Golden Smog - Weird Tales (1998)

Weird Tales, the second album from alt-country supergroup Golden Smog, while in theory a collective banging of the guitars, basses, and drums of its principal players, is actually a series of solo tunes by those artists fleshed out by a backing band consisting of like-minded, and extremely capable, performers. That doesn't make it any less a fine- or well-intentioned album, it's just not the one-for-all, all-for-one group project that it's built up to be. Think of it as the White Album process: everyone (including members of Run Westy Run, the Jayhawks, Soul Asylum, Big Star, and Wilco) gets a chance to toss a tune or two into the consolidated song bin and let the gang go at it. And as expected, the best songwriters here (Gary Louris of the Jayhawks and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy) contribute Weird Tales' most solid tracks. A pet project aimed more toward fans of the genre than the casual listener, Golden Smog nonetheless deliver the goods with a good deal of twangy heart and soul.