WILCO/SKY BLUE SKY

Descripción

Wilcos first studio album in three years Sky Blue Sky has been perhaps the most ardently awaited release of 07. Eager fans had taken to shouting out pleas for information to bandleader Jeff Tweedy during his recent solo acoustic tour and the web chatter has been virtually deafening. Critic Katie Toms of Londons the Observer addressed fan speculation in an advance review declaring with unalloyed delight: Boy was it worth the wait... Simple and soothing yet rich and rewarding this is an album you unknowingly yearn for like a cool hand on a hot forehead. A great album from a band in their prime Sky Blue Sky is as eloquently straightforward as Wilcos last studio recording the Grammy-winning a Ghost Is Born was daringly experimental. Tweedys lyrics deal forthrightly with romantic separation and reconciliation their bittersweet quality giving way as the album progresses to a more uplifting redemptive mood. Tweedy quite literally banishes the darkness on the penultimate track the inspiring gospel-tinged What Light the albums first single and concludes with a deeply affecting til-death-do-us-part lullaby on and on and On. There are hints of early-seventies Southern California folk-rock sweetness in the harmonies throughout the band-produced Sky Blue Sky a bluesy Allman Brothers feel to the guitar /keyboard interplay and plenty of brash guitar solos that take songs like You Are My Face and Shake It Off in thrilling unexpected directions. This is especially good news for the crowds that will fill the Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester Tennessee this June where the band plays the first U.S. date of its 2007 world tour in support of Sky Blue Sky. Principal songwriter Tweedy cut these tracks in the bands Chicago studio with members John Stirratt (bass vocals) Glenn Kotche (drums) Mike Jorgensen (keyboards) Nels Cline (guitars) and Pat Sansone (guitars keyboards vocals) all of whom are also becoming notable performers in their own right. A Ghost Is Born co-producer Jim ORourke returns as music contributor. The is the double vinyl version. It comes in 180 gram half speed master by Stan Richter. Plating was pressing was done at R.T.I.