Thanks for the post. I didn't hear about it 'til I read your post. I've shared it with some Wilco fans. They are coming to my hometown, Ottawa on Sept 20th to the folk festival.

Downloaded this awhile back and it is a good listen. Can't wait to see them in September

Thanks for the heads up.

I saw them at Lockn' last year and they blew me away with "Heavy Metal Drummer". Some real John Cage dissonance when they broke from the melody into the drumming. The crowd was stunned. Pretty darn cool.

A friend turned me on to the download a couple of weeks ago.

As the one-time resident Wilco fan on this site (yes, I know there are others now), I keep them on my radar at all times.

Wilco is one of those bands who has some stuff that I like a lot and some stuff that just eludes me. My ratio of "absolutely love and adore" to "just don't care for or get" it is about 80/20 at any given time.

This new album (titled "Star Wars") is just not my favorite effort by them. I've played it through 3 times and so far I just don't love it.

The download landed on my I-tunes right between "A Ghost is Born" and "Summerteeth" (my absolute favorite Wilco album). I decided to listen to the new one by playing a "clutter" - played Ghost - Star Wars - Summerteeth back to back in that order.

The John Cage inspiration (or issue) is spot on. But Wilco (and numerous other acts) has explored this territory before. In short - it's been done. Nearly to death. Maybe if I had access to some good ganja ...

There are some great moments on Star Wars to be sure. However, when Star Wars ended and "Summerteeth" began to play, I was reminded of the music that cemented my Wilco fandom. I also began to realize that perhaps I bear some sort of fan grudge towards Jeff Tweedy over the way that the late Jay Bennett was forced from the band.

Wilco started out as an "alt country" act (I hate labels!). If you listen to their earliest stuff, that's pretty much what they sounded like. It was great music - a lot of acoustic guitar strumming with some tasteful steel guitar every now and then. The lyrics were almost as catchy at times as pop country ("Passenger Side" was a clever tune in this vein). The fact is, they didn't attain their edgy, arty, nearly prog sound until Jay Bennett came aboard. Several incarnations (line-up changes) later, they still hold on to those stylings and "studio as an instrument" techniques that Bennett introduced.

Wilco is a very good live act! I'd pony up and drive a hundred miles to catch one of their shows (done so several times).

Yes, "Star Wars" is a good Wilco record - just not my personal favorite.

And I just wish that Jeff Tweedy would one day acknowledge - or just realize that Jay Bennett was his perfect counterpart. The Lennon to his McCartney - the Yin to his yang - the peanut butter to his jelly.