Wilco

Wilco's first record after the dissolution of Uncle Tupelo continues on an unsurprising trajectory previously mapped by Tupelo's Anodyne. The songs are great, almost lighthearted country-rock songs. "I Must Be High" and "Box Full Of Letters" show Jeff Tweedy's infatuation with classic pop forms, but Wilco was made for greater things -- as later records would show.

Gram Parsons had a vision back in the '60s. With his International Submarine Band, Flying
Burrito Brothers and later as a solo artist, he blazed the trail for pot-smokin', free-thinkin'
rock & roll boys (and girls) to play real-deal C&W. More than 20 years after Parsons' death,
Wilco are following that dream. Wilco were spawned by Uncle Tupelo of Belleville, Ill.,
who, over the course of four albums, added country twang to their wash of guit... More >

Realist defiance grinding sadly down into realist bathos ("Casino Queen," "Box Full of Letters") (Grade - ***)