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Wilco
Wilco (The Album)
Nonesuch
out June 30th
[75]
[Rating Scale]
[rating:75/100]
It’s easy to give an album a 75/100. It is. People that love the album are okay with it, because your glass is ¾ full. People that hated the record are okay with it because you haven’t been overtly generous. People get worked up over extremes, and 75 is neither altogether here nor there. It requires little commitment from the author. You give an album a 90, or (conversely) a 20 you’re committed to your decision. You loved it or hated it, and you’re on the hook for that. Still, when I listen to Wilco (The Album) it just feels like a 75. The record is very good, but in aggregate never achieves the greatness of Jeff Tweedy & the boys’ previous work. There are moments (though few and far between) throughout the album where you get anxious for something new, and for that it gets a wishy-wash 75.
The album begins with “Wilco (The Song)” which just feels like Wilco. It opens with a listener friendly hook that runs the course of the song. However, just when you, as a listener, hit the flow, the band jars you with an odd beat, “Wilco, Wilco.” Wilco has never been a band that lets the audience feel altogether at ease, and this is a perfect way to let us know that we’re here on their terms.
The beauty of this album is in the subtleties of the music. Songs like “Solitaire” and “One Wing” showcase these subtle aspects with soft guitar riffs, silky vocals, and drifting organs. Those moments thread their way throughout the album and help the listener enjoy the measures they are in. On “One Wing” (a song revolving about lost love tragedy), the lyrics are great (“One wing, will never ever fly, dear”), but the musicianship is non-secondarily stellar. The song walks the line between ballad and rock so well, that by the 3.16 mark (when the guitars start shredding) you’ve pretty well forgotten where you started and are totally immersed in the music.
“Bull Black Nova” (probably the most experimental song on the album) begins with repetitive piano chords that could easily reside on any of the Wilco catalogue. The ensuing song revolves around those chords, culminating in an instrument explosion. It’s experimental, but it’s definitely painted in shades of Wilco. I don’t particularly like it, and it’s songs like “Bull Black Nova” that turn casual fans away from the band. The rambling chord repetition gets stale and the song meanders about far too long for its own good. The technical jam session at the end is just too complex for the listener, verging on overwhelming. While it’s certainly not uncommon for musicians to wanna play complex music, Wilco overdoes it at times. This is a band full of true musicians, and I honestly think they lose their audience (often just for the moment) by insisting on technical rather than “catchy.” I think it’s a trade off Wilco is willing to make, but it doesn’t always entice a listener to come back for more.
In Wilco’s first duet, Feist makes a guest appearance on “You and I.” It’s a simple, acoustic driven ballad that discusses the inability to connect with someone you love. Tweedy and Feist have a uniform simplicity and rawness that really click. Neither overpowers or underwhelms the other, and it leaves me wanting a (never-gonna-happen) full-length album of Wilco/Feist collaborations.
On Wilco (The Album) nothing (but maybe “Bull Black Nova”) really overpowers, and Wilco lets everything seep out in its time. The album blends well and leaves the listener relaxed and feeling like they had an experience with the music. The album, overall, will draw more similarities to Sky Blue Sky, than Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but it includes enough moments of beauty to be viewed as a necessary progression in Wilco tapestry. It’s a very good album that I’ll listen to again and again… a solid 75.
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Tags: Wilco
Aw!
Didn’t even mention my two favourite tracks ‘You Never Know’ and ‘Country Disappeared’. 75? Ah OK I’ll let you go Jeff. I wonder what the rest of the PMA team thought of the rating. It’s currently soundtracking the better-than-average summer here in Edinburgh! Absolutely gorgeous.
I’ve never understood why bands write these songs that fall into technical incomprehensibility. It’s like the late 80s and early 90s when all the guitar virtuosos showed up and started writing music that was impossible to play, but un-listenable. While music should definitely challenge your expectations, it is important for artists to remember that they are (hopefully) trying to write music for their audience to appreciate and relate to, not to prove how awesome they are at writing complex chord progressions. For the most part, I don’t actually think Wilco falls into this trap, but your post made me think about it and it’s a point a lot of people miss.
the only thing I know about this album is that it’s not sky blue sky and it’s a good thing. Wilco (the album) is not their best work, but it’s a step forward in my opinion. I love the track’s Bull Black Nova, reminds me of the Spiders (kidsmoke) and Via Chicago tunes.
I really wish they’d use the studio more like they said they would, and it feels like Mr. Kotche isn’t given the go-ahead to really let out his talents. Wilco is a talent heavy band and it’s amazing how they choose to show it during a live show rather than an Album. I give it a 90, not because of the studio cut, but because of what they’ll do to these songs live (i.e Via Chicago, Misunderstood)
“One Wing” is a beautiful song.
Wilco the Album: It could’ve gone all jammy (had “One Wing” been extended or had any of the songs allowed Nils to stretch out and the others to weave around him), it could’ve gone all poppy (if “Bull Black Nova” and “Deeper Down” weren’t around), or it could’ve rocked real hard (if they’d recorded a whole bunch of “Bull Blacks”). Instead it does all of the above. As usual, Wilco zigged instead of zagged and in the process smashed a lot of high expectations. Minds may not have been blown the way they were by other releases, but there is still a great deal of superbly crafted music to be enjoyed here. “Country Disappeared,” “Solitaire” and “Everlasting” are some serious message songs, and “Bull Black Nova” is a scathing portrait of American fringe today. (Aside from the car itself, I’d say Tweedy has climbed into the heads of most every front-page killer of the last two weeks.) “You and I” gives you just a moment to breathe, and then you realize that this is no ordinary love song with words like “I don’t wanna know everything about you/and you don’t need to know that much about me.” “One Wing” is all-around gorgeous. “Sonny Feeling” trips you up – just when you thought it was safe to sing along comes documentation of rape/assault (”It didn’t feel like the wrong time or place/Until they cut off her clothes”). I could go on, but the point is this: this a lot more here, underneath the snarky title and the chugging title track, than meets the eye. We’re being lulled by subtlety, peace among band members and extremely professional musicianship that’s seemlessly blended into thinking that this isn’t such a great album. This outfit is no longer rag-tag. And while I love Jay (R.I.P.) and the trilogy of albums he helped bring to life, we cannot trample on the current band for capturing and enhancing the Wilco songbook all in on sweet package. At least not IMHO.
Wilco (The Album) is undisputedly one of the best albums of the year. Wilco just goes from strength to strength, regardless of their selfish “fans.” “You Never Know” was a brilliant choice for the first single. It just might be my favorite track.
Good review, but the new album is quite mediocre. The songs aren’t too interesting live either.
Gosh, the album is really, really, really good. “Wilco (The Song)” is a fantastic opener!
I’m not sure I understand the complaints about “Bull Black Nova.” Sure, it’s a bit “experimental.” But I find it odd that first Wilco gets knocked around for this album and Sky Blue Sky not living up to the groundbreaking nature of the band’s previous works. And now, Wilco gets knocked around for alienating casual fans with a song that frankly isn’t nearly as strange and experimental as half of the stuff on A Ghost is Born. The reviewer claims the rest of the album is all about the musical subtleties, but then he proceeds to ignore the subtleties of Bull Black Nova. If you listen to the song, the “repetitive” chord progression actually evolves, with notes gradually added that both change the nature of the chord and create a sense of build. Furthermore, the accompaniment around the repeated chords often changes the nature of the chords, subtly shifting between major and minor.
Sure, Bull Black Nova is perhaps a bit less accessible than the rest of the album, but to a Wilco fan reared on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost is Born, it is the highlight of a very good album.
I for one really like the album. It is easy to listen to and I thought the three songs that I heard live came across really good.
I am glad that not every Wilco album is a YHFT or a Ghost is Born.
Gosh PMA… I would have given it at least an 81.
No, I would have.