Down With Wilco

I wanted to hate this album, I really did. Why would you name your album Down With Wilco? Wilco is one of the few non-grunge classic bands of the 90s, so I figured that Scott McCaughey and The Minus 5 were just going to use the Wilco brand name to get some interest in their new album. Upon first listen I could hear Tweedy and Co. bleeping and swaying their way through the background, but more than anything I was overcome with joy. Down With Wilco is an absolute blast of a record. From beginning to end, it’s funny, charming, playful, smart and so rich with pop texture that it’s sure to only get better with each listen. If I had to choose one pop album to describe the type of joy I get from watching the old Muppet movies, this would be the one. 

When I first head that The Minus 5 were going to work with Wilco, I couldn’t help but imagine seeing R.E.M.’s Peter Buck and Jeff Tweedy hanging out in the studio together, classic. While both Tweedy and Buck’s presence is obvious throughout the record, its Scott McCaughey’s writing, singing and direction that make the album a success. Divided into “A Tragedy in Three Half,” as noted on the liner notes, Down With Wilco sounds quite a bit like Beulah’s 2001 album The Coast is Never Clear, minus the morbid lyrics.

“Where Will You Go” has an instant radio appeal. McCaughey’s pop sensibilities lead the way, while Tweedy gives us the guitar sound that gave his Loose Fur side project a life of its own and Buck is strumming his 12-string the way only he can.

“What I Don’t Believe” sounds like a tribute to what may have been in the CD changer at the time of recording. McCaughey sounds strikingly like Mark Linkous from Sparklehorse, the horn section and drums sound like a plethora of current indie bands (specifically the great Snowglobe), while the texturing and outro remind you how much Yankee Hotel Foxtrot really did resemble OK Computer.

Down With Wilco hits its high point at the end of the record with “View From Below,” “I’m Not Bitter” and “Dear Employer.” The Minus 5 overcame a potential self imposed handicap by putting out what could prove to be the pop album of the year. And as always, as I once heard Beulah frontman Miles Kurosky say: “All hail the mighty Wilco.”    7/10

Written by G. William Locke