Pete Listens: Wilco's new album (+Tweedy career in review)

Arright. So I bought it. Gave it a shot. Glad I did. I'm pretty into it. Surprised myself. Talking here about "Sky Blue Sky" by Wilco. A really good album.

(You can also read Matt's review of this album here.)

I was pretty disgusted with their last offering, "A Ghost is Born", which was self indulgent and poopy. Yes, poopy. Tweedy knew he could put a slice of balogna in a cd case and he would still sell a couple million copies at that point in his career (and you know that people would open up to find that round cold-cut and say, "This guys a genius!"). In Sky Blue Sky, Tweedy returns to the actual craft of songwriting and has a crack team of newish bandmates to back him up.

And this record is really about those bandmates. Tweedy takes a backseat here. Some of these guys have reputations in musical arenas that are much more virtuosic than indie rock. These guys have jazz records and percussion-only records and their reps travel before them. And the album is better for it with lush solos (sure, they get a little jam-band-ish, but nothing like the self-indulgent Krautrock of Ghost is Born) and interesting drumming and the return of steel guitar in a Wilco album. The etherial guitar wash of "Impossible Germany" reminds me of late 90s math rock (Sharks Keep Moving, South, Tristeza). Yeah, it's worth it just for that guitar part.

I've gotta say, it's good that Tweedy does kinda take a backseat here, because his lyrics continue to go downhill. That's the drawback.

Faithful Readership, one should know that even though this would be a satisfactory entry point into Wilco, a better album (their best, in fact) for the curious is the breakthrough "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot". It's a fantastic album. Classic. It does to American music what Radiohead's "OK Computer" did to British pop.

It should also be known that Jeff Tweedy was in a band with Jay Farrar (swoon!) called Uncle Tupelo in the early 90s. In the split, they formed Wilco and Son Volt respectively. Their fans typically take sides the way that Beatles fans do about John and Paul (or in my dad's case: George). I think we all know who I side with here. So this tends to cloud my ears when listening to Wilco and tends to prevent me from saying Tweedy's a genius. Conversely, if Son Volt released a CD with a slice of balogna where the disc should be, I have to admit that I'd be blogging the very next morning about what a genius Jay Farrar is and what an artistic statement he's making. Shucks.

Rating the Wilco Albums:

#1 "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" 2002
Brilliant. Crossover. Most hyped indie rock album ever, but worth the hype.

#2 "Summer Teeth" 1999
A pop album. Lots of synth.

#3 "Being There" 1996
This douple album could do without half of the songs, the the good half is pretty good. At this point, Wilco was still more country and less pop.

#4 "Sky Blue Sky" 2007
See above.