Wilco: Wilco (the Album)

Label: Nonesuch

Wilco (the Album) finds this great American band getting deeper into…Wilco! Okay, I joke, but they do open with “Wilco (the Song),” on which Jeff Tweedy & Co. simply insert their band’s name into an emotionally reassuring (lyrically and otherwise) tune. From there, it’s Wilco qua Wilco: structurally immaculate roots-kissed rock and pop songs that are simultaneously tight and loose without contradictions. The group goes full-on 70s-George Harrison on “You Never Know,” an easygoing boogie that’s likely to become an epic show-closer onstage. And Wilco fans are sure to love Tweedy’s loving martyr-play on “I’ll Fight.” Me, I just love hearing guitarist Nels Cline—one of the best there is—moving from burning melody to scorching noise as the steady “Bull Black Nova” builds to eruption. (M.L. Thrope)