I finally got round to buying the new Wilco album the other day, cunningly titled “Wilco (The Album)”. And then a little thought struck me, and that thought was “You’ve hardly listened to their last album yet”. So I listened to “Sky Blue Sky”. And then I listened to it again. And then I thought, it’s actually quite good. Sure, not “Being There” or “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” good, but much better than “A Ghost Is Born”.
The usual Wilco ingredients are here; the up-tempo stompers, the downtempo meditations on love and depression, the one or two absolutely and utterly dreadful songs (I’m looking in your direction, “Shake It Off” and “Hate It Here”). And Nels Cline really is cementing his position as best alt-rock guitarist around, isn’t he? Check out the solo here, on “Impossible Germany”:
Which is, of course, all rather nice and what you’d expect of me by now, what with my total inability to listen to stuff when it’s actually released. And yes, I do feel old listening to this. It’s music for the middle-aged part of us, and frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.
Anyway, I thought I’d post a song from “Sky Blue Sky” and one of my favourite older Wilco songs, featuring the late departed Jay Bennett. Jay’s departure from Wilco was covered heavily in the film “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart” and let’s just say that no-one came out of it well. I remember seeing the film and feeling bad for Jay; he seemed like a decent chap, stuck in a band that was moving away from what he’d wanted it to be, with Jeff Tweedy’s passive-aggressiveness bringing out the worse in everyone. He’ll be sadly missed – a great musician, and writer of some truly great songs.
MP3: The Thanks I Get by WIlco
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