Wilco (4 stars)
A Ghost is Born
Wilco became the hero to college rock fans and critics alike thanks to the troubled history of last year's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, which found the band losing a member and a label along the way. Still, the ultimate success of the disc seems to have had a positive effect on Wilco.
A Ghost is Born clearly shows the confidence of a group that knows people are listening, because this is far less accessible music than even the trippiest collage sections of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Typical is "Spiders (Kidsmoke)," which is more than 10 minutes of a pulsing tune alternating the bar rock of Crazy Horse and the odd sonics of Radiohead.
While the songs here have depth and texture, there is far less in the way of hooks than on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. "Less than You Think" manages to drone for 15 minutes without really developing anything like a memorable melody. Yet the strength of Wilco is that the song's acoustic oddity and diversity more than compensate. Obviously, this is a disc for serious fans who expect repeated listening to be rewarded rather than finding immediate satisfaction on a first encounter. Perhaps just to show they can, almost as an afterthought, Wilco throw out a final track, "The Late Great," which is an example of the sort of catchy alt-country pop Tweedy hasn't done much of since his days with Uncle Tupelo.
Alanis Morissette (2.5 stars)
So-Called Chaos
Like a friend who's discovered a new religion, exercise program or self-help book and just can't stop talking about it, Alanis Morissette has been going on and on about the same personal empowerment tropes for nine years and four albums now. In 1995, her blunt honesty on Jagged Little Pill was both refreshing and clever, a bracing musical confessional that took on both old lovers and her own insecurities. By her fourth album, So-Called Chaos, Morissette just sounds like she needs a new tune to sing.
The songs are still well-crafted adult-pop nuggets, musically stronger than her last record, 2002's Under Rug Swept, thanks to the presence of producer John Shanks, who's done polished work for the likes of Michelle Branch and Sheryl Crow. But lyrically, Morissette is just tired, spouting more new age self-improvement clichés and just as insecure about herself and others as she's ever been. "I want to be big and let go of this grudge that's grown old," she sings on "This Grudge." It would be nice to believe her, but all evidence elsewhere on the record points to the contrary.
Slipknot (4 stars)
Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)
To learn everything you need to know about Slipknot, all you have to do is listen to "Pulse of the Maggots," from the band's third album, Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses). "I fight for the ones who can't fight," singer Corey Taylor declares over the driving pulse of the eight other band members backing him up. "If I have to give my life, you can have it," he promises to his fans (the maggots of the title), and it's completely believable. More than any other band to come out of the nu-metal movement, Slipknot are the true populist heroes that heavy music promises to deliver.
On Vol. 3, the Iowa nonet deliver more of the undiluted rage and musical force that was evident on their first two records, with a bit of musical diversity, perhaps brought out by eclectic producer Rick Rubin. Not as single-mindedly brutal as 2001's Iowa, Vol. 3 makes time for a few calm acoustic eyes in the metallic storm of songs like "Duality" and "Before I Forget." Taylor brings in more melody even as the band delves further into the death-metal influence they explored on Iowa, and guitarists Jim Root and Mick Thompson make room for some old-school blistering solos. Vol. 3 is the face of mainstream metal's future, wiping away the poseurs with its raw, beautiful humanity.