In case the cutesy title doesn't tip you off, the emphasis is once again on words on Wilco (The Album), but that doesn't mean Jeff Tweedy is going to be straightforward about it.

He goes for a clever bait-and-switch in You Never Know, where the lyrics sound like a scolding -- ''Come on, children, you're acting like children, every generation thinks it's the end of the world'' -- but the sweet harmonies and sun-kissed guitar riffs say otherwise.

In Wilco (The Song), Tweedy offers up the band as constant support in tough times. ''Is someone twisting a knife in your back? Are you being attacked?'' he asks before promising, ''Wilco'll love you, baby,'' over a playful guitar riff. Is this serious or kidding around? Probably both.

And that's what makes this one of the best bands around. Though much of Wilco (The Album) seems geared to keeping Wilco (The Band) playing spare, simple melodies, it offers enough twists and complexities to keep things interesting.

-- GLENN GAMBOA

Newsday

BRAD PAISLEY

American Saturday Night

Arista Nashville

***

Perfectly timed for summer, this sunny showcase of 15 songs cowritten by the country superstar himself exudes clean-cut charm and crowd-pleasing songcraft, while twang-fired instrumental passages show off the West Virginia native's considerable guitar prowess.

If Paisley relies a little too heavily on the clever and the cute, he shows again that he's capable of more, although you'd still like to him dig a little deeper. The first single, Then, is a run-of-the-mill love ballad, but Everybody's Here and Oh Yeah, She's Gone let some darkness in, and No offers a blunt life lesson.

Then there's Welcome to the Future, a series of observations about how times change that seems to be Paisley at his most trite -- until he starts singing in the last verse about a burning cross on a lawn and Martin Luther King. Even with a black president in the White House, that's pretty gutsy for a country boy.

-- NICK CRISTIANO

Philadelphia Inquirer

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