When you combine Jim O’Rourke’s nerdy guitar noodling and Wilco’s (Jeff Tweedy and Glenn Kotche) bleeding heart, you get a confusing album full of both misguided intentions and rare moments. The music doesn’t really speak for itself, but rather through its conflict of styles. The bottom line is sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t and sometimes...well...you just have to wonder why they chose that cover. I think the artwork speaks volumes on the quality of this record. It would probably be more prudent to describe this picture than to go on deconstructing the intention and relativity of the music.

The background is that of an abstract watercolor landscape. Various hues of soft blue streaks suggest the open air, while a sickly yellow, brown and green (with a touch of pink) contrive the land. Off to the far right, the close-up profile of woman smoking a cigarette occupies the immediate foreground. She has a gaunt, colorless face. Her eyelids hang heavy with a light-blue eyeshadow. The cigarette dangles limp from her red mouth. She does not look well. She is very ugly. She looks like the type of renegade woman you might see sitting at the end of a bar in Bakersfield with shot glasses lined up in front of her at two o’clock in the afternoon. But the centerpiece in this enigma is the rock ‘n’ roll teen wolf. That’s right, folks. Standing in the middle of this painting is what appears to be a half-man/half-wolf wearing dirty blue jeans and a brown shirt. He is holding an electric guitar up to his chest with his left hand. His right arm is raised in the air, and his head is tilted back. It appears that he has just struck a bitchin’ chord and is indulging a long pause to honor the way it rings out. Issuing forth from his open mouth is a thick stream of gray-blue smoke that mingles with the clouds. “Loose fur” blowing in the wind, he is, no doubt, paying tribute to his rock ‘n’ roll muse.

The whole thing kind of looks like fake puke. And, at first listen, this is also what the record sounds like. But, as this confusing image can make you think twice about what the hell and why in god’s name, so does the music. This is a very simple record with very strange parts. It will probably make you want to hear it again. That’s ultimately a good thing, right?