Name: A Ghost Is Born
Brand: Wilco

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

76492

Colour

Black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2023-05-05

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Rough Trade NYC

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

081227649210

Total Cap

Black LPx2

Artist

Wilco

Genre GB

Alternative / Modern

Label GB

Nonesuch

Wilco is an American alternative rock band formed in 1994 and based in Chicago, Illinois. Led by singer-songwriter and guitarist Jeff Tweedy, the sextet's current lineup solidified in 2004 with the addition of guitarist Nels Cline and guitarist/keyboardist Patrick Sansone. The band's unique blend of classic roots rock incorporates elements of folk, pop, and experimentalism.

With a catalog that includes critically acclaimed albums such as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (named one of the greatest albums of all time by Rolling Stone) and Grammy award-winning A Ghost is Born, Wilco has established themselves as one of America's best rock bands. Their collaboration with British folk singer Billy Bragg on the Mermaid Avenue series showcases their ability to set original music to iconic song lyrics by Woody Guthrie.

Known for their tight musicianship and deep connection to their music, Wilco has been praised by NPR as "the best rock band in America" and hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "an amazing machine." With a sound that spans genres and pushes boundaries, Wilco continues to captivate audiences worldwide.

Nonesuch is a US record label that was created in 1964 as a budget label for classical releases. It eventually expanded to include adventurous music from around the globe and world-premiere recordings of contemporary composers. Nonesuch has gone through various ownership changes over the years, including being acquired by Warner Communications in 1970 and becoming a sub-label of Warner Bros. Records in 2004.

Under the leadership of Jac Holzman, Nonesuch was established as a budget label for classical releases licensed from large record companies in Britain and France. Designed by Bill Harvey, the packaging emphasized affordability with releases marketed as "Recordings at the Price of a Quality Paperback."

In 1970, Nonesuch became part of Warner Communications (Kinney/WEA) and continued to release music under its own name along with other Elektra-based labels like Elektra and Asylum Records. The merger between Elektra and Atlantic labels in 2004 resulted in Nonesuch becoming a sub-label of Warner Bros. Records within the Warner Music Group.

It's hard not to wonder if Wilco's breakthrough 2002 release, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, would have been such a critical success and so eagerly embraced by the indie rock community if it hadn't become such a cause célèbre thanks to the band being unceremoniously dropped by Reprise Records, and then signed by Nonesuch after the album had become a hot item on the internet. Much of the critical reaction to the album, while almost uniformly enthusiastic (and rightly so), had an odd undertow that suggested the writers were not especially familiar with Wilco's body of work, registering a frequent sense of surprise that an "alt-country" band would make such an adventurous album while ignoring the creative shape-shifting that had been so much a part of Jeff Tweedy and company's approach on Being There and Summerteeth. The irony is that 2004's A Ghost Is Born, the eagerly awaited follow-up to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, is also the Wilco album with the strongest stylistic link to its immediate predecessor, as if their new fans are being given a moment to catch up. A Ghost Is Born hardly sounds like a retread of YHF, but the languid, ghostly song structures, the periodic forays into dissonance, and the pained, hesitant vocals from Jeff Tweedy that were so much a part of that album also take center stage here. But while much of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot had a cool and slightly removed feeling, A Ghost Is Born is considerably warmer and more organic; the extended instrumental breaks in several of the songs (two cuts are over ten minutes long) sound more like a group in full flight than the Pro Tools-assembled structures of YHF.

A Ghost Is Born

Music GB

Discover A Ghost Is Born by Wilco. Vinyl and CD formats available. Nonesuch label. An adventurous album with a warm, organic sound.