Kicking off with a funny, reassuring anthem, then building on sturdy pop songs, experimental guitar slashes and Jeff Tweedy's just-telling-you vocals, "Wilco (The Album)" feels like a career retrospective for the Chicago band th
L. KENT WOLGAMOTT / GZO | Posted: Friday, July 3, 2009 12:00 am
Wilco, "Wilco (The Album)": Kicking off with a funny, reassuring anthem, then building on sturdy pop songs, experimental guitar slashes and Jeff Tweedy's just-telling-you vocals, "Wilco (The Album)" feels like a career retrospective for the Chicago band that has moved from alt-country and Big Star pop to more bracing, challenging fare. That means Tweedy and Co. aren't breaking much new ground on their seventh studio album. But when the songs are this good - writing, playing, arranging, everything - finding a new sound doesn't matter much.
Displaying a sense of humor for the first time, "Wilco (The Song)" promises that the band will love and care for the listener. The disc proceeds to turn Nels Cline's guitar loose, getting out to the biting edge on "Bull Black Nova." Then it turns soft and perceptive with "You And I," an acoustic "relationship" duet with Leslie Feist. Among the other gems on a very good record: the organ-drenched "I'll Fight," which would have been a hit in the '60s and should be today, and the bouncy, sliding, Brit-poppish "Sonny Feeling."
That combination of pop and experimentation, bite and assurance is the Wilco balance, and it's why "Wilco (The Album)" is one of those records made for repeat listening. Grade: B+