Wilco Album Leaks, So Band Streams It

Available for your discretionary listening right this very moment...

By Fred Mills

Bloggers ‘n' boozers are all a-twitter (term used loosely and literally) over the apparent leaking yesterday of the new Wilco album, sensibly titled Wilco (The Album) and due June 30 from Nonesuch. Never mind that Wilco is considered a major band and that leaks are considered commonplace for major (and minor) artists these days - so much so, that often the bands themselves, typically lower-tier groups trying to drum up some publicity by creating a fake controversy, do the leaking. All the web chatter appears to be centered around the whole notion of "I found it first!" "No, I found it first!" as well as endless speculation over who exactly did the initial leaking.

For example, one hyperventilating blogger at RiverfrontTimes.com, in a squeaky rant titled "At What Point Did Wilco (The Album) become Wilco (The Leak)?, expressed shock and awe, writing in a manner that suggests she's just discovered the whole "leak" phenomenon. "The way these illicit copies spread across the Internet is fascinating -- like a series of dominoes falling," the blogger gasps. "When you look at a Twitter feed full of Wilco fans, you can really visualize the psychology and reality behind something like a big CD leaking early. Plus, by morning, news of the leak is going to hit blogs and mainstream media, more people are going to look for the album -- and the cycle will perpetuate itself even faster."

Yeah, duh.

She also queried rather speciously, "Something I've always wondered about leaks of big albums: They tend to happen at night, Why is this? Also, I'm dying to know where this leak originated, because labels increasingly have a tight grip on highly anticipated albums, and don't release promos at all to press for review. How did this even get out so early?"

Well, we can answer that pretty handily for you, as did one apparently sane and sober person also did in the response postings to the RiverfrontTime.com item: advance press copies of Wilco (The Album) started arriving in mailboxes over the weekend and early this week, which may or may not mean a journalist is the source of the leak. Possibly a thieving mailman, maybe Jay Bennett, maybe even the band itself. We dunno. Who cares! (It is a FANTASTIC album by the way.)

At any rate, in what may be a direct response to last night's leak, Wilco (The Band) is now streaming the entire album at their website. Our recommendation is to take off that blogging cap (it's pinching your pointy little heads), go to the Wilco site, crank up the volume, and just sit back and enjoy the next hour or so, unencumbered by naught but some solid rock ‘n' roll.

And hey, what's up with that George Harrison/"My Sweet Lord" riff in "You Never Know"?