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A.M. is the album that...


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...I bought last (before SBS was released, obviously)

 

...contains my favorite* Wilco tune, Should've been in Love

 

...makes me feel like going on a long road trip.

 

*I have no number-one favorite, but whenever this song comes up on my iPod, I never skip it.

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"Too Far Apart" just came up on my shuffle. This album rules.

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was the only Wilco record I owned until about 2003.

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I got into Wilco backwards.

 

Had been hotly involved in the mid-80s following bands that lead to what would become "alt.country" ... at the time this included Jason & the Scorchers, Rainmakers, Lone Justice, Longriders and a whole lot of other bands. Which lead me into Uncle Tupelo of course. Then the great breakup came and all money was on Jay Farrar to be the One To Watch. So I went with Son Volt.

 

In passing, I heard A.M. at a friend's party but it didn't click. At the time, in the context of when it came out, it just sounded like all the other albums in that genre. Nothing special. Passenger Side was good. Somehow I thought Wilco would be okay, but seemed to be headed off into predicable territory.

 

So I sort of lost track of Wilco briefly.

 

Then I got turned on to Golden Smog and through both Down by the Mainstream and especially Weird Tales, really got turned on to Jeff Tweedy's voice and songwriting. From that moment on it just clicked. At that time Summerteeth came out. From then on I was a Wilco addict and bought both AM and Being There immediately. Being There remains one of my favorite "band" albums of all times. The playing is tremendous. Summerteeth has better songs and production, but Being There is a much better "band-firing-on-all-cylinders" type of album ... which, in a way, coming full circle is what Sky Blue Sky is all about.

 

Yankee Hotel was good. A great album by many standards, but was missing something. Ghost .... well, there were a few good songs but so much got lost in a haze of misdirection. Now we know why. Also picked up the Mermaid Avenue albums. And the additional Golden Smog work. Weird Tales was a peak, and still one of my all-time-favorite, desert-island albums. Who can argue with Jody Stephens ? Doesn't get any better than that, doesn't get any closer to the Big Star flame than that. The only person missing from that was Alex himself. Wouldn't that have been amazing? Chilton with Golden Smog? Chilton with Tweedy? One can only imagine.

 

Along with many hear, my hopes are that this latest band configuration sticks around intact for at least a few more albums. They are hot, and everything a great band should be. Hope it lasts. They all sound like they are having fun too.

 

But I digress.

 

 

 

 

I always hated the term "alt.country" . . . . . Wilco just plays American Music via Chicago tinted gold by Canadian autumn winds across the Great Lakes.

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