Sky Blue Sky
Songwriter Jeff Tweedy is succinct and soulful on “the most musically direct and down to earth of the band’s six-album career” (Los Angeles Times). Spin calls it “near perfect.” Wilco does leave room for inspired jamming, especially on “Impossible Germany.”
Despite the experimental pedigree of their new lineup, Wilco's sixth album finds them receding into the comfort zone. The result is an album that exposes the dad-rock gene the band has always carried but attempted to disguise-- the stylistic equivalent of a wardrobe change into sweatpants and a tank top.
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot may have been the best and worst thing to happen to Wilco. Worst because it invited a backlash among fans who balked at Jeff Tweedy, one of roots-rock's première tunesmiths, pulling his songs apart in a fit of inexpressible irritation. And best because Tweedy almost immediately rejected that style…
Wilco have always had the tendency to wrong foot their fans and listeners. After the two disc country rock stomp of Being There we had the Beach Boys-tinged pop of Summerteeth, after that the experimental Sonic Youth excellence of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot…
In 1999, Wilco willingly abdicated their position as one of the leading acts in the alt-country movement to dive head-first into the challenging waters of experimental pop with their album Summerteeth, and moved even further away from their rootsy origins with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born, winning the group a new and enthusiastic audience along the way.
<p>The return of Jeff Tweedy and co is initially a tame affair. But listen closely, says <strong>Graeme Thomson</strong>, and something special emerges.</p>