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A Ghost Is Born

 
Album Review: A Ghost Is Born
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Ghost Is Born

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  • Artist: Wilco
  • Rating: StarStarStarStar
  • Release Date: June 22, 2004
  • Type: Enhanced CD-ROM
  • Genre: Rock

Review

It's hard not to wonder if Wilco's breakthrough 2002 release, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, would have been such a critical success and so eagerly embraced by the indie rock community if it hadn't become such a cause célèbre thanks to the band being unceremoniously dropped by Reprise Records, and then signed by Nonesuch after the album had become a hot item on the Internet. Much of the critical reaction to the album, while almost uniformly enthusiastic (and rightly so), had an odd undertow that suggested the writers were not especially familiar with Wilco's body of work, registering a frequent sense of surprise that an "alt-country" band would make such an adventurous album while ignoring the creative shape-shifting that had been so much a part of Jeff Tweedy and company's approach on Being There and Summerteeth. The irony is that 2004's A Ghost Is Born, the eagerly awaited follow-up to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, is also the Wilco album with the strongest stylistic link to its immediate predecessor, as if their new fans are being given a moment to catch up. A Ghost Is Born hardly sounds like a retread of YHF, but the languid, ghostly song structures, the periodic forays into dissonance, and the pained, hesitant vocals from Jeff Tweedy that were so much a part of that album also take center stage here. But while much of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot had a cool and slightly removed feeling, A Ghost Is Born is considerably warmer and more organic; the extended instrumental breaks in several of the songs (two cuts are over ten minutes long) sound more like a group in full flight than the Pro Tools-assembled structures of YHF. And while Wilco's former secret weapon, Jay Bennett, is now out of the picture, the rest of the group (especially multi-instrumentalist Leroy Bach, keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen, and guitarist/co-producer Jim O'Rourke) fill the gaps with admirable grace and strength. If A Ghost Is Born has a flaw, it's in the songwriting; while this album is a "grower" if there ever was one, revealing more of its unexpected complexities with each spin, there are no songs here as immediately engaging as "War on War," "Heavy Metal Drummer," or "I'm the Man Who Loves You" from YHF, and while "Hummingbirds," "Handshake Drugs," and "Wishful Thinking" are tuneful and charming, they lack the resonance and emotional impact of Tweedy's strongest work. And the album's most purely enjoyable tune, the witty "The Late Greats," closes out the disc after the 15-minute drone dirge of "Less Than You Think," dramatically blunting its effectiveness. A Ghost Is Born confirms what old fans and recent converts already know -- that Wilco is one of America's most interesting and imaginative bands -- and it's brave and compelling listening. But if you're expecting another genre-defying masterpiece, well, maybe we'll get one of those next time. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
At Least That's What You Said (Lyrics) Jeff Tweedy Wilco (5:33)
Hell Is Chrome (Lyrics) Mike Jorgensen, Jeff Tweedy Wilco (4:38)
Spiders (Kidsmoke) Jeff Tweedy Wilco (10:46)
Muzzle of Bees (Lyrics) Jeff Tweedy Wilco (4:56)
Hummingbird (Lyrics) Jeff Tweedy Wilco (3:11)
Handshake Drugs (Lyrics) Jeff Tweedy Wilco (6:07)
Wishful Thinking (Lyrics) Glenn Kotche, Jeff Tweedy Wilco (4:41)
Company in My Back (Lyrics) Jeff Tweedy Wilco (3:46)
I'm a Wheel (Lyrics) Jeff Tweedy Wilco (2:37)
Theologians (Lyrics) Jeff Tweedy Wilco (3:36)
Less Than You Think (Lyrics) Jeff Tweedy, Leroy Bach, Jim O'Rourke, John Stirratt, Mike Jorgensen, Glenn Kotche Wilco (15:04)
The Late Greats Jeff Tweedy Wilco (5:03)

Credits

Wilco (Producer), Leroy Bach (Piano), Christopher Shaw (Engineer), Peter Smith (Design), Mike Jorgensen (Farfisa Organ), Jim O'Rourke (Engineer), Glenn Kotche (Drums), Jim O'Rourke (Synthesizer), TJ Doherty (Assistant Engineer), Tim Iseler (Assistant Engineer), Jim O'Rourke (Mixing), Jim O'Rourke (Arp 2600), John Stirratt (Loops), Tim Barnes (Percussion), Jeff Tweedy (Bass (Acoustic)), Jim O'Rourke (Producer), Jeff Tweedy (Guitar (Acoustic)), Matt Zivich (Production Assistant), Jeff Tweedy (Loops), Frankie Montuoro (Dulcimer (Hammer)), Ken Waagner (Digital Supervisor), John Stirratt (Guitar (Acoustic)), Deborah Miles Johnson (Technical Assistance), Karen Waltuch (Viola), Haydn Johnston (Production Assistant), Leroy Bach (Guitar (Electric)), John Stirratt (Guitar (Electric)), Jeff Tweedy (Vocals), Leroy Bach (Loops), Jim O'Rourke (Loops), Glenn Kotche (Synthesizer), Leroy Bach (Synthesizer), Mike Jorgensen (Stylophone), Peter Smith (Photography), Mike Jorgensen (Piano), John Stirratt (Vocals (Background)), Mike Jorgensen (Rocksichord), Mike Jorgensen (Synthesizer), Glenn Kotche (Percussion), Jim O'Rourke (Guitar (Acoustic)), John Stirratt (Synthesizer), Steve Rooke (Mastering), Stan Doty (Production Assistant), Mike Jorgensen (Engineer), Deborah Miles Johnson (Production Assistant), Stan Doty (Technical Assistance), Jim O'Rourke (Organ), Mike Schmelling (Photography), Leroy Bach (Bass), Glenn Kotche (Dulcimer (Hammer)), John Stirratt (Bass), Glenn Kotche (Loops), Dan Nadel (Design), Haydn Johnston (Technical Assistance), Matt Zivich (Technical Assistance), Frankie Montuoro (Production Assistant), Jim O'Rourke (Guitar (Electric)), Jeff Tweedy (Guitar), Frankie Montuoro (Technical Assistance), Jim O'Rourke (Bass), Gladys Nilsson (Drawing), Daniel Herbst (Technical Assistance), Daniel Herbst (Production Assistant), Jeff Tweedy (Guitar (Electric)), Jeff Tweedy (Guitar (Baritone)), Jeff Tweedy (Synthesizer), Leroy Bach (Guitar (Acoustic)), Jim O'Rourke (Piano), Leroy Bach (Organ)
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Wikipedia: A Ghost Is Born
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
A Ghost Is Born
Studio album by Wilco
Released June 22, 2004
Recorded November 2003—March 2004
Manhattan, New York
Genre Experimental Rock
Length 67:26
Label Nonesuch
Producer Wilco, Jim O'Rourke
Professional reviews
Wilco chronology
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
(2002)		 A Ghost Is Born
(2004)		 Sky Blue Sky
(2007)

A Ghost Is Born is the fifth studio album by Chicago-based experimental rock band Wilco. Released on June 22, 2004, it features singer Jeff Tweedy on lead guitar more than any previous Wilco album. The band streamed the album online for free, and offered a five song EP to purchasers.

Tweedy entered a rehab clinic shortly before the release of the album, delaying its release by two weeks. It also shortened its promotional tour. Despite this, A Ghost Is Born's opening week was the best sales week for the band at the time and the album was met with good reviews from major publications such as Rolling Stone and PopMatters. The album earned Wilco a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.

Contents

Production

Wilco signed a contract with Nonesuch Records in November 2001 after a lengthy dispute with Reprise Records over the release of the band's fourth album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.[10] Foxtrot was welcomed with positive reviews from The Village Voice—where the album was rated by the critics as the best album of 2002—and Rolling Stone.[11][12] It sold over 590,000 copies, earning a Gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America.[13][14]

Composition

Recording for a new album began in November 2003 under the working title Wilco Happens. The album was produced by Jim O'Rourke, who mixed Foxtrot and was a member of Wilco side project Loose Fur. O'Rourke encouraged lead singer Jeff Tweedy to develop his guitar skills for the album--Tweedy recently became the lead guitarist for the band due to the dismissal of Jay Bennett after the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot recording sessions.[15][16] Tweedy sought to play solos on the album that were unlike those of jam bands such as Phish and The Grateful Dead. Instead, he performed composed solos influenced by Television such as the one during the coda of "At Least That's What You Said".[17] Tweedy refers to the guitar solo at the end of the track as a "musical transcription" of one of his panic attacks.[18] A Ghost Is Born was recorded in a manner different from Foxtrot or 1999's Summerteeth; whereas those recordings were performed live in the studio and then overdubbed, A Ghost Is Born was first performed on Pro Tools and only played live once completed. Tweedy was excited about writing an album this way:[17]

“ All those things you can do with Pro Tools and all the emotional buttons you can push with just purely sonic things I think can be done with just plain old music. I love all the possibilities that modern recording techniques allow, but I couldn't picture the idea of really wowing anyone with some crazy evolution of the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot sound ”

An unusual feature of A Ghost Is Born is the fifteen-minute long track "Less Than You Think". For the song, each band member created a synthesizer noise that mimicked an electronic sound. The installations were simultaneously activated in the room and recorded. The noise, which served as the coda to the song, was remixed to provide dynamics to the track. Calling it "the track that everyone will hate," Tweedy defended the song's inclusion on the album:[19]

“ I know ninety-nine percent of our fans won't like that song, they'll say its a ridiculous indulgence. Even I don't want to listen to it every time I play through the album. But the times I do calm myself down and pay attention to it, I think it's valuable and moving and cathartic. I wouldn't have put it on the record if I didn't think it was great … I wanted to make an album about identity, and within that is the idea of a higher power, the idea of randomness, and that anything can happen, and that we can't control it. ”

A Ghost Is Born was the first Wilco album with multi-instrumentalist Mikael Jorgensen; he had previously worked as an engineer with the band on their collaboration with The Minus 5. Jeff Tweedy provided lead vocals and acted as lead guitarist for the only time since the band formed. John Stirratt, the only original member aside from Tweedy, played bass and guitar. Glenn Kotche and Jim O'Rourke, Tweedy's associates from Loose Fur, acted as drummer and multi-instrumentalist, respectively. Leroy Bach played a variety of keyboards as well as bass guitar. All members of the band contributed with a synthesizer part on "Less Than You Think".[20]

Marketing and promotion

Wilco began touring in support of Ghost even before the album had been released. Multi-instrumentalist Leroy Bach left the band after the recording sessions to join a theater production, so Wilco added jazz rock guitarist Nels Cline and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone to replace him.[21][22] Sansone had been playing with The Autumn Defense, a side project led by bassist John Stirratt. However, the tour to support the album had to be abridged. In May 2004, Tweedy checked himself into a rehabilitation clinic in Chicago, Illinois due to chronic migraine headaches, anxiety attacks, and clinical depression. In the process of treating the ailments, Tweedy had acquired an addiction to prescription painkillers. His rehab led to the cancellation of the European stage of the tour and a delay in the album's release date. Intended for release on June 8, 2004, the album was officially released on June 22, 2004.[23]

The band also webcast the album in its entirety on the Internet in a promotion with Apple Computer. Nonesuch was willing to allow the MPEG-4 broadcast due to the success of a similar broadcast in the promotion of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Additionally, Wilco offered a free EP to purchasers of the album. The EP featured two outtakes from the album—"Panthers" and "Kicking Television"—and live versions of "At Least That's What You Said", "The Late Greats", and "Handshake Drugs". The EP was later packaged with the album and sold as a "deluxe version".[24]

Reception

In its debut week, A Ghost Is Born peaked at number eight on the Billboard 200 chart and sold over 81,000 copies—the highest U.S. chart peak and best sales week ever attained by the band at that time.[25][26] As of April 13, 2007 the album has sold over 340,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan.[13] The album was an international hit as well, peaking at number twenty-four in Norway, number twenty-nine in Sweden, number thirty-three in New Zealand, number thirty-four in Belgium, and number thirty-seven in Ireland.[27]

Like Foxtrot, A Ghost Is Born was well received by critics.[28] Jon Pareles of Rolling Stone called the album "as eerie as anything Wilco have recorded yet" and applauded "Tweedy offers illuminating curiosity about what can happen in a song."[7] Stylus Magazine gave it an "A" grade, named it "album of the week", and claimed it was "even more brilliant" than Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.[8] Michael Metevier of PopMatters also supported the notion that Ghost was better than Foxtrot, calling every note "purposeful" and said that the album made him "surprised and delighted enough to last several lifetimes."[6] In 2005, A Ghost Is Born won two Grammy Awards for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Recording Package. Although the band was nominated for Grammys for work on previous albums, this was the first time that they won one.[29]

Not all publications shared these views about the album. Pitchfork Media, who had given Yankee Hotel Foxtrot a perfect 10 rating, only gave Ghost a 6.6, calling it "wildly uneven" and "less cohesive than any other Wilco release."[5] Robert Christgau, one of the few detractors of Foxtrot, called the album a "privileged self-indulgence" due to its extreme musical dynamics.[30]

Track listing

All songs written by Jeff Tweedy except where noted.

  1. "At Least That's What You Said" – 5:33
  2. "Hell Is Chrome" (Tweedy, Jorgensen) – 4:38
  3. "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" – 10:46
  4. "Muzzle of Bees" – 4:56
  5. "Hummingbird" – 3:11
  6. "Handshake Drugs" – 6:07
  7. "Wishful Thinking" (Tweedy, Kotche) – 4:41
  8. "Company in My Back" – 3:46
  9. "I'm a Wheel" – 2:37
  10. "Theologians" (Tweedy, Jorgensen, Girard) – 3:36
  11. "Less Than You Think" (Tweedy, Stirratt, Kotche, Jorgensen, Bach, O'Rourke) – 15:04
  12. "The Late Greats" – 2:31

Singles

  • "I'm a Wheel" (July 26, 2004)
    • 7" vinyl only, "I'm a Wheel" b/w "Kicking Television"

Personnel

Notes

  1. ^ Deming, Mark. "Review: A Ghost Is Born". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Aif9ds33wa3mg. Retrieved 12 June 2009. 
  2. ^ "Review: A Ghost Is Born". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/reviews/album_review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000535488. Retrieved 12 June 2009. 
  3. ^ Powers, Ann. "Review: A Ghost Is Born". Blender. http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=2168. Retrieved 12 June 2009. 
  4. ^ Sweeting, Adam. "Review: A Ghost Is Born". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2004/jun/25/popandrock.shopping4. Retrieved 12 June 2009. 
  5. ^ a b Mitchum, Rob (June 22, 2004). "A Ghost Is Born (review)". Pitchfork Media. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/23181-a-ghost-is-born?artist_title=23181-a-ghost-is-born.  Last accessed July 27, 2007.
  6. ^ a b Metevier, Michael (May 21, 2004). "A Ghost Is Born (review)". PopMatters. http://popmatters.com/music/reviews/w/wilco-ghost.shtml.  Last accessed July 27, 2007.
  7. ^ a b Pareles, Jon (2004-07-08). "A Ghost Is Born (review)". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/wilco/albums/album/6187605/review/6194215/a_ghost_is_born.  Last accessed July 27, 2007.
  8. ^ a b Gottlieb, Akiva. "A Ghost Is Born (review)". Stylus Magazine. http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=2092.  Last accessed September 13, 2009.
  9. ^ Hunter, James. "Review: A Ghost Is Born". Village Voice. http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0425/hunter.php. Retrieved 12 June 2009. 
  10. ^ For an overview of the controversy, see Kot 2004. p. 201-228
  11. ^ "Pazz & Jop 2002". The Village Voice. http://www.villagevoice.com/specials/pazznjop/02/.  Last accessed July 27, 2007.
  12. ^ Fricke, David (2002-05-09). "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot: Review". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/322307/yankee_hotel_foxtrot.  Last accessed July 27, 2007.
  13. ^ a b Cohen, Jonathan (2007-04-13). "Wilco: In the Comfort Zone". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/feature/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003571465.  Last accessed July 27, 2007.
  14. ^ "Gold and Platinum Database Search". Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH.  Last accessed July 27, 2007.
  15. ^ Kot 2004. p. 240
  16. ^ Barston, Steve (September 2004). "Pillar of Alt". Guitar World Acoustic. 
  17. ^ a b Kot 2004. p. 241
  18. ^ Mulvey, John (January 2006). "The Addict". Uncut. 
  19. ^ Kot 2004. p. 242
  20. ^ A Ghost Is Born album notes, June 22, 2004. Nonesuch Records, 79809.
  21. ^ Pouncey, Edwin (August 2004). "Free the Spirit". The Wire. 
  22. ^ Kot 2004. p. 243
  23. ^ Kot 2004. p. 244
  24. ^ Jardin, Xeni (November 15, 2004). ""Music Is Not a Loaf of Bread"". Wired. http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2004/11/65688.  Last accessed July 27, 2007.
  25. ^ "The Billboard 200". Billboard. July 10, 2004. 
  26. ^ Whitmire, Margo (June 30, 2004). "Jadakiss Cruises To No. 1 Debut". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/search/google/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000556892.  Last accessed July 27, 2007.
  27. ^ "Wilco - A Ghost Is Born - Music Charts". acharts.com. http://acharts.us/album/13436.  Last accessed July 27, 2007.
  28. ^ "Wilco: a ghost is born (2004)". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/wilco/ghostisborn?q=wilco.  Last accessed July 27, 2007.
  29. ^ "2005 Grammy Award Winners". CBS Online. February 13, 2005. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/14/in_depth_showbiz/main673822.shtml.  Last accessed July 27, 2007.
  30. ^ Christgau, Robert (June 28, 2004). "Squirt You". The Village Voice. http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0426,christgau,54659,22.html.  Last accessed July 27, 2007.

References

External links


v • d • e
Wilco
Nels Cline · Mikael Jorgensen · Glenn Kotche · Pat Sansone · John Stirratt · Jeff Tweedy
Leroy Bach · Jay Bennett · Ken Coomer · Bob Egan · Brian Henneman · Max Johnston · Jim O'Rourke
Studio albums
EPs, live and collaborations
Singles
"Box Full of Letters" · "Outtasite (Outta Mind)" · "Can't Stand It" · "A Shot in the Arm" · "War on War" · "I'm a Wheel" · "What Light" · "You Never Know"
DVDs
Related articles

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