Wilco's seventh CD, Wilco (The Album) shines

"Wilco (The Song)" starts Wilco (The Album) with Velvet Undeground influenced distorted guitars and at first signals that this album will be indie and experimental, closer to their break out Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.  Their last recording, Sky Blue Sky, saw the band returning to their earlier alt-country/folk roots, but it soon become becomes apparent that Wilco (The Album), their seventh, falls somewhere between those two – the songs are accessible, confident, melodic, often radio friendly. "Wilco (The Song)" asks ""Do you dabble in depression/Is someone twisting a knife in your back? Are you being attacked? This is a fact you need to know, Oh, oh oh, Wilco will love you baby" Which is of course marvelous, dry, tongue in cheek humor, but there is a tinge of sincerity behind it. Telling their listeners, If you're looking for some answers, maybe. But if you're looking for some solace and a sonic shoulder to rest your head, definitely.

The track that’s getting heaviest radio play, “You Never Know” writes off the notion of impending doom, referencing George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” slide guitar. “Come on children, you’re actin’ like children, every generation thinks it’s the end of the world,” Jeff Tweedy sings nonchalantly. Of course, we are the generation living in the shadows of nuclear bombs falling into the hands of terroist factions, impending worldwide economic meltdown and global warming. Still, the song is sufficiently clear-eyed to claim some degree of optimism in the face of such potential apocalyptic disasters. The chorus, though, takes a turn to ambiguous and existential, “I don’t care anymore, you never know.” Whether this is nonchalant disregard or a belief in transcending all it somehow, it isn’t particularly clear, which is OK - this modern world isn't particularly clear either, sometimes ambiguity can be honesty. "One Wing" is a gorgeous, heartrending song looking at a break-up, "I feel we can only wave good-bye, one wing will never fly, dear." “Sonny Feeling” is a sprightly, slightly surreal mind travelogue through the past, sporting some more Harrison style slide guitar. Catchy as all hell. “I’ll Fight” has Tweedy proclaiming that he’ll fight and bleed and die for his love – a heartfelt love song with a touch of Dylan's "Planet Waves" feel, that could easily make it to heavy radio rotation. "Everlasting Everything," closes the album, directly referencing The Beatle's "A Day in the Life," in both the piano and the Ringo signature tom-roll drums. A big statement tune, the song contains the appropriatley Beatlesque statement, "Everlasting love is all you have," then Tweedy closes the tune with the Lennonish existential plaintive sigh, "oh, nothing can mean anything at all," the wearly, oblique final word. Haunting and beautiful, it's is a major song for them. Wilco (The Album) is both light and weighty, poppy and complex, meaning there’s enough diversity here to take in both fans and newcomers to the band – hence the tongue in cheek title, Wilco (The Album), as if reintroducing them to a larger public. Which, ironically, it might just do.