He wasn’t really a very good musician. In fact, he wasn’t a musician at all until we talked him into buying a bass. We taught him to play twelve-bars, like Thirty Days by Chuck Berry. That was the first thing he ever learnt. He picked up a few things and he practised a bit until he could get through a couple of other tunes as well. It was a bit ropey, but it didn’t matter at that time because he looked so cool. We never had many gigs in Liverpool before we went to Hamburg, anyway.
~George Harrison (Anthology)
Nice tribute video:
It was John and Stuart who thought of the name. They were art students and while George’s and my parents would make us go to bed, Stuart and John could live the little dream that we all dream: to stay up all night. And it was then they thought up the name.
One April evening in 1960, walking along Gambier Terrace by Liverpool Cathedral, John and Stuart announced: ‘Hey, we want to call the band The Beatles.
~Paul McCartney (Anthology)
Like Slow Train was a big album. Saved didn’t have those kind of numbers but to me it was just as big an album.
~Bob Dylan (to Dave Herman, July 1981)
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The nearest thing to a follow-up album Dylan has ever made: a Slow Train Coming II, and inferior. Two stand-out tracks, nonetheless: the turbulent ‘Pressing On’ (Dylan creating convincing hot gospel) and the intelligently submissive, courageous address (including a lovely, aptly devotional harmonica) that is ‘What Can I Do For You?”
~Michael Gray (The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia)
Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe (23 June 1940 – 10 April 1962) was a Scottish-born artist and musician; best known as the original bassist for the Beatles. Sutcliffe left the band to pursue his career as an artist, having previously attended the Liverpool College of Art. Sutcliffe and John Lennon are credited with inventing the name, “Beatals”, as they both liked Buddy Holly’s band, the Crickets.The band used this name for a while until John Lennon decided to change the name to “The Beatles”, from the word Beat. As a member of the group when it was a five-piece band, Sutcliffe is one of several people sometimes referred to as the “Fifth Beatle”.
Valerie June Carter Cash (June 23, 1929 – May 15, 2003) was an American singer, dancer, songwriter, actress, comedian and author who was a member of the Carter Family and the second wife of singer Johnny Cash. She played the guitar, banjo, harmonicaand autoharp, and acted in several films and television shows. Carter Cash was inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame in 2009. She was ranked No. 31 in CMT’s 40 Greatest Women in Country Music in 2002.
Wilco: Sky Blue Sky – released 15 May, 2007 (read more) But the paradox is that while Sky Blue Sky is the smoothest sounding Wilco album, it also takes the longest to absorb and understand.
~Michael Metivier (popmatters.com)
—
..Wilco’s sixth studio album, Sky Blue Sky, sounds like the long-awaited follow-up to 1996′s Being There — while it lacks the ramshackle shape-shifting and broad twang of that earlier album, Sky Blue Sky represents a shift back to an organic sound and approach that suggests the influence of Neil Young’s Harvest and the more polished avenues of ’70s soft rock. Sky Blue Sky also marks Wilco’s first studio recordings since Nels Cline and Pat Sansone joined the group, and they certainly make their presence felt …
~Mark Deming (allmusic.com)
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno, RDI (born 15 May 1948 and originally christened Brian Peter George Eno), professionally known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno, is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer, and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.
Richard Edward Arnold (May 15, 1918 – May 8, 2008), known professionally as Eddy Arnold, was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a so-called Nashville sound (country/popular music) innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the Billboard country music charts, second only to George Jones. He sold more than 85 million records. A member of the Grand Ole Opry (beginning 1943) and the Country Music Hall of Fame (beginning 1966), Arnold ranked 22nd on Country Music Television’s 2003 list of “The 40 Greatest Men of Country Music.” He co-wrote the country and pop standard “You Don’t Know Me”.
Michael Gordon Oldfield (born 15 May 1953) is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age, and more recently, dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature. He is best known for his hit 1973 album Tubular Bells, which launched Virgin Records, and for his 1983 hit single “Moonlight Shadow”. He is also well known for his hit rendition of the Christmas piece, “In Dulci Jubilo”.
Valerie June Carter Cash (June 23, 1929 – May 15, 2003) was an American singer, dancer, songwriter, actress, comedian, and author who was a member of the Carter Family and the second wife of singer Johnny Cash. She played the guitar, banjo, harmonica, and autoharp and acted in several films and television shows.
But the paradox is that while Sky Blue Sky is the smoothest sounding Wilco album, it also takes the longest to absorb and understand.
~Michael Metivier (popmatters.com)
..Wilco’s sixth studio album, Sky Blue Sky, sounds like the long-awaited follow-up to 1996’s Being There — while it lacks the ramshackle shape-shifting and broad twang of that earlier album, Sky Blue Sky represents a shift back to an organic sound and approach that suggests the influence of Neil Young’s Harvest and the more polished avenues of ’70s soft rock. Sky Blue Sky also marks Wilco’s first studio recordings since Nels Cline and Pat Sansone joined the group, and they certainly make their presence felt …
~Mark Deming (allmusic.com)
Impossible Germany (Live – from the DVD “Ashes Of American Flags”):
From Wikipedia:
Released
May 15, 2007
Recorded
November 2006 – January 2007 at The Wilco Loft, Irving Park, Chicago,Illinois, United States
Genre
Alternative rock, folk rock,alternative country
Length
50:56
Label
Nonesuch
Producer
Wilco
Sky Blue Sky is the sixth studio album by American rock band Wilco, released on May 15, 2007 by Nonesuch Records. Originally announced on January 17, 2007 at a show in Nashville, Tennessee, it was the band’s first studio album with guitarist Nels Cline and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone. Before its release, the band streamed the entire album on its official website and offered a free download of “What Light”.
Sky Blue Sky was Wilco’s highest debuting album on the Billboard 200 at number four. The self-produced album received mostly favorable reviews by critics. Publications such as PopMatters and Rolling Stone praised its maturity, while PlayLouder and Pitchfork Media criticized its “dad-rock” sound. While some critics praised the direct lyrical approach, others criticised it when compared to previous Wilco albums. The band licensed six songs from the Sky Blue Sky sessions to a Volkswagen advertisement campaign, a move that generated criticism from fans and the media.
You Are My Face (Austin City Limits 2007):
The album was recorded by TJ Doherty at The Loft in Irving Park, Chicago, where Tweedy had recorded Loose Fur’s Born Again in the USA and most of Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. In an interview with Billboard, the band revealed that the album would be less experimental than the two previous albums and more influenced by The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and The Rolling Stones. Also, unlike the previous albums, the album was made with only minimal involvement of Jim O’Rourke; the album which was produced with very few overdubs.
Release & reception
Nonesuch released the album on May 15, 2007; the following week became Wilco’s best-ever sales week. The album debuted at number four on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling 87,000 copies domestically in its first week. Sky Blue Sky was also an international success, peaking at number 7 in Norway, number 21 in Belgium, number 23 in Australia and Ireland, number 26 in Sweden, number 32 in New Zealand, number 36 in Germany, and number 39 in the United Kingdom.
The album received varied critical reception upon its release.
Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone pondered in his review whether Wilco had ever made a song as good as “Impossible Germany,” praising how the song builds into a “twin guitar epic” in the mold of Television and Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac.
Michael Metivier of PopMatters commented that while the album took a while to understand, it was full of “exquisitely beautiful melodies and performances”.
Allmusic writer Mark Deming called the album “Wilco’s strongest album as an ensemble to date,” and found the return to roots rock music a fresh new method for the band.
The album received a nomination at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album.
It placed 12th in the 2008 Pazz and Jop Poll.
This album was #42 on Rolling Stone‘s list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007, and the song “Impossible Germany” was #71 on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007.
WXPN named “Impossible Germany” as the #1 song of 2007 and named the album as a whole the #1 album of 2007.
Sky Blue Sky was named one of the ten best albums of the year by Billboard, Paste Magazine, Uncut Magazine, and The Onion A.V. Club.
The album was placed at #97 on the Rolling Stone 100 Best Albums Of The 2000’s list.
Track Listing:
All songs written by Jeff Tweedy except as indicated.
“Either Way” – 3:05
“You Are My Face” (Tweedy, Cline) – 4:38
“Impossible Germany” (Tweedy, Wilco) – 5:57
“Sky Blue Sky” – 3:23
“Side with the Seeds” (Tweedy, Jorgensen) – 4:15
“Shake It Off” – 5:40
“Please Be Patient with Me” – 3:17
“Hate It Here” (Tweedy, Wilco) – 4:31
“Leave Me (Like You Found Me)” – 4:09
“Walken” (Tweedy, Wilco) – 4:26
“What Light” – 3:35
“On and On and On” (Tweedy, Wilco) – 4:00
Personnel:
Wilco
Nels Cline – electric guitar, 12 string guitar, lap steel guitar
You know, It Ain’t Me Babe was on the radio the other day and it never really occurred to me how different it was as a hit to how it was in my repertoire.
~Bob Dylan (to Adrian Deevoy, Oct 1989)
Save for a faux-reggae arrangement ten years on—one of the absolute highlights of the Renaldo and Clara film—the song has usually relied on the sparsest of acoustic accompaniments in live performance, often serving as a set closer, which tempts one to suggest it addresses the audience—specifically that element that wants the man to stay the same. That ain’t him.
~Clinton Heylin (Revolution in the air)
@ #46 on my list of Dylan’s 200 best songs. Recorded on June 9th, 1964 @ Columbia Studios – NYC. This was the one & only recording session for “Another Side of Bob Dylan”
“It Ain’t Me Babe” is a song by Bob Dylan that originally appeared on his fourth album Another Side of Bob Dylan, which was released in 1964 by Columbia Records. The song, along with others on the album, marked a departure for Dylan as he began to explore the possibilities of language and deeper levels of the human experience. Within a year of its release, the song was picked up as a single by artists who were forging the folk rock movement, including The Turtles and The Byrds. Wikipedia
Go ’way from my window
Leave at your own chosen speed
I’m not the one you want, babe
I’m not the one you need
