How many bands today can you name that make albums that you honestly have no idea how they will sound musically from one track to the next? Bands that excite you precisely because there is no hint that they would make a 10 minute prog track forging the missing link that is Can and Floyd's 'Interstellar Overdrive' ('Spiders(Kidsmoke)').
To top it all they follow that track with a song that arcs so seamlessly from its sublime opening of acoustic tones to a spine tingling electrified crescendo ('Muzzle of Bees') that you are simply left floored.
Then you play the record again and find that you've now fallen in love with the poppier tracks ('Handshake Drugs', 'Theologians'). You struggle manfully through the drone that is 'Less Than You Think' (and believe me, it is) to a simple throwaway ditty ('The Late Greats') that could be the greatest last track ever as Jeff Tweedy implores us to accept.
With 'A Ghost Is Born' Wilco have made an album that brings into sharp focus the difference between hearing music and really listening to music. This album will not reveal its secrets in one sitting, many of its treasures will elude you for a while and it will infuriate and frustrate you with some of the twists and turns it takes (that bloody penultimate track!).
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But what a joy to explore such a diverse sound played out so well by a band that does not believe that rock is a genre with limitations. Indeed this album is almost without genre. Sure you can argue all day about the alt.country/rock/folk/blah/and blah tags, but don't. Just let this album be what it is and you will love it - warts and all.
Halfway through their live set in Manchester last month Jeff Tweedy (in fine form for a man with well documented issues) comments how quiet the audience is. "That's 'cos we're f**king stunned with how brilliant you are!", I don't shout but you can sense that's what everyone is thinking. This album will sustain that thought for a long time.
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