WILCO THE LP VINYL LP AND CD NEW 33RPM 2009

Seven albums in and you?d think by now you?d be able to second-guess Wilco, but Wilco (The Album) suggests Jeff Tweedy and friends have made a neat job of exploring their field and surrounding territory--loosely, a cosmic-tinged Americana--without ever sounding like they might be in danger of getting stranded for keeps in any one particular ditch. Certainly softer than earlier, errant albums such as 2004?s A Ghost Is Born, Wilco (The Album) sees the band working towards a soft, luxurious AOR sound, albeit one dotted lightly with moments of characteristic invention.

The opening "Wilco (The Song)" is a neatly self-referential beginning, one bound to find a cosy place in future live setlists, while "Bull Black Nova" adds a liquid Krautrock undercurrent and "You And I", a duet with Feist, is a love song with a difference: "You and I, we might be strangers / However close we get sometimes, it?s like we never met". Grown-up? Certainly--but Wilco make a good case for it. "Every generation thinks it?s the end of the world",croons Tweedy on the sweet, Dylan-esque gospel of "You Never Know", and he couldn?t sound happier. --Louis Pattison