Wilco have announced the reissue of their 2004 album, A Ghost Is Born, with 65 unreleased tracks, comprising alternate versions, demoes, improvisations, and outtakes from the era. Out February 7, 2025, via Nonesuch, the reissue comes in two versions—a 9xCD set and a mammoth 9xLP and 4xCD collection—both of which include a 2004 live album, from Boston’s Wang Center, and a hardcover book of photos and liner notes from Bob Mehr. Below, listen to an alternate version of “Handshake Drugs,” recorded at New York’s Sear Sound in 2003. Find the digital album’s tracklist below.
In the liner notes, Jeff Tweedy told Mehr of the LP, “I was worried the album was going to feel like something dark and not me anymore. But the album was ahead of me as a person. It was the part of me that I was trying to preserve—enthusiastic and furious about the world, as well as open and loving. I reached that in the music, before I could get there emotionally on my own.”
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A Ghost Is Born (Expanded Edition):
01 At Least That’s What You Said
02 Hell Is Chrome
03 Spiders (Kidsmoke)
04 Muzzle of Bees
05 Hummingbird
06 Handshake Drugs
07 Wishful Thinking
08 Company in My Back
09 I’m a Wheel
10 Theologians
11 Less Than You Think
12 The Late Greats
01 At Least That’s What You Said (8/13/02 Soma-Chicago Version)
02 Hell Is Chrome (10/5/03 Soma-Chicago Version)
03 Spiders (Kidsmoke) (9/28/03 Soma-Chicago Version)
04 Muzzle of Bees (7/15/03 Soma-Chicago Version)
05 Hummingbird (2/8/02 Soma-Chicago Version)
06 Handshake Drugs (11/13/03 Sear Sound-NYC Version)
07 Wishful Thinking (11/1/03 Sear Sound-NYC Version)
08 Company in My Back (2/8/03 Hothouse-St. Kilda, Melbourne Version)
09 I’m a Wheel (August 2002 Soma-Chicago Version)
10 Theologians (3/19/03 Soma-Chicago Version)
11 Less Than You Think (11/11/03 Sear Sound-NYC Version)
12 The Late Greats (7/19/03 Soma-Chicago Version)
13 Kicking Television (3/18/03 Soma-Chicago Version)
14 The High Heat (2/5/02 Soma-Chicago Version)
15 Panthers (March 2003 Soma-Chicago Version)
16 Diamond Claw (3/21/03 Soma-Chicago Version)
17 Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard (June 2002 Soma-Chicago Version)
18 More Like the Moon (2/8/02 Soma-Chicago Version)
19 Improbable Germany (10/7/03 Soma-Chicago Version)