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. Contents [hide] 1 Production 1.1 Composition 1.2 Artwork 2 Marketing and promotion 3 Release and reception 4 Track listing 5 Personnel 6 References 7 Notes [edit]Production

In April 2006, Wilco was still touring in support of their most recent studio album, A Ghost Is Born which was released in 2004. The band performed a few new songs during this leg of the tour, including "Walken", "Either Way", and "On and On and On". The following month, drummer Glenn Kotche mentioned to Pitchfork Media that those new songs were going to be recorded as demos for a new album release.[1] During a January 17, 2007 solo concert, frontman Jeff Tweedy announced that the band would release their sixth studio album on May 15, 2007 through Nonesuch Records.[2][3] The album was named Sky Blue Sky, a reference to a childhood memory of Tweedy's, of a Memorial Day parade in Belleville, Illinois. He had come home from St. Louis with his family, but could not reach his house because the parade blocked the main street. This led Tweedy to reflect upon his future in the town: he knew that he would have to leave when he grew up because it was too small.[4]

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, Jim O'Rourke was only minimally involved with the album, which was produced with very few overdubs.[5] [edit]Composition

"What Light"

Sample of "What Light", the eleventh track from Sky Blue Sky which was offered as a free download from the official Wilco website. The song exemplifies the straightforward melody, contrasting Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born. Problems listening to this file? See media help. The band sought to be more direct with this record than the previous two, resulting in a more mellow album. Tweedy attributes the lyrical directness to his listening to material by The Byrds and Fairport Convention while recording the album.[6] He disliked the reliance on studio effects on previous albums:[7] I got nervous about the technology on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. If you need a certain amp or pedal to make a song what it is, it isn't a song. Many of the album's songs were recorded in a single day, with the band reaching a consensus on how each song should sound.[7] Eighteen songs were recorded for the album and twelve were selected for the album's tracklisting.[8] The outtake "Let's Not Get Carried Away" was included with iTunes digital downloads, and a full-band version of "The Thanks I Get" was released on the band's Myspace page. Some albums that were shipped to independent record stores included an EP featuring the outtake "One True Vine" and a live version of "Theologians" recorded at The Vic Theater in Chicago.[5] A deluxe edition of Sky Blue Sky was also released, which included a DVD with eight live performances from the Wilco Loft.[9] Unlike previous Wilco albums, Sky Blue Sky features more songwriting collaboration between Tweedy and the other members of the band. As a result, a variety of lyrical themes appear on Sky Blue Sky (Tweedy was the only designer of the songs on A Ghost Is Born, using Pro Tools, before presenting them to the band).[10][11] The titular track references the worries Tweedy had as a child in a small town while "On and On and On" is an ode to Tweedy's father's experience after the death of Tweedy's mother.[4][10] Not every song on the album is as serious"Hate It Here" somewhat humorously describes a man who tries to fill his free time with chores after breaking up with his lover.[12]

Sky Blue Sky was the band's first studio record to feature the expanded lineup that premiered on Kicking Television: Live in Chicago. Guitarist Jeff Tweedy provided the lead vocals for the album and John Stirratt, the only other original member of the band, played bass guitar and added background vocals. Glenn Kotche played drums and Mikael Jorgensen performed on a variety of keyboards. New to the band since the previous studio album were lead guitarist Nels Cline and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone. Additional instrumentation was provided by violist Karen Waltuch and multi-instrumentalist Jim O'Rourke. The album was mixed by Jim Scott at PLYRZ Studios in Santa Clara, California.[9] [edit]Artwork The cover artwork of Sky Blue Sky is a photograph by Manuel Presti titled "Sky Chase."[9] The photograph was taken in Rome, Italy, and helped Presti win the 2005 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.[13] The same photograph is featured in the July 2007 issue of National Geographic. Nathaniel Murphy provided several illustrations for the liner booklet, which include a tree on a hill, a hand, and a flock of birds. The booklet also contains photographs of the band members by Frank Ockenfels. Graphic design was provided by Jeff Tweedy and Lawrence Azerrad.[9] [edit]Marketing and promotion

Wilco performing in support of Sky Blue Sky at Festival Internacional de Benicssim on July 20, 2007. On March 3, 2007, Wilco's official website hosted a Sky Blue Sky "listening party", which streamed the new album in its entirety.[14][15] Two days later, the track "What Light" was made available for download on the band's website and was streamed on its MySpace page.[16] On March 11, 2007, the official website streamed the album in its entirety again. "The Thanks I Get", a song recorded during the Sky Blue Sky sessions but not included on the album, was made available as a free download to purchasers of the album.[17] During the European segment of the promotional tour, Wilco included a five-song extended play with purchase of the album. The EP contained the songs "The Thanks I Get", "One True Vine", "Let's Not Get Carried Away", and live versions of "Impossible Germany" and "Hate It Here". Wilco made the EP available online for free to previous purchasers of Sky Blue Sky.[18] Frustrated by the lack of radio airplay received by previous Wilco albums, the band decided to branch out into television advertising. Wilco had previously licensed songs for Telefnica Moviles, and Jeff Tweedy appeared in a series of advertisements for Apple Computer.[19] In May 2007, Volkswagen began running a pair of commercials with "You Are My Face" and bonus track "The Thanks I Get" playing in the background. The band commented on their website that "we feel okay about VWs. Several of us even drive them."[20] The band licensed six songs for the campaign, which was created by advertising agency Crispin Porter and Bogusky.[21] The move was met with criticism from both fans and popular media.[22][23]

A promotional tour followed the release of the album. The band performed "Sky Blue Sky" and "You Are My Face" on Later... with Jools Holland on May 25, 2007 and was interviewed on The Dermot O'Leary Show the next day.[20][24] Beginning June 13, 2007, Wilco played fourteen shows in North America with Low as its opening act. Following this, the band made plans to tour Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Italy, and Spain before playing a few more North American shows, including a performance on The Tonight Show.[25] [edit]Release and reception

Professional ratings Aggregate scores Source Rating Metacritic Review scores Source Rating Allmusic The A.V. Club Blender [29] Robert Christgau NME 7/10[31] [7] B+[30] [27] A[28] 73[26]

Rolling Stone Paste

Favorable[32]

Pitchfork Media 5.2/10[33] PopMatters Stylus B[35] 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.[36] 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.[37] 9/10[34]

The album received varied critical reception upon its release.[26] 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.[7] Michael Metivier of PopMatters commented that while the album took a while to understand, it was full of "exquisitely beautiful melodies and performances".[34] 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.[27] The album received a nomination at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album.[38] It placed 12th in the 2008 Pazz and Jop Poll.[39] 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.[40][41] WXPN named "Impossible Germany" as the #1 song of 2007 and named the album as a whole the #1 album of 2007.[42][43] 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.[44] The album was placed at #97 on the Rolling Stone 100 Best Albums Of The 2000's list. However, not all publications praised the new style of Sky Blue Sky. Stylus Magazine editor Ian Cohen criticized the album's disregard for the "fourth wall", and expressed concern about its dissimilarities to Kicking Television: Live in Chicago.[35] Ted Grant of PlayLouder called the album the "blandest and most creatively uninspired record of their career", finding that the album was leading to tame "dad-rock".[45] Pitchfork Media writer Rob Mitchum also used the "dad-rock" colloquialism, dismissing its straightforwardness and arguing "Tweedy merely ended up with the wrong personnel to articulate his mood here."[33] The lyrical content was considered by critics to be somewhat experimental, but more straightforward than previous Wilco albums.[28][34] Michael Metevier of PopMatters found the lyrics to be "some of the most affecting and least clumsy" of the band's career, though he worried that they might strike some Wilco fans as dull.[34] Rob Sheffield said that while he was unimpressed with the lyrics of other Wilco albums, he liked the songwriting on Sky Blue Sky.[7] However, Brandon Kreitler of Dusted Magazine felt that the lyrics seem like an insular Tweedy confessional, and Doug Freeman of The Austin Chronicle described the collaborative songwriting as yielding "fatalistic ambivalence".[46][47] [edit]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 [edit]Personnel

Wilco Nels Cline electric guitar, lap steel guitar Mikael Jorgensen piano, organs Glenn Kotche drums, percussion, glockenspiel Pat Sansone organs, guitar, harpsichord, backing vocals John Stirratt bass guitar, backing vocals Jeff Tweedy vocals, guitar, graphic design Additional musicians Jim O'Rourke feedback, percussion, acoustic guitar, string arrangements Karen Waltuch viola, violin Production and design Lawrence Azerrad graphic design TJ Doherty recording Robert Ludwig mastering Nathaniel Murphy illustrations Frack Ockenfels photography

Manuel Presti cover photograph Jim Scott mixing Jason Tobias, Tom Gloady, Kevin Dean assist