Wilco

Wilco

Wilco is an American alternative rock band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup has changed frequently, with only singer Jeff Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt remaining from the original incarnation. Since early 2004, the other current members are guitarist Nels Cline, multi-instrumentalists Pat Sansone and Mikael Jorgensen, and drummer Glenn Kotche. Wilco has released eight studio albums, a live double album, and four collaborations: three with Billy Bragg, and one with The Minus 5.

Wilco's music has been inspired by a wide variety of artists and styles, including Bill Fay and Television, and has in turn influenced music by a number of modern alternative rock acts. The band continued in the alternative country of Uncle Tupelo on its debut album A.M. (1995), but has since introduced more experimental aspects to their music, including elements of alternative rock and classic pop. Wilco's musical style has evolved from a 1990's country rock sound to a current "eclectic indie rock collective that touches on many eras and genres."

Wilco garnered media attention for its fourth album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002), and the controversy surrounding it. After the recording sessions were complete, Reprise Records rejected the album and dismissed Wilco from the label. As part of a buy-out deal, Reprise gave Wilco the rights to the album for free. After streaming Foxtrot on its website, Wilco sold the album to Nonesuch Records in 2002. Both record labels are subsidiaries of Warner Music Group, leading one critic to say the album showed "how screwed up the music business is in the early twenty-first century." Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is Wilco's most successful release to date, selling over 670,000 copies. Wilco won two Grammy Awards for their fifth studio album, 2004's A Ghost Is Born, including Best Alternative Music Album. Wilco's most recent studio album, The Whole Love, was released on September 27, 2011.

Wilco - Summerteeth

Summerteeth

There is no two ways about it..this is simply the best record I've heard in a long time...from the first chords of Can't Stand It to the last notes of A Shot In The Arm's second version, this is simply 60 minutes of the best music you'll come across this year. Wilco have traded their No Depression roots for Big Star-ish power pop, Beach Boys harmonies, Wall Of Sound production, Beatles inventiveness....and it's all for the better. In fact, this is the album Big Star fans could have been hoping for all along, if the band had stuck together for a few years. Jeff Tweedy's long time fans may not acknowledge this on the first listen, the possessiveness of alt-country fans coming a close second to folk-era Dylan fans, and the cries of "Judas!" may haunt this band for years. But music fans should learn to look further, open their ears and realize this may be as good as it gets... The instrumentation is very unusual, ranging from bells, mellotrons to E-bow guitars and Moogs, and only the slightest hint of a steel-guitar here and there. Each song contains enough surprises to come back to this record every day, meaning this album will very well stand repeated listening (I'm at 14 and counting since I bought it 3 days ago)... The shear amount of instruments and studio tricks used by the band also means you are likely to discovering new sounds every single time you press the play button...

As for the songs themselves, this could be loosely described as a song cycle about failed relationship(s), with a measure of redemption coming in the end... From the opener Can't Stand It ("No loves as random as my love/I can't stand it...I can't stand it..."), up to Via Chicago, it seems to be all the way down for Jeff, despite the sheer joy of the music in the likely single Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway(again)...Via Chicago starts with some of the bleakest lyrics Jeff has ever written "I dreamed about killing you again last night/and it felt alright to me" (which were in fact allegedly written with his wife...) but then things slowly seem to turn around, until the first hidden track, Candyfloss, that is one of the purest pop songs you'll hear this year, even if radio airplay is unlikely. That songs climaxes with operatic voices in the background, which seems almost as clever as the "handclaps in the chorus" of the aforementionned Nothing'sever... Pieholden Suite, which may be the best song here, starts quietly but adds somthing at each verse, and concludes with a melancholic trumpet solo. The lyrics also show a stunning growth from Tweedy's days as co-leader of Uncle Tupelo, and if you do not shed a tear over at least one song here, your heart is made of stone...

To put it mildly, chances are that listening to this record you'll cry, you'll laugh, you'll want to die but in the end, you'll want to fall in love all over again...and press that repeat button over and over and over....

Do yourself a favor...pick this one up...5 five stars are not enough...a clear summer night's worth of stars would still be not enough...it's just THAT good...

If, like me, you've simply fallen in love with this record...tell everyone you know about it...if anything deserves to become a hit, this is it...

Wilco-Yankee Foxtrot Hotel

Yankee Foxtrot Hotel

On the edge of country rock is Wilco,

"Yankee Hotel Foxtrot", by Wilco, is the latest album to merit inclusion in the "instant landmark" category. Jeff Tweedy's band has made a record so jaw-droppingly complete, eclectic and satisfying that it would make both Harry Smith and Brian Eno proud. Though often described as a "Hillbilly OK Computer", YHF goes farther, muuuuch farther beyond mere pigeonhole-ization. This is a record of a uniquely sobered sensibility... the studious innocence of Uncle Tupelo's early recordings and "Being There's" sense of wide-eyed optimism are both gone. In their stead, we find a narrator than can, alternately, drink you under the table ("I Am Trying to Break Your Heart"), celebrate Rock 'N Roll without sounding trite ("Heavy Metal Drummer"), and be patriotic without being obtuse or jingoistic ("Ashes of American Flags"). One has to feel somewhat sorry for Jay Farrar... on the same year he releases a sensational solo effort ("Sebastopol"), and in which Uncle Tupelo's greatest-hits compilation comes out, Tweedy outdoes him, again, though this time more severely than ever before.

As for several pundits' charge that this record tries hard to be pretentious and "artsy", I will, actually, heartily agree with whoever states that claim... Nevertheless, I strain to remember any album consistently placed in most critics' "Best of All Time" shortlist, which did not initially strive to be "important": "Sgt. Pepper's", "Pet Sounds", "Highway 61", "Born to Run", "Nevermind", etc. ALL were clearly about their respective creators' attempts at critical respectability and, ultimately, historical weight. Tweedy can hardly be faulted for doing the same, particularly in an era of such fluffy, unimportant sonic trifle, courtesy of a conference room-ful of three-piece Swedish suits who write music for thirty-plus men posing as "boy" bands, and for bleached blondes with no vocal talent.

Wilco AM

A.M.

A.M., Wilcos debut album is full of honest and catchy songs with a real and powerful emotional directness. They range from the humorous, to rocking, to bittersweet and lovely. I find myself singing along with every song and it's stayed in my CD player for the last couple of weeks. It's a strong album that retains the country feel of Jeff Tweedy's previous band Uncle Tupelo but ups the rock energy a la the Rolling Stones circa the early '70s and mixes that with a little vibe from Neil Young. With each subsequent album Wilco's country influence decreased and their lyrical sophistication increased as they morphed into a more modern rock/pop band. By the time of A Ghost Is Born the country sound was largely gone, replaced by sonic experimentation and an almost psychedelic aesthetic. But on A.M. Wilco play it closer to their Tupelo roots and deliver a great meat and potatoes country rock album. Because of the simplicity and directness of A.M., for me it's their most accessible album.

Wilco-Being There

Wilco is probably capable of making a great album of just about any genre imaginable, but on Being There they went with a genre that is impossible to describe. Often said to 'borrow' from various great records of the late 60s and early 70s, Wilco really does sound more different than you'd get the impression they do. No song is made up simply of one influence, and influence never goes ahead of pure songwriting genius. The opening track on Being There, 'Misunderstood,' as with many other tracks on the double CD, has been compared countless times to other songs and records. However, with every reviewer thinking it sounds like one thing, it's hard to imagine Wilco ever really just went out and made any songs based on just one person's music. 'Misunderstood' is an amazing way to start off an album, but it shines not just because of the noticeable influences, but mainly because of Jeff Tweedy's lyrics and voice along plus the incredible talent of the rest of the band. If you think 'Hey that sounds like The Beatles,' or 'Hey that sounds like John Lennon' before you think 'Wow, that was an incredible song,' then there is something seriously wrong with you.
After the booming finish of the heartfelt story of a musician returning home in 'Misunderstood,' the records moves on to the somewhat more upbeat, although more mellow 'Far, Far Away,' and then on to '70s rockers' 'Monday' and 'Outta Sight (Outta Mind). While when you think about it lyrics in the latter song are not exactly happy ('Well okay, I know you don't love me but you'll still be thinking of me,') the song still seems very upbeat and certainly isn't trying to depress you.
This rock mood is soon killed by the AM-esque 'Forget the Flowers,' where Tweedy doesn't go back to his alt-country roots, but more so to older straightforward country. The essence of this song would fit on any of Wilco's albums, it obviously would have been slightly altered had it been on Wilco's only album better than Being There(to date), Summerteeth. An excellent song either way. One more sad song follows, 'Red Eyed and Blue,' which goes with a slightly less country approach than 'Forget the Flowers,' and comes out well.
From here Wilco balances the last too more depressing song with 'I got you (at the end of the century).' This and the next song 'What's the World Got in Store' have you realizing that this is definitely becoming a great first side. Then the next song, 'Hotel Arizona' completely confirms this, sounding like something Neil Young would have on a greatest hits record. The first side finishes off with 'Say You Miss Me,' another great love song, with Jeff Tweedy's own style.
The second disk opens with two songs that are similar in some ways to the first two songs on the first disk. 'Sunken Treasure' is another great drawn out piano/guitar song that let's you look at Tweedy so closely you can't help but love it. 'I got my name from rock n' roll' he sings, and you know his lyrics are a window straight into him. Similar to 'Far, Far Away,' the next song 'Someday Soon' brings a dreaming less intense song to the table, followed by an acoustic version of 'Outta Sight (Outta Mind),' which in this case goes by the name 'Outta Mind (Outta Sight).' While not as good as the original in terms of it's upbeat rock sound, it still comes off very well.
Then Jeff Tweedy goes into another song about other people's music with 'Someone Else's Song,' a song portraying the frustrated feeling of try to impress someone but just sounding no different than anything before you, which ironically does not describe Wilco, with Being There no longer sounding much like anything from Uncle Tupelo. Kingpin is a much less serious song, that seems to just be Tweedy having some fun ('I wanna be your kingpin, livin' in, Pekin'.)
From there 'Was I in Your Dreams' goes into classic Wilco, sounding happy with dark lyrics, followed by another song of this style, 'Why Would You Wanna Live,' which is so much happier sounding than the lyrics would suggest. In this type of Wilco song will either feel upbeat to you or feel really depressed depending on your mood and whether you focus on lyrics or music.
'The Lonely One' does not hide behind any happy music; it is in the same fashion as 'Forget the Flowers' a straight for sad song, even if it is somewhat less country.
The last song on the record is one of the best record finishers in a while, 'Dreamer in My Dreams.' Even if you've leaned towards the slower, sadder song on the record, this song will still be one of your favourites. It's an excited big loud song that doesn't feel like 'hard rock,' but more like a great live performance in a small place. By the time this song is over and has had it's various false endings, you can't help but be taken away by this record.
Most detractors are usually looking for country or alt-country and really don't find too much of it, but if you're looking for a great record, even if all your favourite records are alt-country, this is still one of the greatest albums released during the 90s. It may even be one of the best to come before the 'end of the century.'