Plumplechook

The universe with hands unseen I was cold as gasoline

Synthesizer Patel :

Album of the Month in the latest copy of Uncut. http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/wilco/reviews/13295 Jeff Tweedy’s declaration of peace. Then tragedy ensues Review by John Mulvey Four out of five stars It is May 2009, and Jeff Tweedy has just streamed the seventh Wilco album on his band’s website. For perhaps the first time in Wilco’s complicated 15-year history, there is a palpable air of contentment to proceedings. The band lineup has remained miraculously unchanged, and there doesn’t appear to have been, as has become tradition, a radical creative rethink. Instead, Wilco (the albu

Here's an excellent little review that appeared in this weekend's edition of the Sydney Morning Herald by their resident rock critic Bernard Zuel: Anxiety Gives Way to Optimism Wilco Wilco (The Album) Reviewed by Bernard Zuel Happy Jeff Tweedy. Happy Wilco. Should we be worried? Musically, the first six Wilco albums did not have a repeat switch as the band, whose only two consistent members have been signer and writers Jeff Tweedy and bass player John Stiratt, moved from alt-country through pop to art-rock and then a kind of US pastoral-rock. Emotionally though, there was one co

Very positive review in DOA: http://www.adequacy.net/2009/07/wilco-wilco-the-album/ Wilco - Wilco (The Album) July 2, 2009 by Bryan Sanchez The strength in Wilco’s music was always their successful ability to re-create themselves with every new album. There were the country stylings of A.M., the double album, role reversal of Being There, sharpening their pop leanings with Summerteeth, the experimentation on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the furthering of styles and diversity on A Ghost is Born and the live setting, laid-back feel of Sky Blue Sky. It’s hard to really pin-point a band’s cata

Wilco (The Album) A Ghost is Born Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Sky Blue Sky Being There Summerteeth AM

The Village Voice weigh in. I think it's safe to say that Mike Powell is not a fan of Wilco (or mid-western white folks for that matter): http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-07-01/music/wilco-the-review/1 Wilco: The Review Music for white people to relax to, and what's wrong with that? By Mike Powell Tuesday, June 30th 2009 at 1:26pm "Wilco" is a five-letter word for the quiet slaughter of all that is elemental, passionate, and reverentially stupid about rock 'n' roll. Try finding a vein on a Wilco album. Oh, Wilco: middle-aged Midwesterners with stubble and suit jackets. Precise instrumen

http://www.kentucky.com/lexgo/music/story/846967.html Critic's pick: Wilco, 'Wilco (the album)' By Walter Tunis Contributing Music Writer You could have fun all summer just with the title of Wilco's seventh studio album, especially seeing how the leadoff track of Wilco (the album) is Wilco (the song). Both are about as whimsical as Jeff Tweedy and company have ever revealed themselves to be on a recording. Luckily, the music inside is just as inviting and summery. It could be argued that Wilco (the album) is the band's first record that doesn't take a defining step forward. As usual, it wr

From The Washington Times: http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/30/listening-station-wilco-solidifies-second-era/ By Adam Mazmanian This is not news to anyone who follows such matters, but jazz guitarist Nels Cline saved Wilco. At the time Mr. Cline joined the band, as a touring member a few years before recording the 2007 album "Sky Blue Sky," Jeff Tweedy's durable alternative- country outfit did not particularly seem in need of saving. Indeed, the first evidence of their collaboration was not particularly promising. The studio album was marred by an impulse toward schmaltz and a

From Austin 360: http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/music/entries/2009/06/29/cd_review_wilco.html By Joe Gross | Monday, June 29, 2009 Wilco (the Album)’ (Nonesuch) B+ Jeff Tweedy’s career thrives on twists. He changes up like a major-league pitcher, sometimes slow (there wasn’t too much aesthetic space between the end of Uncle Tupelo and the beginning of Wilco), sometimes faster (the transition from “Being There” to “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” was quite a leap). “Wilco (the Album)” (which opens with “Wilco (the Song)”) is the former and probably the better for it

And here's another four out of five stars from The Times (UK): http://nonesuch.com/journal/times-uk-4-stars-for-wilcos-new-album-a-definitive-work-2009-06-29 Wilco (The Album) Reviewed by Peter Paphides 4 out of 5 starts The demons that have tormented Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy are in abeyance — and in the freshly vacated space are several of the most emotionally generous songs of the singer’s life. Solitaire is an unflinching examination of darker times, shot with gratitude at their passing. The bittersweet You Never Know could be a lost George Harrison number, while I’ll Fight is a love s

From The Sunday Times (UK): http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/cd_reviews/article6576785.ece Wilco: Wilco (The Album) Dan Cairns Four out of five stars A band whose more fanatical followers sometimes seem happiest when disappointed by a new album (“Dude, this is so not as good as Summerteeth”, etc, etc), the Americans arrive at album seven with their latest line-up intact (no mean feat in Wilco land), their last release, the underrated Sky Blue Sky, deemed not the one to beat, but a record to improve on, and the recent tragic death of their origina

From the London Evening Standard. 4 out of 5 stars http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/music/article-23712622-details/CDs+of+the+week/article.do There must be reasons why a rock band as assured and talented as Wilco have not achieved greater popularity and a higher profile. One of them must be that the combo are a tad too unpredictable for a world that dislikes surprises. They have been prone in the past to follow a song of unsurpassed melodic loveliness with 10 minutes of horrible droning noises, up with which many will not put. Or perhaps it's something as mundane as the leader's name. Son

Review from the Irish Independent newspaper: http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/still-rocking-it-1791504.html By John Meagher Friday June 26 2009 Wilco Wilco (The Album) (Nonesuch) HHHHI You've got to hand it to Jeff Tweedy, Wilco's frontman. When this, their seventh album leaked online about two months ago, Tweedy didn't do what most other musicians of his stature would and complain bitterly in the media about how vile the internet is or bring forward the release date of the album to maximise sales. Instead, he made the songs freely available to stream on the band's website

I am strangely both surprised and saddened by this news.

Review from today's edition of 'The Independent' (UK daily newspaper). This might be the the most favorable review I've read so far: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-wilco-wilco-the-album-nonesuch-1719714.html Reviewed by Andy Gill Friday, 26 June 2009 With the magnificent Wilco (the album), Wilco (the band) reach the point that REM were at around the time of Automatic for the People: a group at the peak of its powers, offering hope and consolation in the face of growing discord, and an undimmed faith in the transformative power of rock'n'roll.

This is really sad. In spite of all the years of weirdness you cannot deny his brilliance. They were playing 'I Want You Back' on the radio on the way into work this morning. What a superb pop song that is - and what an amazing performance from an 11 year old kid.

Entertainment Weekly brings the hate. Not enough Nels wig outs thinks Clark Collis: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20285485,00.html Review by Clark Collis Jeff Tweedy's decision to give Wilco's new album the most
 prosaic moniker in rock history initially seemed like evidence of his dry wit. Listening to the band's seventh studio collection, you have to wonder if that choice isn't also a subconscious admission that his ideas cupboard is temporarily bare. ''Wilco will love you, baby,'' Tweedy sings on the opening midtempo rocker, ''Wilco (the song).'' But fans of the band are more
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A favourable review has just appeared in Drowned in Sound: http://drownedinsound.com/releases/14450/reviews/4137067 by James Skinner A reasonable question to ask of Wilco (the album) – particularly given its definitive title – is exactly which Wilco we’re being offered here. Recent years have seen us graced with the yearning soundscapes of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the migraine-approximating krautrock of A Ghost Is Born and the polished (if rather unexciting) gait of Sky Blue Sky. Of course, throwaway descriptions paint a picture far from complete. Numerous constants can be drawn over their

According to the Mediabase Radio Charts 'You Never Know' is already at number 6 on the airplay charts on Triple A stations across the US. It's one of the fastest gainers on the Triple A charts. But to put it in perspective Triple A is a bit of a ghetto and it only requires an accumulated three or four hundred plays a week across all the the Triple A stations to make the top 10. By contrast it takes two or three thousand plays a week to make the top 10 in the 'AC' (adult contempory) station charts - or 10,000 plays a week to make the top 10 in the 'Top 40' station charts. It's rare for

Apologies - but for some reason I can't open the 'Published Reviews' thread for the new album - so I'm posting this in a new thread. Maybe one of the mods can move this to the 'Published Reviews' thread later. http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/chi-tc-music-wilco-0529-0531may31,0,1617765.story Wilco presents nuanced snapshots on self-titled release By Greg Kot | Tribune newspapers critic May 31, 2009 Wilco's latest album, "Wilco (The Album)," is a mostly modest collection of sturdy songs, long on craft and nuance. But there are two surprises -- one nightmarish,

Great review Mahinty - thanks for the link.

The full documentary has now been posted on YouTube in 6 parts - as below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=morsKuvb0S8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5m2pCnv5h0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys73uhGbsw4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx8mZRg-19o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWaM1jJZkcA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFz5pa5Lno0 Also, for equipment and studio buffs out there, here's screenshots of an interesting article about Neil Finn's Roundhead Studios in Auckland NZ where Wilco recorded most of their latest album. The article appears in the latest edition of the Australian Au

By way of balancing out that almost incomprehensible anti-Wilco rant above from cokemachineglow here's a positive little cameo review from 77 square: http://77square.com/citylife/story_452712 77 Square staffers share their latest fixations: 1) "Wilco (The Album)" won't be in stores until the end of June, but Wilco (the band) is streaming it right now at wilcoworld.net. It's the most immediately pleasurable Wilco album in a long time -- Jeff Tweedy and company have taken the simple, direct approach to songwriting pioneered on "Sky Blue Sky" in a much sunnier, more rocking direction. The o