Wilco – A.M. (1995)

Back in 1995 when this album came out I had no idea that a band like Wilco existed. In fact, this was the case for almost ten years after 1995. Wilco had just been founded on the ruins of alternative country band Uncle Tupelo. A.M. is probably the most country-influenced album by Wilco. There are some steel guitars and even the rockier songs have strong Americana influences. You could say that this album is also the most boring album by Wilco, but I'm not sure it's true. I like it a lot more than some of the more recent albums even if the newer albums have more experimental sounds. A.M. has great melodies and good songwriting. In addition to country songs, there are some songs that could even be described as power pop of the mid-90's. Also, Jeff Weedy's vocals are a bit more raw than on the later albums which gives a nice edge to this album.



I can't remember where I bought this album. It must've been just finding it somewhere with an affordable price. I was a huge Wilco fan (still am though), so I would've bought any of their albums no matter how it was, if the price was just right.

This album is the most straightforward pop-rock album by Wilco. Songs are very catchy and great to sing along to. Last time I saw Wilco live was at the Brixton Academy a few months ago. They played a couple of these early songs and I remember being quite excited about them. The live versions worked even better as the lead guitars got more room for amazing solos. At least according to my memory, Wilco played both Box Full of Letters and Shouldn't Be Ashamed on that gig.

Box Full of Letters is my favourite song from this album. It has this great melodic power pop feel to it. It almost sounds like some of the songs by Teenage Fanclub, although if that was the case, it would have way better backing vocals. Still, this songs is just amazing. It even has this great music video that shows how young Tweedy looked like at the time.

I just visited Chicago a few weeks ago and one of the things I was most excited about during that trip was to see the twin towers that appear in Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album cover. Wilco was the first band that came to mind when I started thinking about Chicago's music scene.

This album really has some amazing country songs. I Thought I Held You has some great banjo picking and slide guitars, whereas That's Not the Issue has some amazing guitar picking on top of a banjo. There are also some excellent ballads, like Passenger Side that shows the other lo-fi side of Wilco. The vocals sound a lot like those of the Flaming Lips in this song.

I feel like i listen to all the other Wilco albums that I own more than this one, but I should really listen to this more, because I enjoy it immensely. It just tells me that Wilco has been a great band throughout their career and they have been able to change without losing the great approach to music.

Listen to the album on Spotify.