Summerteeth＜Opaque Electric Blue Vinyl＞

Wilco evolved at remarkable speed after forming in 1994, almost immediately after the breakup of Uncle Tupelo. Their debut album, 1995s A.M., was an upbeat set of alt-country that bore few, if any surprises, but 1996s Being There was a major creative departure that moved far beyond the boundaries of roots music. 1999s Summerteeth was initially controversial among fans because it marked the spot where Wilco almost entirely abandoned the country influences that had once been the core of Jeff Tweedys music. Instead, Tweedy and Jay Bennett, who had gone from being the groups guitarist to manning a massive bank of keyboards and becoming Tweedys primary collaborator in the studio, concocted a stunning set of off-kilter pop, suggesting a Midwestern fusion of peak-era Brian Wilson and Big Stars 3rd. (Pieholden Suite in particular is a lovely homage to the Beach Boys Smile, then still circulating only in bootleg form.) At the same time, this brilliantly constructed pop music was also pop with a dark and troubling center; the violence at the heart of Shes a Jar and Via Chicago is too blunt to avoid, and even the brightest moments (Cant Stand It, A Shot in the Arm, and When You Wake Up Feeling Old) sound and feel emotionally out of balance, giving this a complicated emotional push-and-pull that reinforces the resonance of the performances. (The albums most lovable pop tune, Candyfloss, significantly comes near the end of the set, bookended after a 20-second burst of silence.) While Wilco was inarguably Jeff Tweedys band at this point, Summerteeth was the apex of his collaboration with Jay Bennett, even more so than 2002s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and while John Stirratt and Ken Coomer were their strong, reliable selves as a rhythm section, its Bennetts keyboards and production smarts that give life to a set of great, uncompromising songs. If Being There was the album where Jeff Tweedy embraced all that was possible with Wilco, Summerteeth was where he closed the door on the past and boldly stepped into a very different future. ~ Mark Deming

Jeff Tweedy once blazed the trail for the American rock undergrounds embrace of its country and folk roots, but as the decade drew to a close he also began spearheading the return of classic pop; simply put, what once were fiddles on Wilco records became violins -- the same instrument, to be sure, but viewed with a radical shift in perception and meaning. While lacking the sheer breadth and ambition of the previous Being There, Summer Teeth is the most focused Wilco effort yet, honing the lessons of the last record to forge a majestic pop sound almost completely devoid of alt-country elements. The lush string arrangements and gorgeous harmonies of tracks like Shes a Jar and Pieholden Suite suggest nothing less than a landlocked Brian Wilson, while more straightforward rockers like the opening I Cant Stand It bear the influence of everything from R&B to psychedelia. Still, for all of the superficial warmth and beauty of the records arrangements, Tweedys songs are perhaps his darkest and most haunting to date, bleak domestic dramas informed by recurring themes of alienation, adultery, and abuse -- even the sunniest melodies mask moments of devastating power. If Summer Teeth has a precedent, its peak-era Band; the album not only possesses a similar pastoral sensibility, but like Robbie Robertson and company before them, Wilco seems directly connected to a kind of American musical consciousness, not only rejuvenating our collective creative mythology, but adding new chapters to the legend with each successive record. ~ Jason Ankeny