wilco needs to try harder this time.

...so last week i was hanging round the apartment & i'd just finished watching this week's episode of rescue me. i'd opened a bottle of lagunitas wilco tango foxtrot (which i'd first tried last june) & i was playing on the internet & randomly learned that wilco has a new album--the whole love--coming out near the end of september. since i was having a beer with "wilco" in the name & they have a new album on the way & i haven't been listening to music much recently & haven't enjoyed much of wilco's recent output but believe in second chances, i got this crazy idea. starting with 1995's A.M., i'd listen to a bunch of wilco's discography in chronological order as i had myself a lagunitas wilco tango foxtrot, eventually, i fell asleep & when i woke up the next day, i listened to some more wilco, finishing with 2009's wilco (the album).

as for the lagunitas wilco tango foxtrot, it was as i remembered it, a dark brown beer that's flavorful, with hints of caramel, brown sugar & chocolate. since it's a seasonal release, i've been trying to get as much WTF drinking in while i still can. lagunitas describes it as "a malty, robust jobless recovery ale." i was employed when i first reviewed it but these day's full-time employment's a thing of the past, so i guess the description's a little more depressing this time around. what's the perfect thing to take your mind off said lack of employment? the TOTALLY UPLIFTING musical stylings of wilco, obviously...& i guess beer helps too.

	A.M. - this is the first wilco album that i ever owned & listened to & ever since i inherited it from an old roommate back in 2001, i've probably listened to it three or four times. i was never able to get into the alternative country style that wilco essentially abandoned after this album. for me, once "casino queen," a rolling stones-like song that's the second song on the album, is done, i get pretty bored with the whole thing pretty quickly. it'd been years since i last listened to this album & i'm assuming it'll be years more before i listen to it again.
	being there. - wilco followed up A.M. with being there, a nineteen-song double album that marked wilco's first foray into more surreal songs. the opening track on album one, "misunderstood," is to this day still one of my favorite wilco songs, especially in concert. as for the rest of album one, it doesn't really do anything for me. the second album opens with "sunken treasure," which is a beautiful song, especially when played acoustic. from there, the rest of the album's entirely forgettable, except for the opening of "outta mind (outta sight)," which sounds exactly like the sesame street song.
	yankee hotel foxtrot. - after listening to A.M. & being there, i just skipped over summerteeth. i got impatient & completely ignored "can't stand it" & "shot in the arm" & went straight to the album that elevated wilco to another level--yankee hotel foxtrot. in case you've missed the story or the film documenting the making of the album, it's the one that saw them create a critically lauded work that their label hated. warner sold the album back to wilco & dropped them. along the way, jay bennett (a main songwriter) left the band. eventually, as the album gained more critical acclaim, wilco signed to another arm of warner & sold the album back to them & it's since gone on to be one of the top indie albums of the past decade. it's solid from start to finish & still gives me chills a decade after hearing it for the first time.
	more like the moon. - this is a six-song EP that was originally offered as part of the yankee hotel foxtrot australian release. eventually, it became a free download for yankee hotel owners via the wilco website. it's got an alternative version of "kamera" (off of yankee hotel), an alternate version of "handshake drugs" (which would appear on their next album) & "bob dylan's 49th beard," an acoustic song which features some of jeff tweedy's most beautiful guitar playing.
	a ghost is born - after the ridiculous success of yankee hotel foxtrot, i was REALLY looking forward to a ghost is born. it took me a few listens to get into it, but i eventually found myself listening to it a bunch. it opens with "at least that's what you said," which is possibly their best album opener. the second song, "hell is chrome," is great as well but song #3, "spiders (kidsmoke)" is noodly as fuck & i've hardly ever reached the end of the song. the same holds true for "less than you think," a fifteen-minute song near the end of the album. in between there are a few catchy tunes. unfortunately, for me the album had a short shelf life & after listening to it a bunch, it fell out of the rotation rather quickly.
	sky blue sky - five years after the release of yankee hotel foxtrot, my belief that wilco was a band of geniuses who could do no wrong had long since worn off. with sky blue sky, i sort of gave up on wilco altogether. the songwriting's aight but there's not a single song on it that i'd ever be all "ooh! put that on!" there's none of the extended jams of a ghost is born but there's also none of the energy of a ghost is born. "hate it here" reminds me of both lennon's solo stuff & mccartney's solo stuff but as a whole, the album's ridiculously uninspired, especially given the two full-length albums that preceded it.
	wilco (the album) - when wilco's last album, CLEVERLY titled wilco (the album), came out in 2009, i really couldn't care less. there was much more interesting stuff going on in the music world & wilco's last two albums had had little-to-no effect on me. since its release, i haven't listened to it all that much but it's much more to my liking than anything they've done since yankee hotel foxtrot. it starts off on the right foot with "wilco (the song)." "bull black nova" (the fourth track) & "i'll fight" (song nine) are both pretty cool. the majority of the rest of the tracks are slow but tolerable. i put it on the same level as a ghost is born as far as quality goes. still, it's not very enduring.

 
hopefully wilco's tried harder on this new album.