What’s the point of trying to explain Wilco to you? If you haven’t heard of Wilco, I’m sorry that you’ve been sleeping under park benches for the past ten years devoid of contact with the world of music. But just in case, let me help you out: Wilco is one of, if not the, definitive Americana/No Depression/alt-country/indie/alternative/etc. bands of the past decade. Read more about them here if you’re just totally lost. Meanwhile, the band works feverishly on the follow-up to 2004’s A Ghost Is Born in the studio. In the interim, the band have released the self-produced and decidedly noteworthy Kicking Television: Live In Chicago just in time for Christmas, a collection which should more than tide everyone over. The double CD set of live recordings, made at the Vic Theatre in Chicago, focuses a great deal on material from their last album. However, it also includes wonderful performances of older tunes like “Misunderstood”, “Jesus, Etc.” and live performances of two songs from their Billy Bragg-driven Woody Guthrie collaborative projects Mermaid Avenue Vol. I and II, “One By One” and “Airline To Heaven”.

If you’ve never checked out Wilco, this collection of live recordings is both an excellent introduction to their music and a demonstration of their prowess as live performers. If you’re already a fan, I’m wasting my breath. Just listen to this live version of “Ashes Of American Flags”, then go buy the damn thing as a gift for yourself or someone else. The amount of praise I could heap on this album would only serve to make this review run on for ten pages. I think the music speaks for itself.

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