CD Review: Wilco's Sky Blue Sky

By J.P. Gorman: 2007-05-12 16:29:10

Sky Blue Sky, the new album from Wilco, sounds like nothing else the band has ever done. Since we’re talking about a band whose last two albums, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost is Born, sounded like nothing else anyone had ever done, that’s saying something.

For starters, the album is much mellower than any other Wilco album. That’s not to say this is a heavy band, as it’s certainly not, but there has always been a sharp edge, a certain bite, to Wilco’s songs. The tunes on Sky Blue Sky, however, skew closer to mid- to late-‘70s peaceful, easy songwriter rock than the challenging, grouchy Wilco we’ve come to know and love.

What made Yankee Hotel and Ghost stand out from everything else was the sonic experimentation sought on those records. Some will be glad to hear there is nothing in the way of droning synthesizers on Sky Blue Sky, no 15-minute, feedback-drenched songs. These tunes are straightforward, and the record possesses more than its fair share of aching beauty (especially on “Please Be Patient With Me,” among Jeff Tweedy’s most plaintive, pleading songs of forgiveness).

A few spins of the disc, however, left me with a distinct feeling that something important was missing. The album no doubt turned out exactly the way the band wanted it to, a cohesive song cycle with an overriding aesthetic ideal and every musician fitting perfectly in his place (though on a few songs guitar wizard Nels Cline’s virtuosic lead playing stands out in a big way). The songs speak for themselves, supposedly an important idea behind this record. But as a whole, little on the album will blow your mind like those that came before.

We all know that growing old is a fact of life, though, and Wilco is no longer the band that made Being There or Summerteeth. There’s something about this particular band and those particular records that makes people want Wilco to always give exactly that same kind of output. But Tweedy’s on the other end of rehab, in a completely new phase of his life. Is he still going to be writing songs like “Sunken Treasure,” “Shot in the Arm” or “Ashes of American Flags” in his current, healthier mental condition? Doubtful.

“What Light” seems to capture the new record’s essence better than any other song. This is not because it’s the best track on the record (that honor belongs to either the bouncy “Walken” or the jammed-out “Impossible Germany”), but its basic lyrics and delicate music add up to a song that Tweedy would have rather died than release earlier in the decade. Maybe he really is going soft in his old age.

But here’s the catch: “What Light” amounts to an artistic 12-stepper’s anthem about accepting the world as it is and following your own vision. In an unexpected album full of soft-rock exercises and gorgeous musicianship, Tweedy found a spot toward the end of the album to let everyone know what’s going on here: “If you want to sing a song/And you want others to sing along/Just sing what you feel/Don’t let anyone say it’s wrong …”

That kind of self-awareness has long been a Wilco trademark, so never fear: The old smart-ass is still in there. He’s just not angry anymore, and the band’s new music follows suit.

I’ll go ahead and say it: Wilco is the best American rock band of the new millennium. I’m not basing that declaration on album sales or popular appreciation. I’m basing it on the rockers’ actual music, the promise they showed entering the 2000s and the albums they’ve released since we’ve been here. Summerteeth showed them poised to change the idea of what it means to be an American rock and roll band; Yankee Hotel and Ghost delivered on that promise.

But sonic experimentation is a finite pursuit. There may be no limits in a live context, but as far as albums go, things can only be stretched so far before the whole idea comes crashing down. During the recording of Sky Blue Sky, it seems the band stepped back, surveyed the scene, gauged its position and took a long, deep breath.

Wilco has spent the last 10 years destroying whatever molds were set in front of them, challenging whatever presuppositions people had concerning the possibilities of American rock and roll.

And now, it’s time to relax, with Sky Blue Sky as the soundtrack.

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CD Review: Wilco's Sky Blue Sky

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