I’ve never been able to pin-point what exactly it was I loved about Wilco, but “Wilco: The Album” made me think of something.. In Wilco’s earlier days, they were never consistent, each album was bumpy and full of high moments and a few low ones, but nothing about A Wilco album sounded the same on a Wilco album, “Being There”, “Summerteeth”.. “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”.. Both are extremely unified yet disjointed records. I mean, they usually have something in common sonically, but Wilco never seemed happy to stay in one genre.. You think consistency would do wonders for Wilco. They’ve been doing that since “A Ghost is Born” and it hasn’t really worked.. Well I’m happy to say that despite the fact that “Wilco: The Album” is polished like a diamond to fit Wilco’s sound.. it’s quite good. And finally, maintaining a consistent style has worked out for them.
Points:
Jeff Tweedy works extremely well within a 3-4 minute structure.. Once Tweedy attempts a near 6 minute song it becomes somewhat disastrous, at least on this album, luckily, there are no songs as disastrously boring as ‘Less Than You Think’ on “Wilco: The Album”. Only one, and only half the length as that aforementioned disaster. Nonetheless, ‘Bull Black Nova’ is a slog.. 6 minutes isn’t too terribly long for a song.. It’s that Tweedy rarely has any idea what to do with those 6 minutes and the song ends up dragging terribly.
It’s funny that the polished ‘Wilco sound’ is defined by a mixture of genre trappings all with an alt-country tinge that Tweedy has tweaked to perfection over the years. The lack of sloppy diversity doesn’t make me hopeful for how this record will stand in comparison to Wilco’s other albums.. Wilco’s best albums are defined by the huge amounts of ambition they foster. This is comfortable for Tweedy and co. But Tweedy does his thing well enough to make you care. It’s nice to see the formula work after the terribly mediocre “Sky Blue Sky”.
Wilco has ultimately arrived in a place where they’ve nearly perfected their sound. Often times they tread the dangerous tight-rope of repetition.. But here Wilco is comfortable without being monotonous. Formulaic by their own standards, but having finally worked out a good formula like this one.. it’s hard to blame them for wanting to stay in this zone.. Nevertheless, I want more out of Wilco. I want innovation.. I want that sloppy, everything but whatever feeling back.. I can’t help it. I’m selfish.
