Welcome Back, Wilco

I just finished reading the David Carr article on Wilco in the New York Times … and I couldn’t feel better. The reason that I’m feeling better is that it was great to read that Jeff Tweedy (the oft times sidetracked leader of Wilco) is feeling great.

I am one of the faithful that has seen Mr. Tweedy go form the ashes of the Uncle Tupelo and travel the painful trail that has become known as Wilco’s career. Their 2002 film (I Am Trying To Break Your Heart) could not have had a more apt title. This band really tested the limits of friends, band members, record labels and fans. At points, their music almost dared the listener to like it.

And, through it all, there was the soap opera that was Wilco – the band. Busted relationships, bad drug habits, death … the stuff that William Shakespeare spent many years and worked so hard at putting down on paper, these guys had the knack for delivering to themselves day in and day out.

Now, we get “Wilco – The Album.” And for me, this is a joy. A set of songs that can truly showcase the band and its prolific frontman – in ways that were delivered to the world with “AM” and “Being There.” And, yes, I know that those are the first two releases by Wilco – and that there has been seven other releases that followed. But with the exception of the Billy Bragg collaboration (Mermaid Avenue), I’ve always felt that the band was never truly comfortable in their own skin. (Please note; I know that not many other Wilco fans feel this way. I know there are folks who take the more ‘experimental’ Wilco over the ‘pop’ Wilco any day of the week – I just don’t happen to be one of them.)

I will say that I am as guilty as most – that when there were times in the Wilco roadshow that I found more interested in the car wreck that was the lives of Wilco as I did in the music they were releasing. And, after seeing one fantastic Wilco show – followed by one ramshackle mess of a show – I began to hold these guys to what (in retrospect) was an impossible bar to clear.

A lot of folks always thought of Wilco as Americana’s answer to The Band. I never bought that. I always thought of them more as Americana’s answer to Mott The Hoople. Both bands with charismatic frontmen whose vision lead the path of the band. Both with personal trials and tribulations, band members coming and going … and through it all, trying to deliver some great rock and roll. And now, with the release of “Wilco – The Album” – both with CDs named after the band.

At one point of the NY Time article, Mr. Carr quotes Jeff Tweedy as saying; “I suppose because everything about my life is better …” For me, that is the best comment that I could hear from Mr. Tweedy these days. I’ve always liked his music, and I always rooted for him to beat his demons. So I’m glad to see him walking on a sunnier side of the street.

I’m really digging the music on “Wilco – The Album,” and I hope that Jeff & the boys can keep it together … and keep bringing us the joy that is Wilco – the band.