Lets talk about A Ghost Is Born by Wilco in what I imagine will be one of the great one reply threads.
Can’t think of another album that has this atmosphere. Airtight, metallic thing it is. From the pristine cover (so happy with the tag btw) through the track titles and the feedback that doesn’t sound like it really wants to be there.
I think as a migraine sufferer I can completely get where he was coming from with the obvious painful moment on it but that same thing has led to me being a (c/w drugs) pretty frequent strong opiate user and the distance and sheen on this thing is very similar to what that feels like, especially as I descend into postdrome. The more visceral bits of guitar are much more stark thanks to it.
Probably his best clutch of songs. An infuriating but brilliant mixing job. Superb performances all round. Can still understand why people didn’t gel with it when it came out but it’s stuck with me and as the stasis of furlough showed up it’s been one I’ve been vibing out to quite a lot. Not an album I really shared with many people, it feels very personal so it definitely a ‘walking round in my early twenties with a discman and no idea of what to do’ album.
Glad he got better. Listened to Kicking Television today on a long drive and it’s quite remarkable how huge these songs sound in that environment. The whole thing becomes quite life affirming in that setting.
So yeah do you like this or think it’s super 6/10 material? When did you hear it? All other Wilco chat is encouraged - 10 track schmilco/whole love/Star Wars playlists, epic versions of kidsmoke, Jim O’Rourke chat, we’ll take it.
Saw them a bunch of times around the end of this tour and the lead up to Sky Blue Sky coming out, and they were a phenomenal live band every time. 2+hr shows, totally varied set lists, everything loose enough to be exciting but tight enough to still be totally pro. Such a great band.
Fucking love this album and can remember when it came put just rinsing those first three tracks. Great shronking guitars and a driving rhythm that even had my previously uninterested flatmate, who just dismissed altcountry pretty much outright, wondering where this album had came from.
Saw them live around about this time too and they were such a cohesive band and the drumming was outrageously good.
Wilco were a huge inspiration for me on how to be experimental but keep things melodic. I get a shimmery summery youthful feeling when I hear them now, like when you smell creosote on a fence
