Nonesuch Records
There often comes a time in every band’s career when the music begins to take a turn for the worse. Blame it on aging, a bad band relationship, a tainting of creative juices, or whatever else, the point is: it happens. The fear that any fan has of a band they like falling victim to this problem usually arises after the band releases a good album and is only enhanced if the album is a masterpiece. Wilco’s last album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot warranted this feeling. What goodness could come after such a brilliant piece of work? Could Wilco make another great album, or, after looking at their catalog, continue to make great albums?
Well, on June 8, the answer arrives in the form of Wilco’s fifth album, A Ghost is Born, and, thankfully, it is a resounding “yes.” A Ghost is Born is what Wilco fans needed to follow up Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. (I am not counting the EP More Like the Moon simply because it is an EP and only released online) The album takes Wilco further down their experimental-rock path and mixes it with more of the band’s earlier sound, something that was a bit vacant on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Perhaps it was the “departure” of member Jay Bennett (who co-wrote much of Foxtrot with lead singer-songwriter-mastermind Jeff Tweedy) that let the older sound of the band return. Absent from Ghost is the white-noise and airy feeling that Foxtrot embraced so enthusiastically. (Save for the song “Less Than You Think” on Ghost, in which 12 of the 15 minutes are droning white-noise) This absence should not be a surprise to any fan of Wilco, who knows the band’s sound is always evolving with every album.
A Ghost is Born morphs the sound into the perfect album for the summertime. Whereas Foxtrot was a good spring album (with its calming feel), Ghost is decidedly upbeat. “Hummingbird” has a piano part that would have been at home in any Beatles song and “Spiders (Kidsmoke)” pulses a steady groove for nearly 11 minutes. In “I’m a Wheel” the band rocks out in the fashion of A.M., their debut album. “At Least That’s What You Said,” starts softly with piano, causing the listener to wonder “this is the first song on the album?” until a guitar screams to the foreground and it changes gears to become one hell of an opener.
As with all of Wilco’s previous albums, Jeff Tweedy’s lyrics are amazing. During the documentary I am Trying to Break Your Heart (a film about Foxtrot I recommend), a fan tells Tweedy his lyrics are poetry. Those on Ghost are no exception. In “Theologians” he sings “Theologians / They don’t know nothing / About my soul / I’m an ocean / An abyss in motion.” Wilco’s songs on love and relationships has always been some of the more original and unflinching in music today. During “Handshake Drugs” (which previously appeared in a different form on More Like the Moon) Tweedy tells a love, “Oh it's okay for you to say / What you want from me / Believe that's the only / Way for me to be / Exactly what do you want me to be?” and later, on the aforementioned “I’m a Wheel,” he simply states “I’m a wheel / I will / Turn on you.”
A Ghost is Born is destined to become a classic on the level of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and is only further proof that Wilco is one of the most innovative and best bands around today. During “The Late Greats” Tweedy tells us: “The best song will never get sung / The best life never leaves your lungs / So good, you won't ever know.” Luckily, on June 8 with A Ghost is Born, Wilco makes it possible for us all to know.
