While Wilco is still one of the top bands of the decade, Sky Blue Sky and Wilco (the Album) have not done much to showcase their talents. Jeff Tweedy's age and sobriety have taken a toll on his writing. Being a father has gotten the best of him, and it shows. The band has created formulaic 3-5 minute songs with self congratulatory guitar jams and called it a day. Throwing on a nudie suit and inviting a trendy singer with her own Apple song does not help either. Fiest's addition to Wilco (the Album) only highlights how complacent the band has gotten. What happened to Natalie Merchant? Her addition to Mermaid Avenue is great, and she was not chosen to boost the indy cred of the album, but because her voice is timeless and beautiful.
If you think YHF is the best album in the Wilco catalog, you are not alone. YHF boost Wilco to mainstream popularity, introducing a whole new set of listeners to the bands charming experimentations. But A Ghost is Born is where the band perfects the intimacy and haunting charm that was so prevalent on YHF, although it requires a much more careful listen than its predecessor. My throwback to A Ghost started recently when I heard Hummingbirds used in the soundtrack on a TV show. It reminded me how powerful Wilco's music was before they all decided to become lame and embrace the musical stylings of stay at home dads.
A Ghost is Born, the first album completely without the influence of Jay Bennet (may he rest in peace), polishes on the experiments of YHF, while creating a much more cohesive album. With Jeff Tweedy's introspective singing and Nels Cline's (who has since helped ruin the band) guitar riffs help create an expansive and emotional album. Without the obvious stand-outs of YHF, (minus The Late Greats), A Ghost manages to reel you in and take you much further than YHF ever could. The album takes you through a painstaking journey of death and rebirth. It is not meant to be listened to as individual songs, but as a composition as a whole, where the sum equals much more than the individual parts.
I'm going away
Where you will look for me
Where I'm going you cannot come
No one's ever gonna take my life from me
I lay it down
A ghost is born
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