Soundbite

Wilco “A Ghost Is Born”
Nonesuch

Every year, a handful of albums vie for places on critical
top-10 lists, while some rare masterworks are so universally loved
that their placement at the top is a crowning and not a contest.
Wilco’s “A Ghost Is Born” is next in line for the
throne.

While “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” showcased Wilco’s
ability to use the studio to build music around its songs, “A
Ghost Is Born” could have been recorded live. Gone are the
frills of songs like “Heavy Metal Drummer” and “I
Am Trying To Break Your Heart.” What remains are tortured
guitar solos, rich melodies and of course, Wilco’s unique
take on American rock music. Jim O’Rourke’s production
gives the album a warm, natural sound, and his musical influence is
evident throughout, especially in the layers of guitars during
“Muzzle of Bees” and the opening piano chords of
“Hell Is Chrome.” The music is restricted mainly to
guitars, piano, bass and drums, though the band hasn’t lost
its affinity for unusual sounds. The most prominent voice after
singer Jeff Tweedy’s is that of his electric guitar.

Songs like “Spiders (Kidsmoke)” and the nonsense
punk of “I’m a Wheel” rock quite a bit harder
than any of Wilco’s recent work, and Tweedy’s
wonderfully fuzzy Neil Young-like solos extend to epic lengths.
“Spiders (Kidsmoke),” the album’s strangest
track, plays like a disco group covering Young’s “Down
By The River,” with a driving bass line and lyrics about
spiders “singing in the salty breeze/spiders are filling out
tax returns” separating fits of Tweedy’s
feedback-driven guitar work.

The singer and songwriter remains the heart of Wilco, and his
lyrics are more mature and sincere than ever. Songs like “At
Least That’s What You Said” and “Muzzle of
Bees” dwell on the uncertainties of love, with lines like the
shakily delivered, “I still think we’re serious/at
least that’s what you said.” Despite his insecurities
(and public battle with addiction), Tweedy retains his sense of
humor. The album’s greatest farce comes at its conclusion, as
the soft ballad “Less Than You Think” fades into 12
minutes of a droning monotone.

Does “A Ghost Is Born” end with a bang or a whimper?
The answer is “The Late Greats,” a two-minute pop song
about how the best bands are never played on the radio. Perhaps a
self-referential shot at their travails with Reprise Records,
“The Late Greats” is symbolic of Wilco’s position
as the torchbearer for American rock. Only a Young or a Bob Dylan
would have the gall to close an album like “A Ghost Is
Born” with such a simple track, whereas British classic
rockers would’ve been unable to finish without an epic like
“A Day In The Life” or “We’re Not Gonna
Take It.” “A Ghost Is Born” is the next addition
to the canon of great American rock albums, and so, King Tweedy, I
salute thee.

-David Greenwald