Wilco (The Band) makes Wilco (The Album).

I'm going to try something a little different here. I'm going to be reviewing Alt-Country / Indie-Rock band Wilco's new album, Wilco (The Album). What's going to be different, is I'm going to talk less about the album as a whole, and focus on three individual songs: "Wilco the Song", "You Never Know", and "I'll Fight".

First up, we have "Wilco the Song", a rock-based tribute to the band. This sounds like the earlier style of Wilco, on albums such as A.M. Rhythmic guitar and steady drums follow front man Jeff Tweedy's chorus of "Wilco, I love you baby". Apart from sounding arrogant to the point of ridiculousness, this guitar driven track seems to exist only to answer the question "What should the first song be?" It's boring, and repetive almost to annoyance; with two guitars, one is just relegated to wailing in the background, one or two chords throughout the entire song. Even the bridge with the church-like bells and dissonant feedback can't save this song from being just slightly above-average. The best word to describe it is simply "ordinary", and that's unfortunate.

"You Never Know" is a decent song that sounds like the first really original work on the album. The vocals are simple, yet distinct, and the track is led with a strong, but not overpowering piano part. I really wish they skipped the chorus, though. Tweedy's poor execution on the held notes just highlights how little is really going on in the song. Some parts feel like they just don't belong, like the whacky synth overlay about three minutes into the song. It's not a bad effort, and it has some strong points, but as a listener, I spend the entire chorus waiting for it to be over.

Finally, "I'll Fight" is a song that I feel belongs next to some of Wilco's most praised work. A predominately vocally driven track, "I'll Fight" features some really interesting synth organ bits in the back ground instead of a normal rhythm guitar. I really like that, as it goes really well with the sort of ethereal violin bits that are scattered throughout the track. In a way, this song feels like the spiritual successsor to "Jesus, Etc.", a track off of Wilco's critically acclaimed 2004 album, "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot". The vocals sort of float back and forth between a states of certainty, ("I'll Kill, I'll Kill, I'll Kill, I'll Kill for you, I will") and uncertainty ("I'll die alone on some forgotten hill / abandoned by the mill"). It really is a song that highlights what Wilco is really good at, which is taking country elements, and mixing them with traditional indie rock style.

So, on the whole... yeah, it's not a bad album. It's certainly not a great album, either. It has songs that could one day appear on a "Wilco: Best Of" record, and songs that we'd all like to forget, including Jeff Tweedy and his band of Guitar toting Merry Men. It's worth picking up, if nothing else, just to have.

I'll give Wilco (The Album) a:

6.8/10

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?umj2izvmynm
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