New Wilco..."A Ghost Is Born"

[655321]

Been listening to it all day.

This is brilliant, brilliant stuff.

One song last twelve minutes and sounds like Kraftwerk before turning into a guitar stomp. One track is fifteen minutes long, the last ten of which is nothing other than tones and sounds building and building. A couple of "Wilco" songs, and couple of straight Beatles rip-offs (but depressing and absolutely beatiful). The whole album is what I would imagine what "Wilco pulling a Super Furry Animals" would sound like. Fantastic.

I think it comes out tomorrow (6-22).

[bmurphyfl]

I'm planning on picking it up during lunch today. My fear is that my expectations are so high for it that it'll be difficult to live up to them.

Murf

[655321]

Pitchfork doesn't like it, of course...I think it was a 6.6 out of ten or something like that.

[FlashMan]

the npr guy gave it an incredible review and played a lot of it, which did indeed sound incredible. he said jeff what's his name got increasingly addicted to painkillers for his "headaches" while making the album and the album reflects this increasingly painful and paranoid outlook.

of course, that's just a critic talking.

[sebakoole]

Pitchfork doesn't like it, of course...I think it was a 6.6 out of ten or something like that.
From that review:

Nevertheless, A Ghost Is Born squanders its second-half capital in the final reel, whipping up an impenetrable, unnecessary 10-minute noise squall to conclude the thin-ice beauty of "Less Than You Think". In interviews, Tweedy has explained the segment as a aural replica of the migraines that propelled him towards pharmaceuticals, but even the deepest empathy won't prevent its unrewarding drone from propelling listeners towards the ">>" button.

Hmm, I'm not a big fan of the "I've suffered for my art, now it's your turn" approach to making music. As much as I like Wilco I might just pass this one up.

[yossarian]

From that review:

Nevertheless, A Ghost Is Born squanders its second-half capital in the final reel, whipping up an impenetrable, unnecessary 10-minute noise squall to conclude the thin-ice beauty of "Less Than You Think". In interviews, Tweedy has explained the segment as a aural replica of the migraines that propelled him towards pharmaceuticals, but even the deepest empathy won't prevent its unrewarding drone from propelling listeners towards the ">>" button.

Hmm, I'm not a big fan of the "I've suffered for my art, now it's your turn" approach to making music. As much as I like Wilco I might just pass this one up.

Well my personal opinion is that you'd be making a mistake. It's a very good album. I can't say yet whether I like it better than YHF mainly because I like to listen to albums for a couple of months to let it sink in but nevertheless I like it a lot so far.

[bmurphyfl]

From that review:

Nevertheless, A Ghost Is Born squanders its second-half capital in the final reel, whipping up an impenetrable, unnecessary 10-minute noise squall to conclude the thin-ice beauty of "Less Than You Think". In interviews, Tweedy has explained the segment as a aural replica of the migraines that propelled him towards pharmaceuticals, but even the deepest empathy won't prevent its unrewarding drone from propelling listeners towards the ">>" button.

Hmm, I'm not a big fan of the "I've suffered for my art, now it's your turn" approach to making music. As much as I like Wilco I might just pass this one up.

To be fair, I checked to see how Pitchfork reviewed some of Yo La Tengo's lengthy noise tracks. "Night Falls on Hoboken" and "Spec Bebop" didn't seem to dimish their ratings for The Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out and I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One; 8.1 and 9.7 respectively. So, it seems like Pitchfork's reviewers are comfortable with experiments in noise and sounds when it comes from bands like YLT but not from bands like Wilco. I'm a huge YLT fan but I still find Pitchfork's criticism of Wilco's long noise tracks to be a little unfair.

Murf

[Crimen y Castigo]

Pitchfork doesn't like it, of course...I think it was a 6.6 out of ten or something like that.

Whereas, the good folks at The Onion quite like it:

" . . . A Ghost Is Born is shot through with the fear of never quite saying what it means, never quite getting it right, and maybe losing it all in the process. However paradoxically, that's what makes it a great record. At one point, Tweedy chants the title to faintly creepy effect, but the beauty of A Ghost Is Born comes from hearing the band struggle to turn spirit into flesh."

Full Review (http://www.theonionavclub.com/music/index.php?issue=4025)

[GringoTex]

I've been listening to it online now for about a month and it's become my favorite Wilco disc.