Review: Wilco, Wilco (The Album)

Artist: Wilco
Album: Wilco (The Album)
Released: June 26, 2009 on Nonesuch Records
Rating: A-

           I would like to start this review with a short disclaimer. Wilco is my favorite band of all-time. As I sit here typing at my computer, I am actually nervous because I am about to review Wilco (The Album), work coming from a band whose previous albums are almost indistinguishable in my mind because I consider them to all be so uniformly excellent. Nonetheless, understanding my responsibility to some semblance of objective standards, I will do my best to remain unbiased.
         Though I am confused (yet amused) by the camel-birthday-party that graces the album’s cover, it makes pretty good sense that Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy chose to title this effort Wilco (The Album). The album is the second that the band has made with its current six-man lineup, a departure from the more hectic band-member-shuffling days and also something that may suggest the band is finding its comfort zone and its identity. You won’t hear the balls-out drinking man’s rock music from A.M. or the experimental noise from A Ghost is Born, but rather a more restrained, yet still classic Wilco incorporating both extremes of their sound.