Wilco

I love Wilco but I wouldn't say that I am the most rabid of fans. However, as I watched the premier of Wilco's new live documentary - Ashes of American Flags - at the Alamo Drafthouse tonight, several things swirled through my head...

1- Ashes of American Flags is one of the best live documents of a band around. If you are unfamiliar to Wilco, you should definitely rent or buy this DVD.
2- Wilco guitarist - Nels Cline - is one of the best guitarists of this decade. Period.
3 - Before the documentary got started, they played Wilco's newest album - Wilco(The Album) - and I would have to say that it is definitely one of the best albums of 2009. Gone is the experimentation. Gone is the long guitar solos. It's another notch in their belt of great albums.


Wilco Retro-Moment...

Wilco's legendary album - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - was released on April 23, 2002. It was originally slated to be released, ominously, on September 11, 2001, but the idiots at Reprise Records refused to release it because they didn't believe it to be a "commercial" album. When I first heard it, I thought it was a post 9/11 political record based on the lyrics...

-"Ashes of American Flags"
-"War on War"
-"Tall Buildings Shake/Voices Escape/Singing Sad, Sad Songs"

...little did I know that the album was recorded in the autumn of 2000 - early 2001, which makes this particular album even more mystical. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot will always be considered Wilco's crown jewel in their discography, made even more important as the making of it was documented by Sam Jones in I Am Trying To Break Your Heart. Years from now, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot will be considered a classic from this decade and nothing illuminates this band's greatness more than the live documentary I saw tonight. By all means, check it out when you get the chance.