Cruel Country
by Wilco
  • Record Label: dBpm
  • Release Date: May 27, 2022
User Score
8.3

Universal acclaim- based on 16 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 16
  3. Negative: 1 out of 16
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  1. ExiledRoyal
    May 30, 2022
    10
    In a world where music is streamed, shuffled, hardly ever played from beginning to end, I really hope this album breaks that mold. It's sensitive, undemanding, but really life-affirming and gorgeous to hear.
  2. jayman69
    May 27, 2022
    9
    Just saw Wilco perform the full album live at Solid Sound. I've listened a few times with the advance copy sent out by the band, but hearing it live so soon felt glorious!!! A great new double album, with so many future standouts for concerts to come!! Lots of toe tappin, and many Tweedy introspective moments that deal with post pandemic urgency to focus on hope and peace within. PleaseJust saw Wilco perform the full album live at Solid Sound. I've listened a few times with the advance copy sent out by the band, but hearing it live so soon felt glorious!!! A great new double album, with so many future standouts for concerts to come!! Lots of toe tappin, and many Tweedy introspective moments that deal with post pandemic urgency to focus on hope and peace within. Please sit down and give this a listen. Twice. Then again. The band hasn't sounded this great since Sky Blue Sky.... which is my favorite Wilco album front to back. Embrace this Americana tales and free yourself and look up at the sky.....… Expand
  3. Vsenese
    May 27, 2022
    10
    Brilliant...Tweedy is amongst the best songwriters of his generation and I'm still locked in to what he and this band has to say no matter what kind of music it's put to. The fact that it's mellow is foolish to deny the great musicianship going on in these songs...It's a double album so the scope is big but, I've been listening for a few days and it just gets better and better...Bravo Wilco
  4. viachicago22
    May 29, 2022
    10
    It really grows on you and gets under your skin with repeated listens. There’s so much more going on than at first glance. It’s really beautiful. Lyrically it is mostly extremely dark, bleak even. But honestly this band has no business being as good as they are 12 records in. I can already tell it is going to rank highly in my own personal ranking of their discography … probably top five.
  5. jimlefferts
    May 27, 2022
    10
    It's stunning to see "critic" reviews ranging from 70-90. This is a great album from a great band at the top of their game. It's a sprawling, grand gesture at the caliber of their best work such as "Yankee Foxtrot Hotel" and "A Ghost is Born" but with a twang (more Americana than country) and a subdued manner rather than dissonance. Ambitious in scope, wry, honest, subtle and understatedIt's stunning to see "critic" reviews ranging from 70-90. This is a great album from a great band at the top of their game. It's a sprawling, grand gesture at the caliber of their best work such as "Yankee Foxtrot Hotel" and "A Ghost is Born" but with a twang (more Americana than country) and a subdued manner rather than dissonance. Ambitious in scope, wry, honest, subtle and understated it's their best album since Ghost.… Expand
  6. HumanoidEscapee
    May 27, 2022
    3
    Yet another whispering snoozefest of 22 totally forgettable songs. Wilco used to challenge and explore, but the past several albums have been suitable only for use in sedation dentistry.
  7. All_ButTrU4
    May 27, 2022
    4
    An inoffensive recycling of wilco least interesting qualities . It's 22 songs are an oxymoron of being extremely long but so homogeneous it feels fleeting. Wilco can never make anything unlistenable but with this one they succed at being just boring.
  8. nemiskam
    Jun 7, 2022
    8
    There are a few immediately arresting songs on Cruel Country and a few that meld into the background. I'm not sure if the latter songs will grow in stature over time -- I'll know in a couple of years after many more playings. If Jeff Tweedy's best work since A Ghost is Born has been Warm, then Cruel Country has a chance to be of the same stature.
  9. Ricko
    Apr 28, 2023
    6
    Wilco have more often than not been on the sleepy side but "Cruel Country" takes things to another level. "Country Song Upside-Down" is a great song. The rest of the album was a bit of a slog even with repeated listens. For me it was 3 minutes of greatness and 74 minutes of sleepy alt country. It failed to engage me and ultimately bored me.
  10. E-rock
    Aug 2, 2022
    10
    Musically, this stands as one of Wilco's best albums. I recommend turning it up on speakers or listening on headphones, because there is a lot of inventive playing that might be missed during a first listen on low volume. Lyrically, I think Jeff Tweedy has topped himself; the lyrics are the most consistently sublime of any Wilco album.
  11. indierash
    Jun 28, 2022
    7
    Wilco's new album, Cruel Country, is Jeff Tweedy and co.'s return to their roots. Tweedy's former band, Uncle Tupelo, was known for playing primarily country rock, so when Wilco was formed, he wanted to shake that former label and take his new project into new and unexplored territory. Tweedy has acknowledged his resistance to Wilco being labeled country, but with Cruel Country's subjectWilco's new album, Cruel Country, is Jeff Tweedy and co.'s return to their roots. Tweedy's former band, Uncle Tupelo, was known for playing primarily country rock, so when Wilco was formed, he wanted to shake that former label and take his new project into new and unexplored territory. Tweedy has acknowledged his resistance to Wilco being labeled country, but with Cruel Country's subject matter–he said it felt natural for them to embrace their country roots.

    This is the first time the members of Wilco have worked together in over a decade. They largely recorded this album live at Wilco’s studio, The Loft in Chicago. During the recording of his solo album "Love is the King" in 2020, Tweedy began writing songs for this new album. Although the themes differ, the atmosphere is remarkably similar.

    Cruel Country’s massive 21 song double album flows with constant warmth. Country trades rock and roll for gentle twang guitar and gallop and brush drumming instead. The album's quieter moments see the band exploring country, folk and Americana further than previous albums have ever allowed them to. Tracks are generally driven by Tweedy's acoustic guitar and held in a low-fi, breathy tempo by the band, and they take a different approach compared to what we're used to, which might turn off some longtime fans.

    Country has classic Tweedy wordplay and melodies throughout each song, as to be expected. While it is not surprising that so many artists are writing about the current horrifying events going on in America and around the world, Jeff has supplied us with his unique and straight forward perspective. Influences though do not always hide as Tweedy conjures up Jerry Garcia’s spirit during the chorus on the title track, “All you have to do is sing in the choir, set yourself on fire, every once in a while, sing in choir with me, with me. I love my country like a little child, red, white and blue.” “Story to Tell” sounds like the fab four sat down with Wilco and wrote a song for them–the instrumentation, song structure, and driving melody all sound like the Beatles.

    Nearly every track on Country is under the four-minute mark–driving themselves home very much like a Beatles pop song before moving onto the next. No heavy use of solos, long jams, freak-outs or psychedelic endings that Wilco is prone to do. Yet at 21 tracks and two albums of soft and warm, Cruel Country can be overindulgent, but if you're in tune with it, it can be incredibly inviting and enjoyable.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

83
#83 Best Album of 2022
72
#72 Most Discussed Album of 2022

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
83

Universal acclaim - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 17
  3. Negative: 0 out of 17
  1. The Wire
    Jul 13, 2022
    80
    Some will find Cruel Country monotonous; the patient however will be rewarded with an abundance of thoughtful, delicate, often brutally plaintive songcraft. [Aug 2022, p.60]
  2. Variety
    Jun 6, 2022
    80
    “Cruel Country” captures a band wholly secure in its status; it does a handful of things very well, and does those things repeatedly, with few deviations.
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  3. The Line of Best Fit
    Jun 1, 2022
    80
    Ultimately, however, the highs triumph over the occasional coasting, even if it's hard to entirely shake off the feeling that there's a killer 12 or 14 track record to top off Wilco's return to studio form on 2019's Ode to Joy lurking amongst this bumper crop of Jeff Tweedy’s songs and Wilco’s telepathic dynamics.
    Read full review
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