I'm ashamed to say I never gave Wilco a chance until last year, when they released "Sky Blue Sky." Since then I have been working my way through their back catalogue. "A Ghost Is Born", released in 2003, is the latest addition to my Wilco collection. For some reason I had never really gotten around to this album but after hearing songs off of it at the Wilco show I attended on Saturday, I had to give it some attention. This album displays Wilco at the peak of their experimentation with layered noise, loops and discord. The album is a great rock record and won a Grammy for Best Alternative Album, although there are a few times when the experimentation is taken a little too far, such as at the end of "Less Than You Think."
Even with all the experimentation, the old Wilco still makes appearances, with songs like "Hummingbird" and "Hell Is Chrome." Jeff Tweedy still comes through with great lyrics, such as:
"So he slept on a mountain
In a sleeping bag underneath the stars
He would lie awake and count them
And the gray fountain spray of the great Milky Way
Would never let him
Die alone"
and
" I looked like someone
I used to know
And if I ever was myself,
I wasn't that night
Oh it's okay for you to say
What you want from me
I believe that's the only
Way for me to be
Exactly what you want me to be
Exactly what do you want me to be?"
I feel like Wilco is one of those bands that anyone could fall in love with if given the right album. Although this is not the first Wilco album I would recommend to anyone unfamiliar with the band, it definitely needs to be heard at some point.
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