WILCO's TEETH

THE MAKING OF WILCO’S SUMMERTEETH: LOOKING TO THE PAST POINTED THE WAY TO THE FUTURE.

- BILL KOPP

Released in 1999, Wilco’s third album, Summerteeth, represented a turning point for the band. The first album from the group to sell in excess of 200,000 copies, Summerteeth — a musical departure from the band’s original alt-country origins — ended up on many publications’ best-of lists for that year. Pitchfork ranked Summerteeth No. 31 among all albums released in the final decade of the 20th century. And the album’s success spurred the band onto more critical successes and even greater commercial heights.

In celebration of the album’s importance, Rhino Entertainment is releasing a significantly expanded 4-CD version of the landmark record. Available November 6, Summerteeth Expanded Edition appends the original album with related studio outtakes, alternate versions, demos and a complete recording of a 1999 concert.

By the time Wilco began work on their third album in late 1997, the band had undergone significant shifts. Begun in 1994 from the ashes of alt-country band Uncle Tupelo, Wilco were led by guitarist and songwriter Jeff Tweedy and originally featured the entire Uncle Tupelo lineup minus songwriter Jay Farrar. Wilco’s 1995 debut album, A.M., didn’t represent a major departure from the style of Tweedy’s previous group. Wilco’s second album, Being There (1996), found Tweedy writing more finely tuned songs, and in contrast to the band’s debut, the arrangements featured keyboards, trumpets, saxophones and violins in addition to the kind of standard acoustic and electric instrumentation most readily associated with alt-country.