A winning mixture of funky backbeats, jazz dissonance, and twisting and turning rock & roll. Joe Baiza spends more time than usual singing on this record, and that's not always a good thing -- his vocal range is limited as is his expressiveness -- but his quirky, understated guitar playing shows the influences of Blood Ulmer, Sonny Sharrock, and Jimmy Nolen, and is what makes up for his enthusiastic but limited singing. Tracks like "Tight Heat," "Uh Huh," and "Small World" are little gems that bob and weave around grooves so tight you couldn't pry them apart with a crowbar.
A Wilco fan's dream, the b-sides and throwaway tracks on this collection are better than 99% of the songs that ends up on modern alternative radio. Just being able to hear alternate mixes from the Summerteeth era makes the listen worthwhile, and the liner notes are entertaining to the point where the listener can just sit and read them like a book.