Wilco - Wilco (The Album)

As modern rock records go, Wilco (The Album) is perfectly fine - concise, melodic, edgy in spots (eg, early wig-out "Bull Black Nova") but basically mellow, and a pretty coherent artistic statement into the bargain. As Wilco albums go, though, it's a tiny bit disappointing (really only a tiny bit); it's good, and there are many winning tunes and pleasing textures to enjoy, but somehow it lacks the streak of righteousness, the ineffable sense of significance that ran through Sky Blue Sky, A Ghost Is Born, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and, in a different way, Summerteeth and even Being There. For all that, though, it is still good, and a natural place for them to have landed for the time being, given the seemingly fairly organic way that their sound has developed over time.