CD Odyssey Disc 84: Wilco

I knew if I stuck it out long enough, the dice would reward me!

Disc 84 is...A.M.

Artist: Wilco

Year of Release: 1995

How I Came To Know It: I had Wilco recommended to me by a spouse at one of Sheila's office parties about three or four years ago. I didn't go for it right away, but after reading some reviews, I thought I'd give them a try. I bought this album first, because I found it on sale cheap.

How It Stacks Up: I have three Wilco albums now, and narrowly put a fourth back on the shelf during a CD buying rampage last weekend. Of those three, I like "A.M." the best.

Rating: 4 stars.

I really didn't know what to expect when I bought this album, other than the fact that Wilco seem to be critical darlings. Usually this deters me from pursuing it any further. I'm glad I pushed through my usual contrariness and bought this record.

Style-wise "A.M." is first and foremost a basic rock and roll record, but that description alone would sell them short. Yes, the arrangements are pretty simple and straightforward, but within that sound they find all sorts of little ways to sound fresh and innovative.

In this way, they remind me of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. They also have that southern rock sound that I get from Tom Petty. Later Wilco records get a lot more expiremental, and I like those as well, but "A.M." definitely has a special place in my heart for doing more with less.

While definitely rock music, Wilco also works in a lot of country and folk instruments - I'm pretty sure that at various points they use the banjo and the steel guitar. In fact I'm certain - since I cheated and looked in the liner notes. While there I found the album also features the fiddle and dobro in a couple of places.

Jeff Tweedy's vocals have a great honesty to them. This makes his lyrics, which are often intensely personal and introspective, really believeable and lets me react to the record on a strong emotional level.

There are a couple of good break up songs, particularly "Box Full of Letters", which aptly expresses the frustration of...not being able to express yourself:

"Got a box full of letters,
Think you might like to read
Some things that you might like to see,
But they're all addressed to me

Wish I had a lotta answers,
'Cause that's the way it should be
For all these questions,
Being directed at me

I just can't find the time
To write my mind
The way I want it to read"

As a writer, maybe this is why I emotionally connect to this song. Or maybe it is the dreaded division of the music collection that comes later:

"I got a lot of your records,
In a separate stack
Some things that I might like to hear,
But I guess I'll give 'em back"

The horror! The horror!

Other highlights include "Casino Queen" which successfully captures the over-stimulated environment of gambling establishments. Combined with the story of someone losing their license to a DUI in "Passenger Side", "A.M." features two songs that manage to be both a party and a cautionary tale.

The only out of place track comes in the very mellow hollow-sounding "Dash 7". This song is a mood piece about a flight, and while it seems out of place on this album it very much presages the interesting direction Wilco's sound is headed for on later albums. Even though it is a little out of place, it is great to have this survey marker on what's coming.

In the second to last track, "Blue Eyed Soul", Wilco asks us:

"Can you keep it simple, can you make the snare crack?
"Can you let it out without holding back?"

By this point in the record, I found myself answering with a resounding "yes!"

Best tracks: Casino Queen, Box Full of Letters, Shouldn't Be Ashamed, Pick Up the Change, Blue Eyed Soul, most of the others.