Though I have an insatiable appetite for music and make a point of listening to at least one new album each day, I have come across remarkably few albums boasting more than 30 tracks (aside from bloated deluxe editions). Off the top of my head, I can think of only two albums that I have listened to in full that fit this description: The Beatles self titled (colloquially known as The White Album) and Morgan Wallen’s interminable hodgepodge titled I’m the Problem. The White Album is the only one of these two albums that I actually like quite a lot; in fact, I think it is The Beatles’ greatest masterpiece. Even though it is admittedly a bit disjointed and tonally inconsistent, I admire the band’s fearless experimentation and the cojones it took to put out something so uncommercial while they were the biggest band on the planet. On the other hand, Wallen’s record is utter slop, the epitome of ultra processed corporate country. It sounds like how Starbucks’ 3D printed food tastes: absolutely nothing of value here. If The White Album is The Beatles’ Karnak, an immense architectural wonder dedicated to the ancient god Amun-Ra that is beautiful despite its chaotic and confusing layout; I’m the Problem is like the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid in Memphis, a pointless and indulgent imitation made of steel and concrete dedicated to the spirit of capitalism, a monument to excess and materialism. The point here is that there are one of two ways an album of this magnitude can go, either a bloated mess with a “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” approach, or it can end up as a legendary watershed in music history that inspires countless future musicians. Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy’s new record Twilight Override (released September 26th) doesn’t really fit on either side of the aisle, though it is certainly closer to the region in which The White Album dwells. 

Twilight Override is mercifully divided into three sections, instead of just a straight shot down the line, 30 tracks one after another. This structure makes listening to the album feel almost like watching a television show divided into multiple seasons with the tracks as episodes, even though there isn’t really a unified storyline that can be followed through the album like other albums with similarly long runtimes such as The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis or Pink Floyd’s The Wall. For the sake of my sanity and that of the reader, I will be discussing the absolute highlights only as there aren’t really any total duds; only good songs, decent songs, and mid songs.  

Album Cover

The record begins with the song “One Tiny Flower”, a fantastic opening track that is just brimming with energy. It is driven by dramatic drumming and the frantic strumming of an acoustic guitar. Piano and strings also lend vitality to the song. The feeling that is evoked by the instruments is that of change and evolution, hammered home by the lyrics “The grass is growing, all over town, from the cracks in the sidewalks, where the shops shut down” delivered in a groggy whisper by Tweedy, contrasting with the vigour of the instrumentation.  

My next favourite track is track five of the first section, titled “Forever Never Ends”. This track is a fun and bouncy recounting of a disastrous prom night involving a broken-down car, pepper mint schnapps induced vomiting, and the narrator struggling with the prospect of calling his short-tempered father. In all likelihood, this song is a personal story from the life of Tweedy, as is his custom, a story that likely plays through his mind as he sings “Forever never ends, I’m always back there again and again and again”. 

Track nine, titled “Sign of Life”, is a song that leans more heavily into Tweedy’s alt-country roots as it includes steel guitar work, fiddle, and a country shuffle drum beat played with brushes. This is contrasted by Tweedy’s decidedly “uncountry” singing voice which bears more similarities to an indie artist like Sufjan Stevens rather than a country crooner like Ray Price. Another song in a similar vein is track six of the second section, titled “Western Clear Skies”, a waltz that is reminiscent of some of Bill Callahan’s work and discusses themes of change and the unknown. It is one of the sparser tracks on the album as it seemingly includes only some drums, hypnotic acoustic guitar work, and ghostly synths near the end along with Tweedy’s vocals fortified by background vocals.  

Track one of the third section is called “Lou Reed Was My Babysitter”, a very fitting title given the fact that the song’s sound is reminiscent of Lou Reed’s more upbeat and frantic tracks like the glam rock Vicious, Ooohhh Baby, and the proto-punk Rock & Roll, the latter from his days in The Velvet Underground. I have been a big fan of Lou Reed and the VU for a number of years, so this tongue in cheek homage to Reed is definitely a winner in my book.  

I must admit that I am a newcomer to Tweedy’s music and I had not previously listened to any of his solo work, but I am an admirer of Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and the alt-country blended with indie-rock sound that runs through his work. Twilight Override will certainly stay in my rotation for the foreseeable future, or at least parts of it will. Admittedly, just like The White Album, not all of the record is amazing, and I don’t really think that the insane runtime was necessary. In my opinion, the album would have benefited from being split up into three separate albums for ease of digestion. I feel like many newcomers who aren’t as intrepid as I will be overwhelmed and intimidated by the nearly two-hour runtime and the sheer number of songs, thus impacting record sales. Though, I don’t think that Tweedy is so concerned about record sales and judging by the positive reactions of his dearly devoted fans across the internet, it is clearly a critical hit. Even though this record is incredibly long and hard to get through in one sitting, it is worth it if you are a fan of alt-country and indie-rock. I can’t say that I would recommend the album as a whole to those who are not fans of those genres, but I think that it’s worth perusing to find tracks that you may like as there is something for everybody on this record. 

7.5/10