It's possible to fall for Chicago-based rock band Wilco's 2002 masterwork Yankee Hotel Foxtrot without knowing its back story - but it's not nearly as much fun.
There's the conflict between frontman Jeff Tweedy and multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett - a power struggle over musical direction and mixing rights that would ultimately see Bennett given the boot. There's the ditching of incumbent drummer Ken Coomer in favour of Glenn Kotche, from Tweedy's Loose Fur project.
And, of course, there's the deliciously mad politicking, which saw Foxtrot rejected by Reprise Records but released by Nonesuch, effectively meaning mother-company Warners paid for the album twice.
This dirty laundry has been well aired, most effectively in Sam Jones' brilliant black and white documentary I Am Trying To Break Your Heart (named after Foxtrot's opening track). The context, if not the list of vital ingredients, has been revealed.
But it is the music that speaks loudest when Foxtrot's appeal is examined. The spooky, nervous frailty that pervades even its more muscular moments sets it apart from the band's three previous studio albums, propelling Wilco further along the continuum that passes through folk and country and on toward rock's psychedelic outer reaches.
Tweedy's closely-miked vocals sometimes place the listener in awkward proximity to his crumbling facade. The derelict and lonely "American aquarium drinker" on track one goes on to reveal that his doubts are aimed solely at himself on final track Reservations.
But the journey isn't all tough going. War On War, Jesus Etc, Heavy Metal Drummer and I'm The Man Who Loves You range from the warmly nostalgic to the downright optimistic. It beggars belief that Reprise couldn't spot a radio-friendly number among them.
Perhaps the uncomfortable sonic stretches that bookend some tracks, and the chilly synthetic noises dotted here and there, were too much for those who wanted more of the same from these alt-country rockers. Fans and critics proved more adaptable.
