Wilco – A.M.

I have no idea how long it takes for the PVC to affect the vinyl but I bought my copy around 2005 and have stored the record in a separate polylined innersleeve since then (which is just pure luck, I didn’t find out about PVC damaging vinyl until a couple of years ago) and it’s in perfect condition.

The warning below about the PVC sleeve damaging the vinyl is very true. If you’re buying this to play there’s no such thing as a Mint or even VG+ copy unless it was removed from the original sleeve when new. A collectible for sure but that’s it.

I feel like this album was initially conceived and mastered to sound as if you were listening on an AM radio station: crisp and clear... powerful, even... but definitely compressed by the narrower bandwidth of amplitude modulation. Folks who know Wilco as a Chicago band shouldn't forget that the group started out way down in Southern Illinois, where AM radio was still known in 1994 for playing country music as much as it was for talk programming. "A.M." is an alternative country record, just like the last Uncle Tupelo release that preceded it (as well as the next Wilco disc that would arrive in 1996.) If you're put off by the slightly tinny sound of "A.M.," just use your system's EQ to add a bit of extra bass. If you're a stickler for hi-fi vinyl without tone controls, welp... That's your problem.
Do take care to remove this disc from its nasty, thick-and-sticky, clear sleeve howevs! Those things really do infect record grooves after a decade or three stuck in a bin under warm-enough temps. Make sure if you're buying this version of "A.M." nowadays that both sides appear very clean and glossy, and that all its grooves seem unclogged by years of volatile-chemical evaporation from that damned original sleeve. A good copy of this disc is a very listenable, very crank-up-able first pressing of the very first Wilco album! That's a kinda' big deal in my book, and it means that you can properly enjoy an excellent little time capsule from when those guys made made a really big and tangibly twangy noise from the cornfields around Saint Louis.