Weird Tales by Golden Smog

Weird Tales, Golden Smog's second album, came out on Rykodisc in 1998, and it borrows both its name and its cover from the old pulp magazine of the same title: the painting is Margaret Brundage's, lifted from the October 1933 issue. Inside, the Minneapolis-St. Paul supergroup sounds less like a side project and more like a real band. Brian Paulson produced, and the regulars, Gary Louris of the Jayhawks, Dan Murphy of Soul Asylum, Kraig Johnson and Jayhawks bassist Marc Perlman, are joined by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy.

It's warm, twangy alt-country that lets the jangle breathe, loose-limbed but never sloppy, with "Until You Came Along" as a sweet highlight. Critics tended to hand the best songs to Louris and Tweedy; the A.V. Club heard a goof-off grown into a potent band, while the Washington Post found it tuneful and lean, if not especially ambitious.

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