sky blue sky

my two current favorite american bands are my morning jacket and wilco, and although my morning jacket have been silent this year, wilco have made another masterpiece. sky blue sky was a complete collaborative effort by the seven members of the band creating quite a different sound. it's still very much wilco, just not so tweedy driven i guess. the band says the record was very improvisational, and was actually recorded in "the round". we don't hear the weird noises like we did on yankee hotel foxtrot. in fact, it's quite a mellow album. tweedy says he was inspired by the byrds and fairport convention, but songs like hate it here and walken sound straight off of abby road. the haunting lead guitar part on you are my face is one of the greatest moments in wilco's history. impossible germany has a wonderful jam moment, and please be patient with me is one of the years most beautiful songs. wilco have made an eclectic collection of albums, and sky blue sky fits in perfectly.