Editors' Picks
Wilco (The Album)
Wilco Will Love You Baby!
Wilco's 7th studio album instantly feels like a sort of greatest hits, except that its' 11 songs are brand spanking new.
Each track feels like it existed in a past life on one of the band's previous albums- and for a band that has artistically ranged from simple alt country gems to experimental songs about migraine headaches, that is no simple task. Wilco pulls it off brilliantly with a record that plays like a gift from a band to it's fans, one that will have die hard Wilco-ites arguing:
- "man, that track could have been on A.M."
- "no way, it would have fit on Being There"
If you are a long time Wilco fan, you will feel this immediately. If you are new to the band, you will be quickly drawn into the most excellent Wilco-ness of it all.
Couple all of this with a lineup of musicians that, after 5 years together, has fully hit it's stride and you've got an accomplished album that contains at least 5 radio friendly "hits" yet somehow manages to keep the band's "alternative" appeal alive (thank you very much Nels Cline. If their last album, 2007's Sky Blue Sky felt a bit like Wilco-lite, this one feels like a return to form. Not since 1999's Summerteeth has Wilco strung together such a fine mix of fun loving summer songs interspersed with heartfelt beauties.
Wilco (The Album) kicks things off with "Wilco (The Song)" so immediately you might ask yourself what's up with all this self indulgence. Turns out it's just Wilco having some fun and a good poke at themselves (as if the album's cover weren't enough to tip you off to that fact!).
If life's got you down, turns out it's Wilco that will love you baby!
Other standout tracks include "One Wing", "You Never Know" (with it's George Harrison nod), the lovely "You and I" duet with Feist and the kick ass murderous ode "Bull Black Nova". As with all Wilco records, it is the nuance of the deeper cuts that grow on you over time with "Country Disappeared" already becoming one of my favorite Wilco songs... and feeling very much like the cultural sequel to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot's "Ashes Of American Flags", albeit wrapped in a Sky Blue Sky sound. See how this is working so nicely?
There's something here for every level of Wilco adoration, from 1995 to the present.
Listen here or at NPR.
A top 10 album of 2009!
