Disappeared
Sunken Treasure
Remember the Mountain Bed
Can't Stand It
A Shot in the Arm
Muzzle of Bees
Solitaire
Theologians
Misunderstood
Less Than You Think
The Late Greats
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
Bright Leaves
She's a Jar
When You Wake Up Feeling Old
Red-Eyed and Blue
Normal American Kids
Cry All Day
California Stars
Art of Almost
Hummingbird
You and I
Born Alone
One Wing
Wilco (The Song)
Either Way
Casino Queen
Hate It Here
What Light
I'm a Wheel
Whole Love

I think I realized A Shot in the Arm was my favorite back when I heard the Kicking Television version.

I hope all the Wilco enthusiasts have seen the episode of The Bear which uses Spiders (Kidsmoke) from Kicking Television, one of the best syncs I can remember in a TV show (except perhaps "Siamese Twins" in The Americans).

― assert (matttkkkk), Friday, October 7, 2022 10:12 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Watched this last night. Holy moly!

"Laminated Cat" has been stuck in my head for a solid week. Go to bed and that buh-duh-duh duhhh duhhh guitar lick is just on repeat in my brain.

Man am I ashamed of myself for being so into this drivel when I was younger. Wish I could change my username

well fuck the haters, the net result of this poll has been to send me back to Wilco, the Album and Star Wars and I think both are criminally underrated

I actually listened to these again (as well as The Whole Love), and I think I agree. I know they get knocked a lot, but at least the two earlier ones landed in the top 30 for their respective Pazz & Jop polls so they definitely had a good deal of support. They may not be my personal favorites, but they're not bad albums at all, all three were pretty good overall.

(that was in response to mattkkkk's post)

Ta, and I’m sorry to say I have tried again but I can’t connect with anything from Schmilco on.