But by now all those who have heard the record have hopefully given it enough time to let it grow on them and see that it's a worthy purchase when it becomes commercially available.

Wilco albums tend to work that way. Like a good wine they need time to age, to sink in until you actually get it.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was certainly that way for me. It didn't grab me on the first half dozen listens. Now, I'd join a lot of other more reputable critics in claiming in one of the rock masterpieces of the last decade.

Comparing "Sky Blue Sky" to the band's shining moment of a stellar career probably isn't a good starting point. There are, however, moments when the band's sixth formal record (eighth if you count the two outstanding Billy Bragg collaborations) sounds instantly a classic.

The radio single is one of those examples. Though next to last in the track listing, "What Light" is Wilco at its best with that folky acoustic "Mermaid Avenue" sound, Jeff Tweedy with his lazy vocal delivery giving way to soaring harmonies and straight forward instrumentation. The lyrics are borderline after school special with the charge "Don't lose site of yourself" but ultimately the message speaks well to that tension between artistic expression and commercial success that the band has straddled for so long.

Tweedy turns a peculiar but catchy phrase in "Impossible Germany" that sticks in the listener's head much like the "Theologians don't know nothing about my soul" line from the band's previous offering. This time it's the line "impossible Germany, unlikely Japan" that sticks with its progressing guitar line driving the song along as though it were an invitation to sit alongside Tweedy as he's watching the landscape pass by from his tour bus. The song hits its peak when that guitar line turns into a Yes sounding prog rock riff Ñ think "Long Distance" Ñ and goes into a two-minute jam.

While the lengthy jams on A Ghost Is Born mostly work in the context of that record, they are limited this time around.

In fact, experimentation is more or less kept in check. The band isn't forging into new territory or reinventing its sound like it has become known for doing with each project.

That's not necessarily a bad thing since the result is a solid record to add to a collection of gems from a band that is arguably America's quintessential rock band of the 21st Century.

If you've heard the album and dismissed it as boring or directionless, give it another turn and take a risk picking it up with an open mind, start from the beginning notes of "Either Way" and let it play through to its spellbinding bitter end.

posted [05.12.07]