Quick reaction to Wilco's The Whole Love

The way that Wilco changes from album to album and the distance that the band has traveled since the country-rock of its debut A.M. are themes that come up every time a new Wilco album arrives. A song from Tweedy's old band Uncle Tupelo gave the magazine and website No Depression it name, but this half-assed review of The Whole Love and the narrow-minded comments make it clear that Wilco is no longer welcome in the world of American roots music. Of course the band transcended that label long ago, and on first listen The Whole Love is a merging of Wilco's rumbling, exploratory side with the poppier elements of Being There and Summerteeth. The long opener "Art of Almost" provides something which most of Wilco (the album) (which I wasn't wild about) didn't: the chance for guitarist Nels Cline to step out and play freely. Cline is all over The Whole Love and as usual he keeps the band on the ragged edge of something dangerous. The keyboards and thumping bass of "I Might" serve notice that this is a band album; John Stirratt on bass, Glenn Kotche on drums, and the rest of the band are a cohesive ensemble here and they stretch out like never before on the 12-minute closer "One Sunday Morning". If the alternating of poppier songs with quieter acoustic numbers can be read as a reflection of Tweedy's thought processes then The Whole Loveis just as personal in its own way as Sky Blue Sky (an album I'll defend against the haters). "Sunloathe" is followed by "Dawned on Me" and those two tracks allow for just as much growth as their titles suggest. The Whole Love is the album Wilco needed to make at this time, and any new or old fan should see it as a sign that the band's journey is far from over.