10 Best Wilco Songs

This is all about the guitars.

When Wilco released 2007’s Sky Blue Sky, some fans were initially disappointed at the album’s dad-rock leanings. Probably the band’s least immediate collection, its delights took their time to really show. But once fans realised that the album is designed to showcase the guitar work of the recently-added Nels Cline, the songs took on added meaning.

Cline may have contributed some exceptional solos over the years, but nothing even comes close to the majesty of the second half of Impossible Germany. What starts off as fairly uniform album track slowly transforms into a fist-in-the-air full-on stomper as Cline’s guitar work gets ever more frantic.

Of their myriad tracks, this one would be right at the top of a dream Wilco setlist for most fans, so included here is a live version, taken from the Ashes Of American Flags DVD. The craft and guile on display from a band at the top of the game really is something to behold.