A Newborn Ghost Can’t Fly Straight

To bring you up to speed: Wilco has undergone yet another lineup change, and front man Jeff Tweedy has weathered a stretch in rehab for a painkiller addiction. Yet for all the turbulence, the Chicago-based band has managed to release their latest effort, A Ghost is Born. However, the lingering hype of their widely acclaimed Yankee Hotel Foxtrot may have made their footing a bit unsure, for this inconsistent album will leave you panning for its gold. That said, when those gold nuggets do turn up, they are of the finest quality.
Starting with a lazy piano and Tweedy’s subdued vocals, the album opener “At Least That’s What You Said” has all the markings of a quiet, intimate singer/song-writer track. Then out of left field, Tweedy’s guitar surges forward in a noisy romp that musically demonstrates his take on a relationship’s frustrating complexities. It is a high point of the album that is surpassed only by the richly layered “Company in My Back.” Unfortunately, what makes the former so irresistible soon goes stale as the first half of AGiB becomes reliant on guitar tangents, as on the repetitious “Spiders (Kidsmoke),” a song that flounders for over ten minutes. “Less Than You Think,” a song meant to replicate a headache, works to that end but is little else beyond novelty.

Though repeat runs through the album help smooth it out, the gaps between what works and what doesn’t are far too wide to consider AGiB a solid success. Moments do play like gold, but you have to sift through too much to find them.