Published Wilco (the album) articles and reviews

[Gobias Industries]

That track review isn't so much reviewing the song as it is attacking Wilco for being Wilco.

 

Pretty stupid, to be honest. It's like that one Pitchfork review attacking Jim O'Rourke for being Jim O'Rourke, rather than saying "And about this album..."

[Plumplechook]

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 opening track "Wilco (The Song)" is the band's mission statement of sorts, as Tweedy croons "Wilco gonna love you, baby." The rest of the album makes good on that promise.

[danelectro]

It's tough for me to get into reading reviews because music means different things to different people and the overall affect can vary greatly. To this day people use decade old reviews, positive and negative, to form an opinion about music they've never heard. Music isn't that easy for me.

[Synthesizer Patel]

The Quietus......

 

http://thequietus.co...ck-album-review

 

wow, that was a bad review, my head hurts.

 

i've got a feeling the cokemachine review is going to be the norm for a lot of those kinds of websites (some people will say they are just contrary hipsters for this, no doubt). i'm predicting a 3.4 from pitchfork for starters. is it a backlash or is the album just not very good, you decide!

[W(TF)]

Here's the first negative review I've read about the record (Actually it's a track review of You and I, but it touches on the entire piece). He's pretty savage here, so feel free just to skip it, but if you like me are the type to peal back a scab too early, here's what Coke Machine Glow had to say.

 

You And I

---

 

Wilco f/ Feist :: "You and I"

From Wilco (The Album) (Nonesuch; 2009)

 

And so Jeff Tweedy

[Guest Speed Racer]

i'm predicting a 3.4 from pitchfork for starters. is it a backlash or is the album just not very good, you decide!

 

I don't care if they hate the album so long as their review is better written than CMG. I felt embarrassed for the writer, reading that. Reading that, I pictured one of those kids from high school who used to get very, very red in the face when angry, and use unnecessary large words to describe his opinions as fact.

[Synthesizer Patel]

 

I don't care if they hate the album so long as their review is better written than CMG. I felt embarrassed for the writer, reading that. Reading that, I pictured one of those kids from high school who used to get very, very red in the face when angry, and use unnecessary large words to describe his opinions as fact.

 

yeah, it's not the greatest review ever, but all the ones written from a positive perspective actually appear to be written by trained chimps. i'd like to read one that actually picks out the good points as well as the bad points of the album. personally i think there are more bad points, but i'd respect the reviews a bit more if they were a bit more even-handed - cos i can't imagine anyone thinks this album is without its faults, nor without some good moments too.

[nodep5]

do we really care at this point? I use to really get hung up on Wilco reviews (back when the critics worshipped these guys) mostly because I was trying to show proof to others who didn't know or get Wilco. Well times have changed on that, and I'm sure there will start to be the backlash factor.

 

But mostly record reviews have become nothing more to me than watching the news. I give it a glance to get the temperature, but I recognize it is all fabricated and biased and about as relevant as vhs.

 

I've also got to the point where 90% of time, my musical tastes will not be swayed by critics or reviews. For example, I don't "get" Bon Iver no matter how many reviews I read. And I think Dolorean's "You Can't Win" is a modern masterpiece even though it got a big round of silence from the hip critics.

 

I'm ok liking what my ears like and exploring on my own. Who needs a review when a blog will give me a mp3 clip to actually hear for myself and form my own opinion?

[bleedorange]

The CMG reviewer wants to use "You and I" as a microcosm for everything he or she feels is wrong with Wilco. But if I had to pick one song from the new album that doesn't sound like the rest, that would be it. So how can you go on a diatribe against the current sound of a band based on one song.

 

And who the hell is Chet and why should I care what he thinks? Would I know this if I read that site frequently?

 

And for the record, I like "You and I." Especially coming right after "Bull Black Nova." Plus there are plenty of songs in Wilco's past that have the same feel as "You and I," either lyrically or musically.

[bleedorange]

do we really care at this point? I use to really get hung up on Wilco reviews (back when the critics worshipped these guys) mostly because I was trying to show proof to others who didn't know or get Wilco. Well times have changed on that, and I'm sure there will start to be the backlash factor.

 

But mostly record reviews have become nothing more to me than watching the news. I give it a glance to get the temperature, but I recognize it is all fabricated and biased and about as relevant as vhs.

 

I've also got to the point where 90% of time, my musical tastes will not be swayed by critics or reviews. For example, I don't "get" Bon Iver no matter how many reviews I read. And I think Dolorean's "You Can't Win" is a modern masterpiece even though it got a big round of silence from the hip critics.

 

I'm ok liking what my ears like and exploring on my own. Who needs a review when a blog will give me a mp3 clip to actually hear for myself and form my own opinion?

 

I agree with you when it comes to every other band. But I feel I have such a vested interest in Wilco (my fault, I know) that something that appears that wrongheaded to me causes me to take more notice than usual.

[nodep5]

Also, what is so freaking wrong with "You and I"? I remember going to the snotty indie store the day Ryan Adams Gold was released and the clerk said, "are you really buying that James Taylor sounding crap". Why does soft and sentimental equal crap? Does music always have to have a dark edge. Crap Wilco gave you "Bull Black Nova" and then they gave "You and I". People can be leeches.

[cryptique]

I remember going to the snotty indie store the day Ryan Adams Gold was released and the clerk said, "are you really buying that James Taylor sounding crap".

I hope a record store clerk says something like that to me someday.

[mpolak21]

I copied that CMG review in on my way out the door this morning, and didn't have time to add my own thoughts. CMG is one of the six or seven music websites I go to regularly to keep up, they're really good at uncovering under the radar acts, but when it comes to established bands at times they can be even more contrarian than Pitchfork. A lot of their reviews seem to be written for the other writers in the magazine (Chet is one of the staff writers, bleedorange), and some of them even break the fourth wall to air out the arguments the writer of the review had with his other CMG staff writers about the album being reviewed . Essentially your average CMG writer probably aspires to be Lester Bangs, but usually ends up closer to our very own Panther (or any mpolak21 post that goes over five lines). CMG's Amir Nezar however is usually on the mark, here's his review of AGIB: CMG A Ghost is Born

 

I don't mind reading negative reviews from time to time, because they help me explore and debate my own feelings towards a work of art. Despite Conrad's convoluted approach, he does present a viewpoint a lot of detractors of post-YHF Wilco share. Obviously along many of you, I disagree with him, but there's certainly room for both sides of the coin.

 

It's probably going to be awhile before I can listen to WTA again and judge it with fresh ears, right now I'm really only in the mood to hear Bennett-era Wilco and I think it's going to be awhile before I can give any of their other records a fair listen.

 

--Mike

[bleedorange]

I figured he was, but it was just funny to me that he would just refer to him as "Chet." Maybe I just don't pay enough attention to who is reviewing what on these various internet sites. It always seems like a new name. Plus, with a newspaper background, I hate seeing that kind of thing in any kind of publication.

 

BTW, I have also been listening to a lot of Bennett-era Wilco and decided to finally go back to W(TA). It sounded just as good to me today as it did last week.

[mpolak21]

I figured he was, but it was just funny to me that he would just refer to him as "Chet." Maybe I just don't pay enough attention to who is reviewing what on these various internet sites. It always seems like a new name. Plus, with a newspaper background, I hate seeing that kind of thing in any kind of publication.

 

Yeah, I've worked on and off in the sports department of the Charleston, WV newspaper for the last couple of years, which has kind lowered my tolerance for sloppy internet publication writing (writing an endless barrage of run-on sentences on message boards, however, is still totally fine). I just figured out what Red Album he was talking about. When I hear Red Album I think of the Beatles 1962-1966 double greatest hit set from the seventies, not Weezer.

 

--Mike

[Plumplechook]

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, the other humorous -- that give it punch.

 

The sextet's seventh studio album, which has been streaming on the band's Web site and is now widely available on the Internet in anticipation of a June 30 release, arrived as news surfaced that former band member Jay Bennett died in his sleep May 24 at age 45. Bennett and Wilco founder Jeff Tweedy were once close collaborators and friends, and their parting in 2001 remains a divisive moment in the band's history.

 

The current band is very different from the one they shared. It is the most technically accomplished of Wilco's many lineups and the longest-lived, together since 2005, and "Wilco (the Album)" is a compendium of its best moves. It breaks little ground, but it does what it does well.

 

If anything defined the first five Wilco albums, it was a thread of anxiety and uneasiness, which couldn't help mirroring Tweedy's real-life struggles with migraine headaches and drug addiction. On the 2007 "Sky Blue Sky," the band found renewed pleasure in live interplay, a modest statement of friends making music in real time that acted as a kind of balm.

 

The new album picks up on that thread but sets it against a more varied musical backdrop. The characters in Tweedy's new songs are adults struggling to find a small place in the world. There are few big pronouncements. They are snapshots of moments, and the singer and his bandmates are well-suited to coloring in the details. The sextet suggests more of a mini-orchestra than a band: John Stirratt's elegantly nimble bass playing, Nels Cline's multitude of guitar voicings, Glenn Kotche's shades of percussion. Tweedy's confiding tone has only become more nimble over the years, whether he's singing in a whisper or jumping into a falsetto cry.

 

The music promises "the comfort of a kiss" for the defeated boxer in "Deeper Down," swathed in a lovely, chamber-pop arrangement augmented by harpsichord and sighing lap-steel guitar.

 

"You and I" explores a fragile bond, as voiced by Tweedy and guest vocalist Feist. The song's sparse simplicity contrasts with the orchestral flourishes of "Everlasting," which surges with quiet conviction and finishes with a bird-song guitar solo that echoes the Duane Allman-led coda of Derek and the Dominoes' "Layla."

 

Amid these small, gracefully executed moments, two polar-opposite songs define the album. One is a stomach-churning wake-up call:

 

"It's in my hair, there's blood in the sink/I can't calm down, I can't think," Tweedy blurts on "Bull Black Nova." Locked inside a funnel cloud of guitar turbulence, he screams like a trapped animal. It is among the most harrowing songs Wilco has recorded. Its explicitness gives the rest of the album a necessary context, a picture of a world gone bad. No wonder the characters in Tweedy's songs sometimes sound wary, a bit frayed around the edges. They're living on the edge of this song, and by implication, we all are.

 

"Wilco (The Song)" is its antidote, a boisterous shot of reassurance. Tweedy sings over a chugging guitar line, "Put on your headphones before you explode/Wilco, Wilco, Wilco will love ya, baby." It's both a tongue-in-cheek wink and a blast of feel-good sincerity, riding a wave of guitar drone and punctuated with bell tones. It is that rare thing: an anthem with a sense of humor, a grand statement that doesn't sound like a grand statement. Listen to it, and try not to smile. That's what the healing power of music should sound like.

[anthony]

Not to be outdone, here is Jim DeRogatis review

[aricandover]

you'd think the guy who wrote a book about them, would know that this incarnation of Wilco has been together since 2004, not 2005. But then, he's the same guy who thinks that the carousel from, "If That's Alright", is referring to a carnival ride.

[Preferred B]

Ha! And the slides are playground equipment?

[i'm only sleeping]

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.

 

Same for me. Interesting review here

http://awisebirthgiver.blogspot.com/2009/06/wilco-album.html

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

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.

 

Same for me. Interesting review here

http://awisebirthgiver.blogspot.com/2009/06/wilco-album.html

 

 

Good God. That's what is wrong with the internets: NO EDITORS TO CALM DOWN WRITERS WHO THINK THEY ARE THE SECOND COMING OF HEMINGWAY OR KEROUAC.

[Plumplechook]

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 seven-album career, chiefly Jeff Tweedy’s dry, plaintive tone and frazzled yet very real sense of humour. Returning to the original question though: quelle Wilco? The answer – the logical one, really – is a largely successful union of all of them.

 

Most likely it’ll be the sense of humour that hits you first. I mean, check out that new typography, that album title; that cover (his name is Alfred, incidentally). Then there’s the opening track, ‘Wilco (the song)’. All chugging chords, squealing lead guitar and well-intentioned lyrics (“Wilco will love you baby”), it might well dismay the purists, were it not so wonderfully addictive.

 

The album deftly changes tack via tales of doomed boxers, stunted flights and most notably murder, courtesy of ‘Bull Black Nova’. ‘Via Chicago’ this ain’t; instead the song comes over like some kind of less effusive, blessedly compact cousin of Ghost centrepiece ‘Spiders (Kidsmoke)’. Replete with striking imagery evoking the Coen Brothers’ sun-bleached take on No Country For Old Men, it wraps up in a maelstrom of guitar, ivories and screams, constituting by far the most thrilling moments of the record.

 

For (the album) is a curious beast. It certainly doesn’t endear itself with immediate effect, yet there’s much to love here. Leslie Feist’s guest turn on ‘You And I’ feels particularly well-judged, her sparkling enunciation the perfect foil to Tweedy’s husky drawl, on a simple reflection of love and vulnerability that could be lifted straight off Summer Teeth’s back end. Elsewhere, disillusionment is expertly wrought on ‘Country Disappeared’, an agreeably languid strum that resonates on a whole new level once you get a handle on the increasingly surreal lyrics it’s comprised of.

 

In an oddly cohesive set, only ‘You Never Know’ really founders, the band seemingly on creative autopilot as sunny harmonies and guitar solos thread themselves around an eerily familiar refrain. Conversely, ‘Solitaire’ finds Tweedy at his ruminative best, ‘I’ll Fight’ skips along dusty paths with resolute determination and ‘One Wing’ hits like one of Sky Blue Sky’s stronger cuts, Nels Cline’s influence (and staggering virtuosity) palpable throughout. ‘Everlasting Everything’ sees us out here, and much as its title implies, dwells on the concept of love in the face of eternity. It’s also something of a sonic treat: a capacious tapestry gradually filled by strings, brass and shimmering lead guitar.

 

One of Wilco’s biggest and most admired strengths has always been their ability to confound. Whether it be through lyrical turns scarred by unswerving frankness, the audacity of their tracklistings or the heartrending beauty they exemplify at their finest, theirs is a career peppered with shimmying left-turns and dazzling highs. Although unfairly maligned by some (for surely respite was necessary in the wake of Ghost’s elliptical disposition), Sky Blue Sky saw them trade this spontaneity for a neat set of songs punctuated by an occasional dropping of the baton completely.

 

While (the album) tips far more convincingly on the successful end of the scales, there remains the sense of a band playing safer than needs be; a sextet pushing against their limits but never straining outright at them. Put simply, it doesn’t stick like their best work has, despite all its qualities and engaging nature. Which isn’t to say it’s weak – au contraire – it’s just, I suppose, the residual lingering of a (perhaps unrealistic) weight of expectation.

 

One thing is abundantly clear, however: Wilco love you, baby. Right now, that’ll do just fine.

 

* Wilco 7 / 10

[Preferred B]

Not exactly a review, but an interview in which Jeff talks about some songs from the album:

 

http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/yb/131551352

Hard Road: Wilco Battles Bizarre Twists to Roll Out New Album

June 13, 2009

 

 

By Doug Pullen, El Paso Times, Texas

Jun. 13--EL PASO -- Talk about a nightmarish way to roll out a new album.

 

Wilco's eighth album, and seventh studio effort, "Wilco (The Album)," was leaked on the Internet five weeks before its official June 30 release date. Then came the double whammy: Former member Jay Bennett sued for breach of contract last month, then died in his sleep of still unknown causes on May 24.

 

"It was really kind of a shock and it was difficult to put a lot of it together," Wilco singer Jeff Tweedy said of his former band mate's unexpected death, which occurred less than a month before the launch of a summer tour that brings the group to the Abraham Chavez Theatre on Wednesday.

 

Obviously, some issues hadn't been resolved since Bennett's dismissal in 2001.

 

Bennett had announced shortly before his death that he needed hip-replacement surgery, though he did not connect the lawsuit to his medical situation.

 

"Certainly, I never wanted to be a rival of Jay's, and (while) I've never experienced anything like having some ambivalent rival pass away, so I wasn't ambivalent at all in my reaction," Tweedy said during a telephone interview from his home in Chicago. "In other words, I think it's a real tragic loss and just really sad, a sad, short life that I really wished had been able to flourish and thrive for a lot longer than he was able to."

 

As for the leak, well, the band did what it's done ever since Reprise Records refused to release one of the band's most acclaimed, and experimental albums,

 

"Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," in 2002 -- they made it available on the Internet. "Wilco (The Album)" is currently streaming on the band's site, www.wilcoworld.net.

 

"The philosophy of the band for close to 10 years now has been we do not as a rule go out of our way to prevent people from hearing our music. It's bad karma and antithetical to making music," the 41-year-old frontman explained. "We don't consider it a God-given right to make a lot of money from the fact that I learned how to play guitar."

 

People who do what Wilco does for a living are paid handsomely enough, he believes.

 

"In the grand scheme of things, I believe in our music. I want it to be heard. It's really not an argument, it's not a contentious conversation with the record company," he said. "We just do what we do. It's not even a big marketing philosophy, to be honest. I'd rather have people come to you to hear it rather than all the different (Web) sites that may or may not be corrupting what it sounds like."

 

Wilco, which rose from the ashes of 1990s alt country band Uncle Tupelo, has evolved musically and personnel-wise over its 14 years together, but the music, a seductive blend of country, folk, blues, jazz and rock influences, from punk to traditional, is foremost.

 

Singer-guitarist Jim Ward of El Paso's Sleepercar, who will open Wednesday's show, is pumped that the band he met on tour in Australia six years ago is coming to his hometown for the first time.

 

"I'm a fan of Wilco. That's the bottom line. Their music has inspired me and I love them live ... of course, I'd be there whether we were opening or not," Ward said. "It's a thrill to have that caliber of a band in our town. People should see it as an experience; you don't need to know every word or song. Just be open to some goodness."

 

The new album -- Wilco's third with the current lineup of guitarist Nels Cline, guitarist-keyboardist Pat Sansone, keyboardist Mike Jorgenson, longtime bassist John Stirratt, drummer Glenn Kotche and Tweedy -- finds the road hogs drawing from Wilco's straightforward and experimental pasts. There's a pretty duet with Canadian singer Feist titled "You and I" about a couple trying to hold their relationship together, and a bold rocker called "Bull Black Nova" written from the perspective of a murderer, a song Tweedy said "wanted to be on the record."

 

"Consciously I've tried for a lot of years to get better at writing from other perspectives that aren't necessarily my own. I just think maybe more of those songs are concentrated on this record than any other of our previous records," said Tweedy, who's published a book of poetry and won two Grammy Awards with the group.

 

"Country Disappeared" describes scenes fading from the American landscape. "I just thought I wanted to describe foreclosure and auction in an impressionistic way," he said of the song.

 

The album also has humor and a nod to fans and the importance of music on "Wilco (The Song)," the track that gave the album its sly title. Its reference to the "sonic shoulder to cry on" is a dead giveaway.

 

"That song is complete earnestness, and there's probably a little tongue-in-cheek, and a certain amount of embarrassment at singing something so narcissistic," Tweedy said with a laugh, noting the title just kind of presented itself. "I tried to change the words many times so I wasn't singing 'Wilco,' but Wilco was the only thing that made everybody else in the band smile. At some point I thought, 'Why would I not do that?' "

 

It also underscores how happy Tweedy, who has been public about his bouts with depression, is with this particular configuration of the band, whose obvious rapport comes across in "Ashes of American Flags," a new concert documentary released on DVD last April.

 

"It's obvious. I think this lineup of the band is the ultimate version of the band," he said. "This is Wilco to me, what I've always hoped it would be. We've managed to stumble across the chemistry and environment and level of musicianship that I think I really thought I could only dream about."

 

Doug Pullen may be reached at dpullen@elpasotimes.com; 546-6397. Read Pullen My Blog at www.elpasotimes.com/blogs.

[Shakespeare In The Alley]

Not exactly a review, but an interview in which Jeff talks about some songs from the album:

 

http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/yb/131551352

Hard Road: Wilco Battles Bizarre Twists to Roll Out New Album

June 13, 2009

 

 

By Doug Pullen, El Paso Times, Texas

Jun. 13--EL PASO -- Talk about a nightmarish way to roll out a new album.

 

Wilco's eighth album, and seventh studio effort, "Wilco (The Album)," was leaked on the Internet five weeks before its official June 30 release date. Then came the double whammy: Former member Jay Bennett sued for breach of contract last month, then died in his sleep of still unknown causes on May 24.

 

"It was really kind of a shock and it was difficult to put a lot of it together," Wilco singer Jeff Tweedy said of his former band mate's unexpected death, which occurred less than a month before the launch of a summer tour that brings the group to the Abraham Chavez Theatre on Wednesday.

 

Obviously, some issues hadn't been resolved since Bennett's dismissal in 2001.

 

Bennett had announced shortly before his death that he needed hip-replacement surgery, though he did not connect the lawsuit to his medical situation.

 

"Certainly, I never wanted to be a rival of Jay's, and (while) I've never experienced anything like having some ambivalent rival pass away, so I wasn't ambivalent at all in my reaction," Tweedy said during a telephone interview from his home in Chicago. "In other words, I think it's a real tragic loss and just really sad, a sad, short life that I really wished had been able to flourish and thrive for a lot longer than he was able to."

 

As for the leak, well, the band did what it's done ever since Reprise Records refused to release one of the band's most acclaimed, and experimental albums,

 

"Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," in 2002 -- they made it available on the Internet. "Wilco (The Album)" is currently streaming on the band's site, www.wilcoworld.net.

 

"The philosophy of the band for close to 10 years now has been we do not as a rule go out of our way to prevent people from hearing our music. It's bad karma and antithetical to making music," the 41-year-old frontman explained. "We don't consider it a God-given right to make a lot of money from the fact that I learned how to play guitar."

 

People who do what Wilco does for a living are paid handsomely enough, he believes.

 

"In the grand scheme of things, I believe in our music. I want it to be heard. It's really not an argument, it's not a contentious conversation with the record company," he said. "We just do what we do. It's not even a big marketing philosophy, to be honest. I'd rather have people come to you to hear it rather than all the different (Web) sites that may or may not be corrupting what it sounds like."

 

Wilco, which rose from the ashes of 1990s alt country band Uncle Tupelo, has evolved musically and personnel-wise over its 14 years together, but the music, a seductive blend of country, folk, blues, jazz and rock influences, from punk to traditional, is foremost.

 

Singer-guitarist Jim Ward of El Paso's Sleepercar, who will open Wednesday's show, is pumped that the band he met on tour in Australia six years ago is coming to his hometown for the first time.

 

"I'm a fan of Wilco. That's the bottom line. Their music has inspired me and I love them live ... of course, I'd be there whether we were opening or not," Ward said. "It's a thrill to have that caliber of a band in our town. People should see it as an experience; you don't need to know every word or song. Just be open to some goodness."

 

The new album -- Wilco's third with the current lineup of guitarist Nels Cline, guitarist-keyboardist Pat Sansone, keyboardist Mike Jorgenson, longtime bassist John Stirratt, drummer Glenn Kotche and Tweedy -- finds the road hogs drawing from Wilco's straightforward and experimental pasts. There's a pretty duet with Canadian singer Feist titled "You and I" about a couple trying to hold their relationship together, and a bold rocker called "Bull Black Nova" written from the perspective of a murderer, a song Tweedy said "wanted to be on the record."

 

"Consciously I've tried for a lot of years to get better at writing from other perspectives that aren't necessarily my own. I just think maybe more of those songs are concentrated on this record than any other of our previous records," said Tweedy, who's published a book of poetry and won two Grammy Awards with the group.

 

"Country Disappeared" describes scenes fading from the American landscape. "I just thought I wanted to describe foreclosure and auction in an impressionistic way," he said of the song.

 

The album also has humor and a nod to fans and the importance of music on "Wilco (The Song)," the track that gave the album its sly title. Its reference to the "sonic shoulder to cry on" is a dead giveaway.

 

"That song is complete earnestness, and there's probably a little tongue-in-cheek, and a certain amount of embarrassment at singing something so narcissistic," Tweedy said with a laugh, noting the title just kind of presented itself. "I tried to change the words many times so I wasn't singing 'Wilco,' but Wilco was the only thing that made everybody else in the band smile. At some point I thought, 'Why would I not do that?' "

 

It also underscores how happy Tweedy, who has been public about his bouts with depression, is with this particular configuration of the band, whose obvious rapport comes across in "Ashes of American Flags," a new concert documentary released on DVD last April.

 

"It's obvious. I think this lineup of the band is the ultimate version of the band," he said. "This is Wilco to me, what I've always hoped it would be. We've managed to stumble across the chemistry and environment and level of musicianship that I think I really thought I could only dream about."

 

Doug Pullen may be reached at dpullen@elpasotimes.com; 546-6397. Read Pullen My Blog at www.elpasotimes.com/blogs.

This article successfully mentioned every single "Wilco publicity" cliche. I'm amazed, really.

[mpolak21]

This article successfully mentioned every single "Wilco publicity" cliche. I'm amazed, really.

 

Funny I was thinking the same thing, it does seem a lot of Wilco features have involved cutting and pasting what's already been written about the band up to the point of the new release and then adding some current spin on it. I am sure if you dig hard enough Jeff's probably said "this is the best Wilco lineup" about each one, he was right if/when he said about the Tweedy/Bennett/Bach/Stirratt/Kotche lineup naturally.

 

--Mike