Wilco’s fifth full length release “A Ghost is Born” will not disappoint fans of their breakthrough album released two years ago, “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”. While recording “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”, Wilco ran into trouble with their record label, Warner Brothers, who wanted to transform the album into a more commercially accessible, pop sound. The members of Wilco refused to alter their work and ended up buying back the rights to “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”, eventually releasing it on Nonesuch Records. The label switch-up emitted a wave of excitement throughout the Indie community for the record’s release.
With this said, “A Ghost is Born” is not as highly regarded or anticipated as “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” was, but the musical content is just as good, if not better.
Due to numerous instrumental breaks and the pained, sometimes barely audible vocals of lead singer Jeff Tweedy, “A Ghost is Born” may not be readily accessible on the first listen. Of course it’s difficult to overlook that the two longest tracks on “A Ghost is Born” combine to last just under twenty-six minutes.
However, if you give it a chance and attempt to hear every instrument involved in the songs, you will be rewarded with a rich listening experience. The instrumental breaks at first can turn off a casual listener, but to the more attentive, the more the guitar riffs or keyboards in the background speak out to you.
From my description so far you may be thinking that “A Ghost is Born” has no catchy songs that you will be humming to yourself after the first listen, but that too is not true. The catchiest songs are “I’m a Wheel” and “The Late Greats” but are not the opening tracks as many groups opt to do, or even found on the first half of the CD. Wilco chooses to make the listener wait for a catchy song. “I’m a Wheel” is at the ninth track position and closing the album is “The Late Greats”.
The two tracks that stood out the most followed each other in track order. The second song “Hell is Chrome” is an outstanding display of Wilco’s ability to create a truly haunting and soothing song. “Hell is Chrome” begins with the evocative lyrics, “When the devil came he was not red / He was chrome and he said / come with me.” Tweedy repeats the phrase “Come with me,” leading the listener on an intriguing journey. The third song, “Spiders (Kidsmoke)”, is a ten-minute-plus behemoth that is complete with a long but rewarding instrumental break and intermittent outbursts of distorted guitar.
Overall “A Ghost is Born” is a promising follow up to “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”, although it may appeal most to die hard fans and patient listeners.
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