Wilco - A Ghost Is Born (CD)

The White Album ?

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Jun 6, 2004 | 42 out of 53 found this A Ghost Is Born review helpful

Pros: Extraordinry Creative Spark

Cons: Some Tough Sledding

While Wilco has been evolving rapidly, morphing from one lineup to others; Jeff Tweedy's ambition has grown exponentially. As a result, Wilco has asked fans to adjust sensibilities with each release. Those who have been waiting to hear another &q...uot;Casino Queen" (AM) may well wait forever! Those looking for the organic slop of "Being There," or the lyrical Pop of "Summerteeth" will probably find a way to navigate the challenges of "Ghost Is Born." Fans of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot will probably simply adore it.Tweedy and the band are now fully into found sound, synths, samples, loops, and collage, as well as songs. In 67 or so minutes of music, songs account for about half of the content of this sprawling release. Much like the Beatles' White Album, "Ghost Is Born" is a tour de force of creativity, and all the compositional skill Tweedy has been developing is amply displayed. But, achingly beautiful songs spin into loops and collages of noise that destroy any comforts the listener was developing with song structure. A Guitar/Piano/Vocal intro on the first track abruptly leads to wailing Neil Young inflected distorted, aggressive guitar that - well, continues for a while.One piece is over ten minutes, another is over 15 minutes! There's nothing wrong with that, per se. The first of the two, "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" is among the best songs on the disk. "Less Than You Think" has a song fragment at the beginning, and then turns into 13 minutes of some serious noise manipulation. It is artfully done, and there is real thought behind it, but few listeners will want to listen to it often. Fans of ambient music will like it a lot.OK, that's the bad stuff, and it's really not bad, just enormously challenging. The other tunes on the album are state of the art American art-rock. Tweedy really deserves to be considered in the league with Roger Waters, Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno, a league of extraordinary gentlemen whose first impulse is to walk the tightwire of experiment over the deep chasm of contemporary pop music. Only secondarily do they indulge their gifts and passions for song-style. U2 is probably the last band with something to lose to try half as much death-defying experimentation. Wilco, operating without any big hits to buffer them from industry paranoia, have managed to do more with less.In short, "Ghost Is Born" is a masterpiece if taken on its own terms. Everything Tweedy and company have learned is here, with the biggest surprise to this listener being the level of recording expertise on this release. Like on he "White Album," some self-indulgence is displayed, but artists should be allowed to indulge themselves when they have the talent displayed here. There is no dreck like "Why Don't We Do It In The Road" here.If you are the sort of person who wants your music predictable or safe, buy tunes by the doiwnload. If you want art, buy this album and listen carefully, and more than once. It's easily the best work I've heard this year, and the it's best of Wilco's ever-surprising career.Dave Hearn - Silhouette Multimedia Read more Less