Sky Blue Sky by Wilco (CD, May-2007, Nonesuch Records USA)

This Chicago outfit has covered much ground on their first 5 albums, from A.M. and Being There’s rootsy country-rock, to Summerteeth’s Big-Starry power pop, to the wild and strange Radiohead-Americana experimentalism of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born. With new member Nels Cline on freaky guitar, the band went into the studio to compose and emerged with Sky Blue Sky, which turned out to be… a gentle return to their warm, rootsy side. The songs are simple and harmony-laden, the lyrics are sweet and wondering and the instrumental firepower is mostly kept in check. There’s a bit of Wings and Nilsson-style soft-rock at times, but mostly this recalls the finer moments of the oft-maligned Grateful Dead, another band capable of psychedelic freakouts and prog-jazz soloing that often chose instead to channel their abilities into deceptively simple, stoney country-pop ballads. And like the Dead’s best, these moody tunes will stay with you.