Wilco - Summerteeth

Wilco's de facto frontman, Jeff Tweedy, sports a colorful past, one where he wrote paint-peelers dedicated to late Minutemen founder D. Boon as a member of the feted (and maybe fated) Uncle Tupelo and where he dolefully crooned Woody Guthrie lyrics on 1998's Mermaid Avenue. But Wilco's Summer Teeth shows hardly a tatter of Tweedy's herky-jerky postpunk intensity or the agrarian rootsiness that so often came in the past from him. Instead this layered album spreads its digits far into guitar-heavy Britpop, with full-group backing vocals carrying bouncy choruses and synths whistling over the melodies. The tunes sound like a crosshatch of orchestral plans and an execution drawing on Alex Chilton and Big Star, the Kinks, and, only distantly, Wilco's debut, A.M. "We're Just Friends" and "Via Chicago" stand as harmonized twists on ballad formulas, the latter recalling Mermaid Avenue's "California Stars" with the opening line, "I dreamed about killing you again last night / And it felt all right to me." So it's not always uplifting or cheery, but it's got dozens of surprises in a mere 15 songs. --Andrew Bartlett Amazon.com

highwater mark for wilco

i can't say enough about this album,it fulfills all the promise from the first two albums.you can all of jeff tweedy's influences ,brian wilson etc.this album was before he fell in love with overproducing.wilco has begun to get some well deserved recognition.i am 53 and when i hear a younger person talking about some of wilco's later efforts,i say i like some of the music on them ,but they have to check out summerteeth October 29, 2008

Excellent album from an excellent band.

Rarely do you own an album where you like every track. Maybe those days are gone. But this album certainly fits that description for me. This is an amazing album. March 25, 2008

Where's Wilco?

There were maybe 2 or 3 tracks on this CD that were even close to "good". The remainder was like Herman's Hermits meets the Beatles meets Moody Blues and ran the gambit from bubble-gum to downright sappy. A true multi-layered, overproduced effort with none of the small studio-jam feel of, say, "AM" or "Being There". Bring Back Wilco! February 1, 2008

It's a bit... Meh.

In my opinion Summerteeth is overrated. In it, Wilco's music has changed from something unique and beautiful into average pop music. I prefer Yankee Hotel Foxtrot far better than this. Many of the songs are the type that have a melody which is hardly memorable.

Also, the sound quality isn't that good. While it is better than other popular albums, it sounds too trebly and the levels are a bit too high.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot beats this in every single way in my opinion. January 2, 2008

4.5 Stars: My Favorite Wilco Album

It might not be Wilco's best album (many would argue Yankee Hotel is), but Summer Teeth is my favorite by the band. As far as the musical arrangements go, it's their most keyboard-heavy release. It has piano, organ, harpsichord, and Magical Mystery Tour-like synthesizers. It also has banjo, strings, horns, harmonica, and bells. No whistles, though. Unlike the band's last two albums, "A Ghost is Born" and "Sky Blue Sky," it has no extended guitar solos. And throughout, there's very little dissonance. Here, Wilco is more influences by the Beatles and solo Lennon material than--as they would be on Yankee Hotel--Radiohead.

The songwriting is among the band's best. Highlight's include "She's a Jar" "Shot in the Arm" (containing the great line, "The ashtray says, you've been up all night") and "Via Chicago." Wilco strikes an interesting balance here between warm musical arrangements and sometimes disturbing lyrics such as "She begs me not to hit her" ("She's a Jar") and "Dreamed about killing you again last night and it felt alright to me." ("Via Chicago"). A well-paced album that stands up to repeat listening.
December 18, 2007

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