A Ghost is Born

A Ghost is Born is an album by the band Wilco. It was released on June 22, 2004.

Making of the Album

The album was co-produced by Wilco and Jim O'Rourke, who produced Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the band's previous album, and has also worked with Sonic Youth. The release of the album was delayed after lead singer Jeff Tweedy went into rehabilitation for addiction to migraine painkillers. The album was available for download months before its release.

Chart Success

A Ghost Is Born reached the top ten of the US album charts, the best performance by a Wilco album to date. It also debuted in the top 50 of the Australian album charts.

Critical Response

A Ghost Is Born received a generally positive response from critics with a Stylus Magazine, Tiny Mix Tapes, Uncut, Cokemachineglow, Delusions of Adequacy, PopMatters, The Onion, Los Angeles Times and Allmusic.com, Flak Magazine, Junkmedia, Playlouder, Q Magazine, Rolling Stone Magazine, The Guardian, The Wire, Austin Chronicle, Entertainment Weekly, ShakingThrough.net Billboard, Nude as the News, Village Voice and Pitchfork.

The album received average reviews from Blender and the New Musical Express.

The Los Angeles Times said "the songs are structured firmly in the classic tradition evoking Dylan, the Band, Hendrix and Beatles" (20 June 2004)

E! Online rated it as a B+, calling it "agreeably off-kilter" and comparing it to Abbey Road and Layla. Best Tracks: "At Least That's What You Said" and "Wishful Thinking".

Allmusic.com rated the album as 4 stars saying "A Ghost Is Born confirms what old fans and recent converts already know - that Wilco is one of America's most interesting and imaginative bands". Best tracks: "Spiders (Kidsmoke)", "Handshake Drugs", "The Late Greats".

Q Magazine rated it as 4 stars, saying it was more confident and more coherent than Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the previous Wilco album.

Rolling Stone rated it as four stars saying "it's as eerie as anything Wilco has recorded yet". Best tracks: "Less than you Think", "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" "Company in My Back", "Wishful Thinking".

The Guardian rated the album as 4 stars comparing them to Radiohead and described it as a "dramatic, ambitious" album. Best tracks: "Less Than You Think", "Theologians", "Hummingbird"

Entertainment Weekly said: "For someone whose longtime strength has been songwriting over-adventurousness, many of the more traditional tunes seem, ironically, half-finished." (25 June 2004, page 161)

Billboard called it the richest album by Wilco but also "its most difficult and uncompromising". Best tracks: "Hell is Chrome", "Hummingbird", "At Least That's What You Said".

The Village Voice said it was a better album tham Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Best tracks: "At Least That's What You Said", "Hell is Chrome", "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" and "Handshake Drugs".

Blender said: "on initial listen, the album is rather monotonous" and requires several listens "to insinuate meaning" (#27, page 132)

The New Musical Express said the album showed "a worrying lack of focus" (5 June 2004, page 57)

Track listing

1. "At Least That's What You Said" (5:33)
2. "Hell Is Chrome" (4:38)
3. "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" (10:46)
4. "Muzzle of Bees" (4:56)
5. "Hummingbird" (3:11)
6. "Handshake Drugs" (6:07)
7. "Wishful Thinking" (4:41)
8. "Company in My Back" (3:46)
9. "I'm a Wheel" (2:37)
10. "Theologians" (3:36)
11. "Less Than You Think" (15:04)
12. "The Late Greats" (2:31)
13. CD Data Track