Wilco - "Wilco (The Album)"

Wilco
"Wilco (The Album)"
Nonesuch Records
Released June 30, 2009

Son Volt may be back and at the peak of their musical game, but Wilco has never left.

Or descended from their peak. Eight albums in 15 years and not a dud in the pile.

"Wilco (The Album)" is the latest from this idiosyncratic Chicago band and in many ways it is the summation of all of the bands restless musical experiments. Snatches of previous masterpieces like "Summerteeth," "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" and "Being There" peek out between songs like the dissonant "Bull Black Nova" and the bright "Sunny Feeling." Even the twang of Wilco's debut "A.M." returns with occasional pedal steel guitar throughout the disc.

There are also heavy nods back to '60s pop, from the George Harrison vamp on "You Never Know" to the muted Nick Drake sound of "Solitaire."

Which makes the playful title, "Wilco (The Album)," all the more appropriate - this is Wilco, in album form. Wilco isn't an alt-country band experimenting with the aesthetic of albums like "Pet Sounds" or "OK Computer." Wilco is an eclectic band that incorporates a multitude of styles into its ambitious pop sound.

Every other musical left turn, every "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," every "Summerteeth," was just the band circling inward to this central point.