The Missing Records Haul - Wilco - A Ghost is Born
With the exception of the free download of Star Wars I don't have anything by Wilco other than their first four albums and even then the fourth Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was a fairly recent purchase to replace a burn.
When I picked up A Ghost is Born I didn't realise that it was actually their fifth (from 2004 on Nonesuch) so it is kind of good to keep the chronology going.
There is an egg on the cover which is helpful as I would describe it as like the Curate's egg - good in parts.
Some of it is pretty awful -the 15 minute Less Thank You Think consisting primarily of electronic drones and noise intended to audibly represent the migraines that lead singer Jeff Tweedy had been suffering from while addicted to pain killers during the recording sessions for the album is migraine inducing
There are about half a dozen out there still to get and I might pick them up out of curiosity should I see them in charity shops but I've no pressing desire to collect them all.I'm happy to stick with the Jay Bennett era and the masterpieces that are Being There and Summerteeth.
I have dipped my toe here and there post A Ghost Is Born, but this was the beginning of the slow fade. Having lived in Chicago from 2000-2010, I saw Wilco too many times to count. They were my favorite band for several years. Outside of the Bennett split, no hard feelings. I'll always have Summerteeth, Foxtrot, Being There and A.M. (in that order) to return to... and I do all the time. You chose my two favorites from A Ghost Is Born.
ReplyDeletethere are some really cool jams on this record. The next couple of records are pretty good too. After that, i kind of got bored
ReplyDeleteI loved this band so much for so long, though a quick look at the shelves tells me that the last album of theirs that I picked up was the 2009 self-titled effort, which was pretty good as I recall. I can't quite put my finger on why it stopped there.
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