Please ignore the punctuation squares that are haunting my Wilco review and read it anyway.

Good, bad or ugly feedback is appreciated.

Nicely done. It says about what I feel about it - it's not stellar, at least not yet after a few spins, but it's a good follow-up to a huge album. It's the kind of album that die-hard fans hope a band will make after a relatively huge success like YHF - something that doesn't try to re-do what's already been done on that previous big album (because so many bands do exactly that) and instead they just go on about their way.

As for "Spiders/Kidsmoke," I hear Neu! meets Rolling Stones much moreso than Kraftwork (Neu! were originally a part of Kraftwork, but split off to develop their own brand of krautrock - that repeated drum/bass vamp is pure Neu!, no doubt about it.)

I think Tweedy just likes the poetry and beauty of phrases, which is an art in intself (but one has to be careful about preventing those lyrics from getting to artsy.) I really don't think there's so much meaning behind the lyrics other than that "these words sounded good together," and they allow people to assign their own meanings to them.

Thank you.

I hear Neil Young & Crazy Horse on "Spiders" more than the Stones. I think the big guitar part sounds more like a Heartland jam than Blues-Rock.

You're right about Neu! I stand corrected.

I agree that Tweedy enjoys throwing together odd phrases. Although Rock lyrics get over-analyzed to mean much more than the songwriter intended, it's still kinda fun to pick them apart.

Nice review. I like that you're helping build the "cherry ghost" myth - it's certainly one of the most evocative lines on the album, and at least partly so because of delivery: ("...a cherry ghost. Hey, I'm a...") Tweedy, whether he knows it or not (and who would say he doesn't?) is playing on our classic-rock-conditioned ears: that kind of repetition and emphasis was once deployed straightforwardly to emphasize the Main Point of a song ("we're an american band, woo hoo; we're an american band..."). so now we latch onto it - here's the Big Meaning from this song - and what is it? A euphonic cipher.

Also interesting to hear someone clearly prefer "Company" to "Hummingbird" - i quite disagree, but o well

Thanks.

Well you know Tweedy does tend to repeat lines quite frequently anyway. He's been doing at least since "Summer Teeth." (maybe I'll I need is a shot in the arm/mabye I'll I need is a shot in the arm--etc.).

Hummingbird's just too sticky sweet poppy for me. I love the way "Company in my Back" is mixed and all the insect imagery. I see giant fireflies everytime I play it. ;)

thanks Jane, nice to see you back, very fine review

Thanks Eric. I'm glad you're back as well. :)

Excellent review. I'm not so sure about calling "Theologians" an anti-spiritual, though. I see it more as a rejection of bad theology, especially since the climax comes with quotes from the New Testament.

So, thanks for your very cherry ghost review.

(Since there are no prescribed uses for the term, I'm sure it can safely be used as an adjective).

I see what you're saying and I don't disagree. I guess I meant more the feel of the song came across as anti-spiritual but not the content of the lyrics themselves.

I admit to never reading the new testament, but perhaps I will put it on my summer reading list.

BTW, don't ever be afraid to twist the language. Learn the rules so you can break em.

*assasins down the avenue*

I'm pleasantly surprised (vindicated, maybe) that you prefer company to hummingbird. hummingbird was what i consider the only "miss" on the record Not "miss" as opposed to "hit", but "miss" as in somehow not finding the intended mark. live versions of the song, although infirm, seem to hold something the release version lacks. I am always struck by the opening line of wishful as something truly profound - something relevant and poetic in the Dylan tradition.

The noise at the end of less than you think could have elements of something intended to elicit a physical reaction from the listener. It is beautiful, no matter how you look at it.

As for the cherry ghost line, i bet there's so much less to it than you think. An interview with tweedy (sorry, i forget) claims that the summer teeth album name originated with an old joke, the punchline of which goes something like "summer teeth, some aren't". I bet cherry refers to a condition of newness or virginity in the way rednecks refer to muscle cars. "She's a cherry GTO".

"Company..." is a beautiful song and I've grown fond of "Hummingbird" after repeated listenings. My initial bad reaction had to do with the piano sounding too bright and perky (i do miss Jay Bennet's stylings, but what are ya gonna do?) In fact, I've grown to love this disc now that i've listened to it almost a zillion times.

I still don't care for "Less than you think" --imho the weakest track, but i'm no fan of noise pop to begin with.

I didn't know about the Summer Teeth joke. That is cool.

My all-time favorite song on this album is "Handshake Drugs." I love the guitar, and it reminds me of Chicago.

Thanks for the post. You sound very informed. :-)

Gran Canaria http://www.grancanariaguide.com 2004 September 27 18:37:35

Huh - I thought 'Theologians' was a pretty straight-forward lyric about suicide - but what do I know I'm just discovering the band. I think the "cherry ghost" part refers to blood - but I'm used to projecting things onto lyrics - I'm old enough to remember the "paul is dead" hysteria

"I'm going away
Where you will look for me
Where I'm going you cannot come

"No one's ever gonna take my life from me
I lay it down
A ghost is born.."

That's very astute and I think you have a point. That never even occurred to me.

I hope that you will listen to A.M. - their first record. It's really where the whole Wilco thing started and it's quite good.

Hey-

I really enjoyed reading the review and all these thoughts about this album. I just got into Wilco last year and am an ardent adorer of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and Being There-- pretty much from start to finish. I picked up A Ghost Is Born and, though I was intrigued, didn't really dig it ALL that much at first, and was also very much distracted by my then recent acquisition of all of Patty Griffin's albums (which took the majority of the summer to digest, and which I highly recommend). But I knew that when the time was right I would listen to it a few more times and it would sink in. So recent weeks have been spent learning A Ghost Is Born, and just basking in what I think is truly a remarkable combination of just brilliantly-crafted songs, ambiguous lyrics that clearly mean a lot of different things to different people, wonderfully quirky moments, and a total experience that really does feel like a cohesive work from beginning to end.

I think the cherry ghost lyric is most baffling because it is presented at the moment, in music and in text, where we really expect some kind of revelation. The album's intriguing and quizzical title is introduced (as in "Swamp Ophelia", or "see you on the Dark Side of The Moon", or...), the music has a kind of directness and grandness to it, and it all takes place in that point where we are fully entrenched in the album, but the end is in sight. Dramatically, I think they do their best to set up this moment and, at the moment we expect revelation, we get not just pleasant ambiguity, but almost complete nonsense. I'll wager I'm not the only one who actually said "huh?" out loud, the first time really listening to it. But you're probably right that Tweedy just liked the sound of it. I don't know, but I'll keep thinking about it. And that's why i like it.... or maybe it's the other way around.

I love it. Absolutely love it.

I love "company" AND "hummingbird" more or less equally. "Hummingbird" is just such a neatly wrapped up tune, perfectly proportioned, and contains my actual favorite lyric from the album. "And the grey fountain spray of the great Milky Way would never let him die alone."

I also really like "muzzle of bees".

My only real problem with the static at the end of "Less Than You Think" is that it is not particularly creative white noise or musique concrete (I mean- at least Revolution #9 is comprised of something). Anyway, I think the experience of sitting through that is mostly to set up the freshness and contrast with the last track. Back to the White Album-- I always listen to Revolution #9 (though I think many skip that, too) for the same reason: the contrast with Goodnight is, in itself, satisfying. But repeated listenings to Revolution #9 reveal little quotes from everything from While My Guitar Gently Weeps to Sibelius's 7th Symphony. Anyway, with me it's all about the mood I'm in. Sometimes I listen to the last 8 minutes of Less Than You Think, other times not. I think this is the same purpose of the rather long "Kidsmoke". "Muzzle of Bees" goes down like a glass of cool water after all that repetition. But I ramble.

Thanks again for the review and for all the comments. I'm sure I will hear the whole thing in yet a new light next time I listen to it.


Alex

I agree that Hummingbird is a wonderful song. I hadn't listened to it enough before I reviewed to appreciate it, although the piano in it is still too peppy for me.

You write well Alex. I think you should write for Blogcritics if you don't already.

One quibble: the inspiration for "I'm A Wheel" is clearly the Replacements and not T-Rex. Seems so obvious to me, so obvious that maybe I'm missing something. The vocal, the guitar, the speed all sound like they came out of a Minneapolis basement.

I said I could "hear the T-Rex" meaning the vocals. I still maintain that Tweedy sounds like Marc Bolan in that song, however, you have a point about the melody

Hey thanks! After I posted that, I promptly forgot WHERE I posted it and I just stumbled back onto it now. Interesting stuff you write-- keep it up!

btw I also like the kazoo in Hummingbird. But I do agree, and did not say so before, that Company is really something special. And I also agree with you about Handshake Drugs.

Taxi cabs were drivin' me around.

Alex

Tweedy has said that the line "Cherry Ghost" was a reference to the memory he hopes to leave behind to those who love him once he has departed. He hopes to be remembered fondly, sweetly. Sweet, like a cherry. A cherry ghost.