For me, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Summerteeth Being There Ghost is Born Cousins Sky Blue Sky But, to be honest, I think all of those are very, very good and I do go back and forth over the ordering. I do think that Cousins will continue to climb the list as I become increasingly familiar. I also think Cruel Country is very strong.
by far their best. sadly, a band that has just slowly gone downhill with every subsequent release....... same thing has happened to the jayhawks.
Guys, I've listened to some Wilco albums, I don't know why but the songs are forgettable, even the good ones. So far, I only like Sky Blue Sky and the one before it, A Ghost Is Born. Both, IMHO, are guitar albums.
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is their best creation. Then Summerteeth as far as pop. Id say Sky Blue Sky is however their last really good album imo.
It’s very good, but I rank Ghost at the top of the heap. I like experimental Wilco, and I don’t think Tweedy’s ever had as strong a partner as Jim O’Rourke to help him go down those paths. After the drama of losing Jay and bottoming out in rehab, SBS was a great way to move the band forward. The Loft versions on the bonus DVD show just how immediate these recordings were.
A solid case may be made, but the first three for me are the best, including AM. I do prefer Sky Blue Sky over anything after Summerteeth, including YHF.
I think the Loft versions are superior to the takes on the LP itself. SBS is a bit too mellow for me, tbh. I do like it, but I don’t reach for it very often at all.
Being There Summerteeth YHF AM All tower above everything else they’ve done. I’d rank SBS in with the upper middle tier of The Whole Love, A Ghost Is Born and Cruel Country. It’s got some classic songs, some beautiful ones and a couple of their very first outright duds IMHO. Walken and Hate It Here were the first Wilco songs I actually disliked.
Wilco fan since ‘95. I couldn’t pick what album is my favorite or their best. Sky Blue Sky is fantastic though.
It is the sole album of them that had a real and lasting impact on me. Its spoke to me deeply from the start and still does 17 years later. The arrangements are so adequate it is stunning. Everything is so restraint yet open and free. The guitar work is incredible. It's not an alt. rock or rock album or anything, it's a work of art of the highest degree.
