A Ghost Is Born

Infobox Album
Name = A Ghost Is Born
Type = studio
Artist = Wilco


Released = June 22, 2004
Recorded = November 2003—March 2004
Manhattan, New York
Genre = Alternative rock
Length = 67:26
Label = Nonesuch
Producer = Wilco, Jim O'Rourke
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Aif9ds33wa3mg link]
*"Billboard" (positive) [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/reviews/album_review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000535488 link]
*"Blender" Rating|3|5 [http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=2168 link]
*"The Guardian" Rating|4|5 [http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/reviews/story/0,11712,1246656,00.html link]
*"The A.V. Club" (positive) [http://avclub.com/content/node/15314 link]
*Pitchfork Media (6.6/10) [http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/23181/Wilco_A_Ghost_Is_Born link]
*PopMatters (positive) [http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/w/wilco-ghost.shtml link]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|4|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/6187605 link]
*Robert Christgau (B-) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=1677&name=Wilco link]
*"Stylus" (A) [http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/wilco/a-ghost-is-born.htm link]
*"Village Voice" (positive) [http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0425/hunter.php link]
Last album = "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot"
(2002)
This album = "A Ghost Is Born"
(2004)
Next album = "Sky Blue Sky"
(2007)

"A Ghost Is Born" is the fifth studio album by Chicago-based alternative rock band Wilco. Released on June 22, 2004, it is the only Wilco album that features singer Jeff Tweedy on lead guitar. The band streamed the album online for free, and offered a five song extended play to purchasers.

Tweedy entered a rehab clinic shortly before the release of the album, delaying its release by two weeks. It also shortened its promotional tour. Despite this, "A Ghost Is Born"'s opening week was the best sales week for the band at the time and the album was met with good reviews from major publications such as "Rolling Stone" and PopMatters. The album earned Wilco their first two Grammy Awards, including one for Best Alternative Music Album.

Production

Wilco signed a contract with Nonesuch Records in November 2001 after a lengthy dispute with Reprise Records over the release of the band's fourth album "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot". [For an overview of the controversy, see Kot 2004. p. 201-228] "Foxtrot" was welcomed with positive reviews from "The Village Voice"—where the album was rated by the critics as the best album of 2002—and "Rolling Stone". [cite web|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/specials/pazznjop/02/|title=Pazz & Jop 2002|publisher="The Village Voice" Last accessed July 27, 2007.] [cite news|last=Fricke|first=David|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/322307/yankee_hotel_foxtrot|title=Yankee Hotel Foxtrot: Review|publisher="Rolling Stone"|date=2002-05-09 Last accessed July 27, 2007.] It sold over 590,000 copies, earning a Gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America.cite news|last=Cohen|first=Jonathan|url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/feature/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003571465|title=Wilco: In the Comfort Zone|publisher="Billboard"|date=2007-04-13 Last accessed July 27, 2007.] [cite web|url=http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH|title=Gold and Platinum Database Search|publisher=Recording Industry Association of America Last accessed July 27, 2007.]

Composition

Recording for a new album began in November 2003 under the working title "Wilco Happens". The album was produced by Jim O'Rourke, who mixed "Foxtrot" and was a member of Wilco side project Loose Fur. O'Rourke encouraged lead singer Jeff Tweedy to develop his guitar skills for the album--Tweedy recently became the lead guitarist for the band due to the dismissal of Jay Bennett during the "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" recording sessions. [Kot 2004. p. 240] [cite news|last=Barston|first=Steve|title=Pillar of Alt|publisher="Guitar World Acoustic"|date=September 2004] Tweedy sought to play solos on the album that were unlike those of jam bands such as Phish and The Grateful Dead. Instead, he performed composed solos influenced by Television such as the one during the coda of "At Least That's What You Said". Tweedy refers to the guitar solo at the end of the track as a "musical transcription" of one of his panic attacks. [cite news|last=Mulvey|first=John|title=The Addict|publisher="Uncut"|date=January 2006] "A Ghost Is Born" was recorded in a different manner than "Foxtrot" or 1999's "Summerteeth"; whereas those recordings were performed live in the studio and then overdubbed, "A Ghost Is Born" was first performed on Pro Tools and only played live once completed. Tweedy was excited about writing an album this way:Kot 2004. p. 241]

An unusual feature of "A Ghost Is Born" is the fifteen-minute long track "Less Than You Think". For the song, each band member created a synthesizer noise that mimicked an electronic sound. The installations were simultaneously activated in the room and recorded. The noise, which served as the coda to the song, was remixed to provide dynamics to the track. Calling it "the track that everyone will hate," Tweedy defended the song's inclusion on the album: [Kot 2004. p. 242]

"A Ghost Is Born" was the first Wilco album with multi-instrumentalist Mikael Jorgensen; he had previously worked as an engineer with the band on their collaboration with The Minus 5. Jeff Tweedy provided lead vocals and acted as lead guitarist for the only time since the band formed. John Stirratt, the only original member aside from Tweedy, played bass and guitar. Glenn Kotche and Jim O'Rourke, Tweedy's associates from Loose Fur, acted as drummer and multi-instrumentalist, respectively. Leroy Bach played a variety of keyboards as well as bass guitar. All members of the band contributed with a synthesizer part on "Less Than You Think". ["A Ghost Is Born" album notes, June 22, 2004. Nonesuch Records, 79809.]

Marketing and promotion

Wilco began touring in support of "Ghost" even before the album had been released. Multi-instrumentalist Leroy Bach left the band after the recording sessions to join a theater production, so Wilco added jazz rock guitarist Nels Cline and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone to replace him. [cite news|last=Pouncey|first=Edwin|title=Free the Spirit|publisher="The Wire"|date=August 2004] [Kot 2004. p. 243] Sansone had been playing with The Autumn Defense, a side project led by bassist John Stirratt. However, the tour to support the album had to be abridged. In May 2004, Tweedy checked himself into a rehabilitation clinic in Chicago, Illinois due to chronic migraine headaches, anxiety attacks, and clinical depression. In the process of treating the ailments, Tweedy had acquired an addiction to prescription painkillers. His rehab led to the cancellation of the European stage of the tour and a delay in the album's release date. Intended for release on June 8, 2004, the album was officially released on June 22, 2004. [Kot 2004. p. 244]

The band also webcast the album in its entirety on the Internet in a promotion with Apple Computer. Nonesuch was willing to allow the MPEG-4 broadcast due to the success of a similar broadcast in the promotion of "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot". Additionally, Wilco offered a free extended play to purchasers of the album. The EP featured two outtakes from the album—"Panthers" and "Kicking Television"—and live versions of "At Least That's What You Said", "The Late Greats", and "Handshake Drugs". The EP was later packaged with the album and sold as a "deluxe version". [cite news|last=Jardin|first=Xeni|url=http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2004/11/65688|title="Music Is Not a Loaf of Bread"|publisher="Wired"|date=November 15, 2004 Last accessed July 27, 2007.]

Reception

In its debut week, "A Ghost Is Born" peaked at number eight on the "Billboard" 200 chart and sold over 81,000 copies—the highest U.S. chart peak and best sales week ever attained by the band at that time. [cite news|title=The "Billboard" 200|publisher="Billboard"|date=July 10, 2004] [cite news|last=Whitmire|first=Margo|url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/search/google/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000556892|title=Jadakiss Cruises To No. 1 Debut|publisher="Billboard"|date=June 30, 2004 Last accessed July 27, 2007.] As of April 13, 2007 the album has sold over 340,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album was an international hit as well, peaking at number twenty-four in Norway, number twenty-nine in Sweden, number thirty-three in New Zealand, number thirty-four in Belgium, and number thirty-seven in Ireland. [cite web|url=http://acharts.us/album/13436|title=Wilco - A Ghost Is Born - Music Charts|publisher=acharts.com Last accessed July 27, 2007.]

Like "Foxtrot", "A Ghost Is Born" was well received by critics. [cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/wilco/ghostisborn?q=wilco|title=Wilco: "a ghost is born" (2004)|publisher=Metacritic Last accessed July 27, 2007.] Jon Pareles of "Rolling Stone" called the album "as eerie as anything Wilco have recorded yet" and applauded "Tweedy offers illuminating curiosity about what can happen in a song." [cite news|last=Pareles|first=Jon|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/wilco/albums/album/6187605/review/6194215/a_ghost_is_born|title=A Ghost Is Born (review)|publisher="Rolling Stone"|date=2004-07-08 Last accessed July 27, 2007.] "Stylus Magazine" gave it an "A" grade, named it "album of the week", and claimed it was "even more brilliant" than "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot". [cite news|last=Gottlieb|first=Akiva|url=http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=2092&PHPSESSID=994b5a7a24b96839c00d207005a3312a|title=A Ghost Is Born (review)|publisher="Stylus Magazine" Last accessed July 27, 2007.] Michael Metevier of PopMatters also supported the notion that "Ghost" was better than "Foxtrot", calling every note "purposeful" and said that the album made him "surprised and delighted enough to last several lifetimes." [cite web|last=Metevier|first=Michael|url=http://popmatters.com/music/reviews/w/wilco-ghost.shtml|title=A Ghost Is Born (review)|publisher=PopMatters|date=May 21, 2004 Last accessed July 27, 2007.] In 2005, "A Ghost Is Born" won two Grammy Awards for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Recording Package. Although the band was nominated for Grammys for work on previous albums, this was the first time that they won one. [cite web|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/14/in_depth_showbiz/main673822.shtml|title=2005 Grammy Award Winners|publisher=CBS Online|date=February 13, 2005 Last accessed July 27, 2007.]

Not all publications shared these views about the album. Pitchfork Media, who had given "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" a perfect 10 rating, only gave "Ghost" a 6.6, calling it "wildly uneven" and "less cohesive than any other Wilco release." [cite web|last=Mitchum|first=Rob|url=http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/23181-a-ghost-is-born?artist_title=23181-a-ghost-is-born|title=A Ghost Is Born (review)|publisher=Pitchfork Media|date=June 22, 2004 Last accessed July 27, 2007.] Robert Christgau, one of the few detractors of "Foxtrot", called the album a "privileged self-indulgence" due to its extreme musical dynamics. [cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|authorlink=Robert Christgau|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0426,christgau,54659,22.html|title=Squirt You|publisher="The Village Voice"|date=June 28, 2004 Last accessed July 27, 2007.]

Track listing

All songs written by Jeff Tweedy except where noted.

# "At Least That's What You Said" – 5:33
# "Hell Is Chrome" (Tweedy, Mikael Jorgensen) – 4:38
# "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" – 10:46
# "Muzzle of Bees" – 4:56
# "Hummingbird" – 3:11
# "Handshake Drugs" – 6:07
# "Wishful Thinking" (Tweedy, Glenn Kotche) – 4:41
# "Company in My Back" – 3:46
# "I'm a Wheel" – 2:37
# "Theologians" (Tweedy, Jorgensen, Chris Girard) – 3:36
# "Less Than You Think" (Tweedy, John Stirratt, Kotche, Jorgensen, Leroy Bach, Jim O'Rourke) – 15:04
# "The Late Greats" – 2:31

ingles

* "I'm a Wheel" (July 26, 2004)
** 7" vinyl only, "I'm a Wheel" b/w "Kicking Television"

Personnel

*Jeff Tweedy – vocals, guitar, synthesizer, acoustic bass guitar
*John Stirratt – bass guitar, synthesizer, guitar, piano, backing vocals
*Glenn Kotche – drums, percussion, hammer dulcimer, synthesizer
*Leroy Bach – organ, guitar, piano, bass guitar, synthesizer
*Mikael Jorgensen – piano, Farfisa, stylophone, rocksichord, synthesizer, engineer
*Jim O'Rourke – organ, guitar, piano, synthesizer, ARP 2600, engineer, mixing, producer
*Frankie Montuoro – hammer dulcimer, production assistant, technical assistance
*Karen Waltuch – viola
*Tim Barnes – percussion
*Steve Rooke – mastering
*Christopher Shaw – engineer
*TJ Doherty, Tim Iseler – assistant engineers
*Stan Doty, Daniel Herbst, Deborah Miles Johnson, Haydn Johnston, Matt Zivich – production assistants, technical assistance
*Dan Nadel – graphic design
*Peter Smith – graphic design, photography
*Mike Schmelling - photography
*Gladys Nilsson – drawing
*Ken Waagner – digital supervisor

Notes

References

*Citation|last=Kot|first=Greg|author-link=Greg Kot|year=2004|title=|edition=1st|place=New York City, NY|publisher=Broadway Books|isbn=0-7679-1558-5

External links

* [http://www.wilcoweb.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.wilcoweb.com/ghost/ Link to downloadable EP with purchase of album]