Wilco - The Whole Love

Movie rating: 3 and half Star

Lead single I Might furnishes its chugging, catchy hooks with another expressive vocal from Tweedy, who whoops, sighs and hollers his way through the song in playful, free-associative style, while Open Mind is one of the most straightforwardly gorgeous ballads he's ever written, of a heartbreaking melody and yearning, unrequited lyric so intuitive you wonder it hasn't always existed (likewise the exuberant, sunny chorus of Dawned on Me). With the closing One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley's Boyfriend) the band gracefully unwinds over 12 minutes of twinkling, ruminative acoustica, thus bringing to an end their most adventurous, confident and engaging record in years.

- BBC

The album rollercoasts from speaker-melting guitar solos (Art of Almost) to contemplative comedowns (Sunloathe, Black Moon) to recorded bells and a town crier (Capitol City). They have ideas to burn, but the best moment here is the simplest: the sublimeOne Sunday Morning, based around a folk guitar motif of such beauty it never outstays its welcome during 12 epic minutes.

- Guardian

The title track may be the album's secret weapon. It bounces along with Tweedy's falsetto singing, “I know that I won't be/the easiest to set free,” but he wants to give love a chance. The “whole love” of the title isn't that hard to figure out. It's about knowing when to give all the love you have to someone or something. If listeners return the love even half as much as the band has dished it out, both parties will be highly satisfied.

- Consequence of Sound

Review by entertainment.ie | 09:00 | Friday 23rd September 2011 | Album Review

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