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Back to the egg: Wilco’s A Ghost Is Born deluxe edition, reviewed

Box sets out on Friday

By Jamie Atkins

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In late Spring 2024 a photograph appeared on Wilco’s social media channels of frontman Jeff Tweedy peeking over a giant cut-out of the egg from the cover of their 2004 album, A Ghost Is Born. The caption read, “The 30-LP Super Duper Deluxe Reissue of Wilco’s 5th studio album features a 3.5 foot tall egg-shaped box and will be available in mid-2025.” Though most fans immediately sensed an April Fool’s jape, the comments tended to be along the lines of, ‘Take my money. Now.’

That response emphasises the enduring appeal of Wilco’s greatest work to date – a daring and experimental pushing of boundaries that pinballs between raw Crazy-Horse-play-Marquee Moon jams, exquisite early Wings-ish piano pop, nervy kosmiche, glammy art-rock and tricksy American primitive guitar, held together by Tweedy’s evocative lyrics and vocals steeped in frazzled, world-weary soul.

Few of Wilco’s contemporaries have given their landmark albums this kind of love and attention

Jamie Atkins

Expectations, then, were high for the super deluxe edition of the album and while it might not be quite the Kallax unit-vexing monolith they joked about, few of their contemporaries have given their landmark albums this kind of love and attention. The 9LP+4CD or 9CD sets (slimmed-down 2CD and 2LP versions are also available) feature the original album, 38 outtakes and alternate versions, a full concert from October 2004 and 4CDs of ‘Fundamentals’ – improvised sessions used to workshop songs and hone arrangements. Meanwhile, care has been taken to keep tracks already released from the sessions on the More Like The Moon EP (2003), The Wilco Book (2004), a tour edition of AGIB and 2014 rarities collection Alpha Mike Foxtrot to a minimum, with only three of the outtakes and alternate versions previously released.

It all adds up to a vivid and comprehensive aural diary of a time of intense creativity in the face of crisis. The group’s previous album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, had proven their commercial breakthrough, despite the band splintering during its recording and their label (Reprise, a subsidiary of Warners) dropping them after hearing the tapes. Once it leaked and became a word-of-mouth phenomenon the album was eventually released in 2002 by new label Nonesuch (also a subsidiary of Warners) and sold half a million copies.

9CD deluxe of the A Ghost is Born 20th anniversary reissue (click image to enlarge)

Success piled the pressure on the newly pruned back four-piece of Tweedy, bassist John Stirratt, drummer Glenn Kotche and multi-instrumentalist LeRoy Bach, but it also bought them studio time. Rehearsals began at their own Chicago studio, The Loft, in January 2002 (represented here by an early acoustic take of Sky Blue Sky’s ‘Impossible Germany’ that reveals its homesick heart); they moved across town to John McEntire of Tortoise’s Soma Electronic Music Studios the following month and returned for nine sessions over the following 20 months. The Soma sessions – produced by avant pop chameleon Jim O’Rourke and engineered by future Wilco keyboardist Mikael Jorgenson – account for the vast majority of the previously unreleased outtakes collected here as well as the seven roughly half-hour Fundamental tracks.

Tweedy would sit on the studio floor with his acoustic guitar and a notebook, leafing through his new material

Jamie Atkins

Determined to avoid repeating himself and find new ways of sparking creativity, Tweedy would sit on the studio floor with his acoustic guitar and a notebook, leafing through his new material, often alighting on a line that inspired a new train of free associative thought. His bandmates would be in the control room, listening – though he couldn’t hear them – and improvising a live accompaniment. These tapes became fundamental (not just a clever name) to the way the new Wilco approached the recording sessions. As Tweedy puts it in the set’s sleevenotes, the recording experiments helped them, “extract the last bits of bar band out of our system”.

The four CDs of Fundamentals included in the set might be strictly for the hardcore – radios flit between stations and static; appliances whirr and beep; Tweedy mumbles, lost in the act of discovery – but there are many moments of genuine magic. Take Fundamental 2, which begins with what could be distorted dial tones before Tweedy plays a repetitive, folky figure which deep sea sounds threaten to fully immerse. Over time the background noise subsides and a revelatory, campfire-like version of ‘Spiders (Kidsmoke)’ emerges. Fundamental 2 ends with a bleakly beautiful take on ‘Less Than You Think’, a disconsolate-sounding Tweedy muttering unfamiliar, alternate lyrics set to disorientating chatter and police sirens.

The outtakes and alternate versions presented here from the Soma sessions offer more evidence of a band in constant motion. A strident take on ‘Muzzle Of Bees’ from August 2023 is given momentum by guitar straight out of Dylan’s ‘Tangled Up In Blue’ rather than the John Fahey-like filigrees that grace the version chosen for A Ghost Is Born, totally changing the mood of the song. ‘Spiders (Kidsmoke)’ might’ve ended up sounding like Neu! having a crack at ‘Marquee Moon’ but the February and August 2002 takes suggest something closer to the swooning college rock of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’s ‘War On War’, while a couple of later takes channel snarling menace (August 2023) and deadpan weirdness (October 2023). Perhaps the most striking evolution comes with ‘Hummingbird’. First attempted during the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot sessions (a messy, clattering take appears on that album’s 2022 deluxe set), early versions from Soma sessions are all distorted, new wave guitars and pulsing drums, a far cry from the countrified bliss of the final version.

The Soma sessions also include a bunch of songs not included on A Ghost Is Born. Fans will already know about ‘Panthers’ thanks to a version which appeared on an Australian tour edition of the album back in 2005 and its occasional live outings, but the multiple versions collected here – four on the Fundamentals discs, plus two outtakes – show how heavily it loomed over Tweedy. A take from March 2023 with shimmering guitars, Pet Sounds bass and percussion that wouldn’t feel out of place at Rio Carnival is the pick. Elsewhere, ‘Diamond Claw’, a tantalising instrumental on The Wilco Book, is revealed as a naggingly catchy country charmer; ‘The High Heat’ saunters along on a beguiling groove; and ‘Like A Stone’ and ‘Losing Interest’ are folky Tweedy solo gems.

Unbeknown to the rest of the band, Tweedy’s mental and physical state was in rapid decline

Jamie Atkins

In October 2023 sessions moved to Sear Sound, New York, with Tweedy and O’Rourke reasoning that, having nailed the arrangements in Chicago, a change of scene would benefit the band and allow them to blast through the material live, bringing the spontaneity they felt was lacking in Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. But unbeknown to the rest of the band, Tweedy’s mental and physical state was in rapid decline. He’d been self-medicating with various substances for migraines and crippling anxiety much of his adult life and had recently resumed his on-off relationship with prescription painkillers. During the New York sessions, things deteriorated to the point where he became convinced that A Ghost Is Born would be his final album and considered it a farewell of sorts to his young sons. Tweedy began carefully coordinating his pill intake with studio sessions, giving him brief windows when he’d be able to function enough to sing and play guitar.

Amazingly, Tweedy rallied for some of the most potent performances of his career. Never a confident guitarist, the departure of Jay Bennett post-YHF forced Tweedy to take the lead, his unstudied and emotional approach to the instrument resulting in solos of pure intensity taking centre stage. Opener ‘At Least That’s What You Said’ finds Tweedy shifting from mellow noodling to crunching repetition before setting off on a questing, Neil Young-like solo with wild interludes reminiscent of a wasp stuck in a jam jar. The cathartic closing section of ‘Muzzle Of Bees’ is more impressive still, Tweedy’s frenzied attack the musical equivalent of an exposed nerve, inspiring one of the band’s greatest musical passages. “I didn’t think of it as lead guitar,” O’Rourke reveals in the sleevenotes. “It’s more like, you’ve stopped singing, now start singing through the guitar. I just thought, ‘This is the real shit.’ His playing was fucking phenomenal.” And despite O’Rourke’s experimental reputation, it was Tweedy who insisted that the delicate reflection on belief systems ‘Less Than You Think’ was tailed by the album’s most divisive moment: a 12-minute drone, designed to evoke the feeling of a debilitating migraine.

The deluxe edition of A Ghost is Born is also available as a 9LP+4CD set (click image to enlarge)

Tweedy’s state of mind was also reflected in his lyrics. The hushed and woozy ‘Hell Is Chrome’ finds the devil (or prescription drugs in this case) lulling the narrator to hell, but rather than some kind of depraved and fiery Hieronymus Bosch vision of suffering, the afterlife for sinners is “clean, so precise and towering”, echoing the numbing effects of opioids. The glam strut of ‘Handshake Drugs’ seems to be an account of Tweedy losing himself in the noise of Chicago streets as he attempts to score, suggesting a yearning for the clarity of sobriety that is soon lost in the discordant blur of the ending. It’s not all doom and gloom though, ‘Wishful Thinking’ asks “Is any song worth singing if it doesn’t help?” and the closing ‘The Last Greats’ is a hymn to the lifesaving force of creativity, suggesting there is unheralded genius all around us (“The best songs never get sung, the best life never leaves your lungs”).

In May 2004, Tweedy checked himself into rehab, which led to the delay of the album till the end of June and a cancellation of a European tour. When he returned to work a new look Wilco – adding pyrotechnic guitarist Nels Cline and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansome and losing LeRoy Bach – were rehearsed and ready for him, a gesture of solidarity which convinced Tweedy he could continue. As did his new material, as he told this writer in 2018, “The music on A Ghost Is Born seemed to be much further ahead of me in terms of health – I was really happy that, when I got better, I didn’t have a whole bunch of songs that I really didn’t feel like playing any more because they were written in the throes of some addiction or depression. The songs seemed to be pretty healthy – as if they tapped into the part of me that I think was still being sustained, that was still working in spite of myself.”

Rather than an ending, A Ghost Is Born was a new start for Wilco, as proven by the set’s celebratory 23-track live set included in this set, recorded on 1 October 2004 at the Wang Center, Boston. Over 20 years on, that line-up of Wilco endures and Tweedy has become the kind of an avuncular indie-rock elder statesman who plays pranks on fans impatient for archive material. This comprehensive set documents the beginning of that new chapter in thrilling, vital and vivid detail. The Sky Blue Sky deluxe can’t come soon enough.

Review by Jamie Atkins. The A Ghost Is Born deluxe box sets and other formats are released on Friday, 7 February 2025.

Tracklisting

A Ghost is Born Wilco / 20th anniversary editions

    • LP 1: A Ghost is Born
      Side A
      1. At Least That’s What You Said
      2. Hell Is Chrome
      3. Spiders (Kidsmoke)
      Side B
      1. Muzzle of Bees
      2. Hummingbird
      3. Handshake Drugs
    • LP 2: A Ghost is Born
      Side C:
      1. Wishful Thinking
      2. Company in My Back
      3. I’m a Wheel
      4. Theologians
      Side D:
      1. Less Than You Think
      2. The Late Greats
    • LP 3: dBpm: Outtakes/Alternates 1
      Side E
      1. At Least That’s What You Said(8/13/02 SOMA-Chicago)
      2. Hell Is Chrome(10/5/03 SOMA-Chicago)
      3. Spiders (Kidsmoke)(9/28/03 SOMA-Chicago)
      4. Muzzle Of Bees(7/15/03 SOMA-Chicago)
       Side F
      1. Hummingbird(2/8/02 SOMA-Chicago)
      2. Handshake Drugs(11/13/03 Sear Sound-NYC)
      3. Wishful Thinking(11/1/03 Sear Sound-NYC)
      4. Company In My Back(2/8/03 Hothouse-St. Kilda, Melbourne, Australia)
    • LP 4: dBpm: Outtakes/Alternates 1
      Side G
      1. I’m A Wheel(August 2002 SOMA-Chicago)
      2. Theologians(3/19/03 SOMA-Chicago)
      3. Less Than You Think(11/11/03 Sear Sound-NYC)
      4. The Late Greats(7/19/03 SOMA-Chicago)
      5. Kicking Television(3/18/03 SOMA-Chicago)
      6. The High Heat(2/5/02 SOMA-Chicago)
      Side H
      1. Panthers(March 2003 SOMA-Chicago)
      2. Diamond Claw(3/21/03 SOMA-Chicago)
      3. Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard(June 2002 SOMA-Chicago)
      4. More Like The Moon(2/8/02 SOMA-Chicago)
      5. Improbable Germany(10/7/03 SOMA-Chicago)
    • LP 5: Unstitched: Outtakes/Alternates 2
      Side I
      1. Handshake Drugs (First Version) (6/26/02 SOMA-Chicago)
      2. Hummingbird (February 2002 recorded live during tracking at SOMA-Chicago)
      3. The High Heat (2/4/02 SOMA-Chicago)
      4. Spiders (Kidsmoke) (February 2002 SOMA-Chicago)
      Side J
      1. Diamond Claw (March 2003 SOMA-Chicago)
      2. Muzzle Of Bees (October 2003 Sear Sound-NYC)
      3. Like A Stone (11/10/03 Sear Sound-NYC)
      4. Leave Me (Like You Found Me) (6/26/02 SOMA-Chicago)
      5. Losing Interest (11/11/03 Sear Sound-NYC)
    • LP 6: Unstitched: Outtakes/Alternates 2
      Side K
      1. Old Maid (6/26/02 SOMA-Chicago)
      2. Spiders (Kidsmoke) (August 2002 SOMA-Chicago)
      3. Panthers (October 2003 Sear Sound-NYC)
      4. Muzzle Of Bees (7/16/03 SOMA-Chicago)
      5. Diamond Claw (10/9/03 SOMA-Chicago)
      Side L
      1. Losing Interest(7/20/03 SOMA-Chicago)
      2. Spiders (Kidsmoke)(October 2003 SOMA-Chicago)
      3. The Thanks I Get(6/26/02 SOMA-Chicago)
      4. Two Hat Blues(March 2003 SOMA-Chicago)
      5. Improbable Germany(January 2002 Pre-Production Loft session-Chicago)
    • LP 7: The Hook at The Wang (Live)
      Live October 1, 2004 at the Wang Center-Boston, MA
      Side M
      1. Muzzle Of Bees
      2. Company In My Back
      3. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
      4. A Shot In The Arm
      Side N
      1. Hell Is Chrome
      2. Handshake Drugs
      3. Jesus, Etc.
      4. Hummingbird
    • LP 8: The Hook at The Wang (Live)
      Live October 1, 2004 at the Wang Center-Boston, MA
      Side O
      1. I’m Always In Love
      2. At Least That’s What You Said
      3. Ashes Of American Flags
      4. Theologians
      Side P
      1. I’m The Man Who Loves You
      2. Poor Places
      3. Spiders (Kidsmoke)
    • LP 9: The Hook at The Wang (Live)
      Live October 1, 2004 at the Wang Center-Boston, MA
      Side Q
      1. She’s A Jar
      2. A Magazine Called Sunset
      3. Kingpin
      4. The Late Greats
      Side R
      1. I’m A Wheel
      2. Via Chicago
      3. California Stars
      4. Christ For President
    • CD 1: Fundamentals 1 & 2
      1. Fundamental 1
      2. Fundamental 2
    • CD 2: Fundamentals 3 & 4
      1. Fundamental 3
      2. Fundamental 4
    • CD 3: Fundamentals 5 & 6
      1. Fundamental 5
      2. Fundamental 6
    • CD 4: Fundamental 7
      1. Fundamental 7

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