Together At Last
by Jeff Tweedy
  • Record Label: Anti-
  • Release Date: Jun 23, 2017
Metascore
74

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
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  1. Mojo
    Jun 27, 2017
    60
    The gift of such unadorned recordings--no attempt to conceal the hoarseness in closer Sky Blue Sky, for instance--is the proximity to the singer and his songs. [Aug 2017, p.93]
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  2. Slant Magazine
    Jun 22, 2017
    60
    The album won't ever take a place among the landmarks in Tweedy's catalogue, but it does provide a fresh way to hear and appreciate them.
  3. The Guardian
    Jun 22, 2017
    60
    The unplugged format can get samey, but his delicate guitar playing is a joy and Via Chicago’s presumably metaphorical opening line, “I dreamed about killing you again last night”, never sounded more lovely.
  5. The Independent (UK)
    Jun 21, 2017
    60
    For Together At Last, Jeff Tweedy revisits choice items from his back catalogue in solo unplugged mode. It’s a brave step, given the imaginative depth with which Wilco animates this material, but it does allow the songs’ core characters to come through more strongly.
  6. Exclaim
    Jun 21, 2017
    50
    For Tweedy diehards, these intimate reworks may come off as a nice fireside chat with an old friend, but those less familiar with the singer are better off starting with the originals.

User Reviews

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User Score
6.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 11 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 11
  3. Negative: 2 out of 11
  1. yannbgiraud
    Jun 26, 2017
    5
    I didn't expect much from this record to be honest. Tweedy's acoustic reworking of nine Wilco songs plus two songs from his side projectsI didn't expect much from this record to be honest. Tweedy's acoustic reworking of nine Wilco songs plus two songs from his side projects (Loose Fur and Golden Smog) seemed a bit redundant, considering the excellent Sunken Treasures that was released some ten years ago. Yet, in some ways, Together At Last managed to disappoint me a bit. Not only are most of these songs less interesting than their fully arranged counterparts but in addition, there exist better acoustic renditions of some of them. One example is "I Am Trying to Break your Heart" which is better in its live version in Sunken Treasures. Granted, what's fine with this album is Jeff's voice. I had become slightly tired of his muddy and dark mumblings on the past two Wilco records, Star Wars and Wilco. Here I find him a bit clearer and I find some of the emotion he could produce on his best albums, from, say, Being There to Sky Blue Sky. But apart from this, I found very little gems on this record. What's the point of rerecording "Sky Blue Sky" in a version that's so close to the original? What's the point of stripping songs such as "Ashes of American Flags" and "Muzzle of Bees" of what used to render them mysterious? Of all the good things in Wilco, what I missed the most, here, is Stiratt's always excellent backing vocals. They are sadly needed on "Via Chicago", which looses its momentum when Tweedy sings "I rest my head on a pillowy star / And a cracked door moon / That says I havent gone too far". Here we have a more tender version but it's kind of sleepy, and ultimately boring. Tweedy fares better on "Laminated Cat" and "Lost Love", maybe because they were not tied to specific arrangements in the first place. The rockers like "Dawned on Me" and "I'm Always in Love" now sound like casual folk songs but they lack depth. And "Hummingbird" seems definitely half baked, Tweedy's whistling would have been funny in a live situation but here it's just a bit cheesy. At least the album ends on a higher note with a beautiful version of "In a Future Age", although this is no improvement on the original either. To sum it up, while quite enjoyable at times, this is a pretty useless record, which just makes me long for Wilco's next Parisian concert.… Full Review »
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