They're practically part of the establishment nowadays - almost inevitable, I suppose, when you've been around for a while, become pretty popular, and kept on turning out records of impressively consistent quality every couple of years or so - but there's still a decent-sized contrary streak running through Wilco. On The Whole Love, this is most evident in their decision to put the record's most abrasive track, "Art of Almost", at track 1, though the 12 minute long, wonderfully-titled and wonderful "One Sunday Morning (Song For Jane Smiley's Boyfriend)" is also a decent argument; in some ways more to the point, it's also apparent in the countless small surprises and unexpected nuances and diversions across the set, which shapes out as yet another high quality outing, if maybe not as memorable as most of theirs.
