So, where does all of this leave us? Looking back, as The Idolator would say, on a year in which two records stood head and shoulders above all others:
1. "Sky Blue Sky", by Wilco. From the cover photo inwards, a simply beautiful record. As Churchill almost said, never before has so little been made by so many using so much. You have three guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, frequently all happening at once, and still this music breathes. But its real power is in the songs. Tweedy himself says, on the accompanying DVD, "just play some fuckin' songs, man". And they did.
2. "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga", by Spoon, which also takes sparseness to new levels. There is frequently almost nothing there, but what there is kicks in a way that music hasn't kicked for a long time.
Both, in many ways, traditional. But when it comes to a contest between quality and originality (which is NOT to concede any lack of originality in either case), quality sometimes just might win.
