Ok, for a pretty big review like this I'm just going to get right to it. With Wilco's fifth studio release, A Ghost is Born, the band is placed at something of a crossroads. They have just come off something of a masterpiece in Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and now must find a way to either carry the torch of that album's experimental nature, or simply maintain a kind of status quo and be content with their place in music.
In between this latest album and YHF, lead singer Jeff Tweedy, drummer Glenn Kotche, and celebrated producer/fringe Sonic Youth member Jim O'Rourke put out a self-titled side project called Loose Fur. This project pushed many of the concepts toyed with in YHF to further levels, especially the guitar feedback/distortion, and the drawn out and repetitive nature of many songs. This small side project seems to hold the majority of the influence for A Ghost is Born, which also maintains a direct lineage from YHF.
On A Ghost is Born, Wilco seems to revel in the electric guitar rock wonders that the ex-member Jay Bennett so loved in the film I am Trying to Break Your Heart. This is evidenced in the foot-stomping opener "At Least That's What You Said." The song opens innocently enough, with a lover's spat, and soon deteriorates into a whip-like electric guitar with a banging piano. This interest in electric guitar work carries over into the second track of "Hell is Chrome," where Tweedy sings about the unexpected nature of things, alongside a blues-like guitar hook and delicate piano. Finally, summing up the nature of the album, comes the third track, "Spiders (Kidsmoke)," a nearly eleven-minute, Krautrock-inspired dirge. And these are just the first three songs.
While the first three songs manage to set the stage for the remainder of the 12-track album, the rest of the album does contain influences from past works. "Handshake Drugs" is a sadly inferior version of the More Like the Moon EP version released last year. And the album's weakest track, "I'm a Wheel," is something that should be a Being There or A.M. b-side, as it is sounds like something the band has attempted to move away from. Throughout the album, the band flirts with experimentation, rock, folk, and a variety of other genres, especially applicable in "Muzzle of Bees," and "Hummingbird." Despite the experimentation in many songs, there are still traditional tracks, such as "Hummingbird," "Wishful Thinking," "I'm a Wheel," "Theologians," and "Late Greats." These tracks emphasize lead singer/writer Jeff Tweedy's songwriting capabilities more than the band's experimentation.
While A Ghost Is Born is not as accomplished as YHF, or Summerteeth for that matter, Wilco does manage to stand at the peak of rock music, bridging a gap between rock and experimentation brilliantly. The evolution the band has made from A.M. to where they stand now is simply astounding. Between the sheer instrumentation of the songs, and Tweedy's song writing capabilities, the band itself has never been better.
