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Wilco (The Album)
Wilco
With eight records and a few documentaries under its belt, it is safe to say that Wilco has become well-known in the world of independent music.
Listening to a recent Wilco record is like listening to all of them. They are all slow, mellow and relaxed, with just a hint of rock ‘n’ roll. The newest release by the group, Wilco (The Album), is similar. It’s not going to bust out your eardrums, but it won’t put you to sleep either.
The first track, also called “Wilco,” starts the album off nice and easy. No surprises here, just guitar riffs reminiscent of The Beatles and some repetition of the word “Wilco.” A song that does stand out, however, is “One Wing.” The track sparks a definite change of pace, even though at some point it starts sounding reminiscent of an Eagles record.
Breaking away from Wilco (The Album)’s dad-rock tropes, “Bull Black Nova” is a rather disturbing song that suggests someone has committed a murder while driving in a Chevy.
The music matches the song’s subject matter perfectly — by the end of the track there is a mess of eerie guitar wails and persistent drumbeats while lead singer Jeff Tweedy screams.
Recent Wilco albums are good to have around if you want something mellow playing in the background while working on homework. But if you’re looking for songs with the emotional depth of the band’s earlier work, look elsewhere.
— Courtney Sevener
Cradlesong
Rob Thomas
Matchbox Twenty was never that great of a band.
But it had a few hits and played a decent-sized role in the ‘90s modern rock scene; so the gritty, teeth-clenched vocals of Rob Thomas were, at the very least, tolerated by music fans and critics alike. Then, he went out on his own. Aside from “Smooth,” a duet with Santana and a song whose honor I’ll fight to the death to uphold, none of Thomas’ solo work has been worthy of praise. Unfortunately, he’s still trying.
His newest album, Cradlesong, follows the same path paved by the rest of his solo work, presenting some of the most mind-numbingly boring pop-rock this side of Paramore. The opening track, “Her Diamonds,” teases the listener with a distinctly Middle Eastern flavor, implying that maybe Thomas has gotten things right this time around. After that, it devolves into a chorus we’ve all heard time and time again. “Gasoline” is even more off-putting, so much that I spent 20 minutes trying to come up with a way to interestingly characterize how horrendous the song is, only to come up with “generic” and “boring” as worthy adjectives.
There’s not much worth anything on Cradlesong, save maybe the tension-filled intro to “Fire on the Mountain,” but the track that follows quickly wipes away any memory of that. “Hard on You” finds Thomas putting on his best impersonation of a cheesy cruise-ship singer, proving that he’ll sink even lower in his attempts to make radio-popular music.
The biggest problem with Cradlesong is its lack of hooks. There’s nothing wrong with a hook-free album, but with Thomas, there’s too much evidence that hooks are supposed to be there. An intentionally hookless album often comes out great, but one that’s supposed to be catchy and fails is just pathetic. With Cradlesong, Rob Thomas grounds himself firmly in the latter category, and this time around, Santana’s not there to bail him out.
— Robert Rich
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