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Wilco: A Beginner's Primer

If you know me and this blog, you know there's one band I really, really like: Wilco.  Sure, I've gotten mad at them from time to time, but overall ours is a love affair that will never die.


So while I'm trying to acquaint a friend to the best of Wilco, I thought I'd share my favorite cuts off my favorite records.  And a little history of my love of this awesome American band.



First off, I have to give credit where it's due.  I discovered Wilco through Bill Flanagan, an MTV/Vh1 writer and director who regularly contributes to CBS Sunday Morning.  He mentioned Wilco every time they released a new record until finally in 2007 I downloaded Sky Blue Sky.  It still remains my favorite of all their records, so I'll start there......




To people that call it "dad rock" all I can say is, those dads ain't wrong.  Best tracks on the record: Either Way, Shake It Off, Hate It Here, What Light and it's a cross between my two faves: Impossible Germany and Sky Blue Sky.  I can't really say enough about the beauty of the music and honesty of the songwriting.  And Impossible Germany probably has one of the best guitar solos of any song any time ever.  Do it, Nels.




Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is probably the most talked-about Wilco record if you've ever actually heard people talk about them.  It was Wilco's departure from a shitty record label with some truly magnificent material.  Best songs include: Jesus, Etc, Ashes of American Flags, Heavy Metal Drummer and one of my all-time fave and most lyrically-quoted songs: Pot Kettle Black. 




The Whole Love is what my husband calls noisy, so he really liked it.  It's not my pick of Wilco's work, but it does work on some cool experiments.  My fave pick here is I Might.




Summerteeth's best song is its title cut, but it also has the beautiful She's a Jar and a bunch of awesome live songs including Box Full of Letters and Red-Eyed and Blue.




The first volume of Mermaid Avenue was another one of my early discoveries.  These records feature the previously unreleased work of Woody Guthrie on a collaboration with Billy Bragg.  To be honest, I don't love Billy Bragg (his name says it all), but this is still a great collection.  I loved California Stars the first time I heard it and also have a fondness for She Came Along to Me, At My Window Sad and Lonely and Hesitating Beauty.




I've already reviewed the new record, Schmilco over here, but I don't mind tell you again that the best tracks are If I Ever Was a Child, Somebody to Lose, Cry Cry Cry and Nope. 




I understand why a lot of people don't know Wilco.  They're not the kind of band that gets radio airplay or attention for foolishness.  They're a group of guys that are really good at playing and have one of the best modern songwriters since Bob Dylan and Neil Young.   And this list here is only the tip of the Wilco iceberg.....there are so many more songs and albums I didn't even list.  So if you didn't know before now, that's okay.  But now that you do know, how can you not listen?  And that decision is on you, Chief. 


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