Following an acclaimed, Grammy-winning deluxe edition of Wilco's mainstream breakthrough Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the same creative team will assemble a similar set for 2004 follow-up A Ghost is Born.

The deluxe set - made up of either nine CDs or nine LPs and four CDs - packages the album alongside 65 previously unreleased tracks, including two sets of studio outtakes, a live concert and seven "fundamentals" from the band's recorded workshops during this same period. A 48-page hardcover book features unpublished photos and new liner notes by Bob Mehr. (Mehr won a Grammy for his notes in the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot set, while Wilco's Jeff Tweedy and producer Cheryl Pawelski earned a Grammy for Best Historical Album.) A new 2LP pressing of the original album will be made available, as well as a 2CD expanded edition containing the album and first bonus disc of outtakes.

After the controversial release of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, which was rejected by the band's then-current label Reprise Records and picked up by Nonesuch after the band streamed it for free in the fall of 2001, Wilco reconvened in 2002 to begin work on a follow-up with producer Jim O'Rourke, who'd played on the Foxtrot sessions. The group began to shift during these sessions, which spanned from Chicago's SOMA E.M.S. (where O'Rourke mixed Foxtrot) and New York City's Sear Sound. Tweedy played lead guitar on more tracks than any previous album, multi-instrumentalist Leroy Bach left the group at the completion of the sessions, and keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen would join Wilco for the sessions, becoming a permanent member alongside guitarist Nels Cline and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone. (Along with drummer Glenn Kotche, this line-up of Wilco remains consistent to this day.)

Beyond Tweedy's primary compositions, Wilco also undertook a series of improvisational workshops, available on the box as "fundamentals." Kotche tells Mehr in the notes that these "fundamentals" were "an attempt to search for a new group identity. To see what we could make this band into." (These rehearsals are presented on four CDs available in both the CD and vinyl version of the box.) The results were an evolution from the band's well-defined indie-rock sound, as particularly noted on 15-minute track "Less Than You Think," closing with a collage of harsh synthesizers that represented a series of migraines Tweedy suffered from at the time. (He would cancel a European tour just ahead of the album's summer 2004 release to undergo treatment for addiction.) Both longtime fans and new ones in the wake of Foxtrot were taken by what they heard; A Ghost is Born became Wilco's first of four consecutive Top 10 studio albums and netted the group their first Grammy, for Best Alternative Music Album.

An early alternate version of "Handshake Drugs," one of the album's standout tracks, can be heard above. The expanded A Ghost is Born will be released February 7, and all variants are available to pre-order below. (As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.)

A Ghost is Born (Deluxe Edition) (Nonesuch, 2024)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
9CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
9LP/4CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

CD 1/LP 1-2: Original album (released as Nonesuch 78909, 2004)

1. At Least That's What You Said
2. Hell is Chrome
3. Spiders (Kidsmoke)
4. Muzzle of Bees
5. Hummingbird
6. Handshake Drugs
7. Wishful Thinking
8. Company in My Back
9. I'm a Wheel
10. Theologians
11. Less Than You Think
12. The Late Greats

CD 2/LP 3-4: dBpm - Outtakes/Alternates 1

1. At Least That's What You Said (8/13/2002 SOMA-Chicago Version)
2. Hell is Chrome (10/5/2003 SOMA-Chicago Version)
3. Spiders (Kidsmoke) (9/28/2003 SOMA-Chicago Version)
4. Muzzle of Bees (7/15/2003 SOMA-Chicago Version)
5. Hummingbird (2/8/2002 SOMA-Chicago Version)
6. Handshake Drugs (11/13/2003 Sear Sound-NYC Version)
7. Wishful Thinking (11/1/2003 Sear Sound-NYC Version)
8. Company in My Back (2/8/2003 Hothouse-St. Kilda, Melbourne Version)
9. I'm a Wheel (August 2002 SOMA-Chicago Version)
10. Theologians (3/19/2003 SOMA-Chicago Version)
11. Less Than You Think (11/11/2003 Sear Sound-NYC Version)
12. The Late Greats (7/19/2003 SOMA-Chicago Version)
13. Kicking Television (3/18/2003 SOMA-Chicago Version)
14. The High Heat (2/5/2002 SOMA-Chicago Version)
15. Panthers (March 2003 SOMA-Chicago Version)
16. Diamond Claw (3/21/2003 SOMA-Chicago Version)
17. Bob Dylan's 49th Beard (June 2002 SOMA-Chicago Version)
18. More Like the Moon (2/8/2002 SOMA-Chicago Version)
19. Improbable Germany (10/7/2003 SOMA-Chicago Version)

CD 3/LP 5-6: Unstitched - Outtakes/Alternates 2

1. Handshake Drugs (First Version, 6/26/2002 SOMA-Chicago Version
2. Hummingbird (February 2002 SOMA-Chicago Version)
3. The High Heat (2/4/2002 SOMA-Chicago Version)
4. Spiders (Kidsmoke) (February 2002 SOMA-Chicago Version)
5. Diamond Claw (March 2003 SOMA-Chicago Version)
6. Muzzle of Bees (October 2003 Sear Sound-NYC Version)
7. Like a Stone (11/10/2003 Sear Sound-NYC Version)
8. Leave Me (Like You Found Me) (6/26/2002 SOMA-Chicago Version)
9. Losing Interest (11/11/2003 Sear Sound-NYC Version)
10. Old Maid (6/26/2002 SOMA-Chicago Version)
11. Spiders (Kidsmoke) (August 2002 SOMA-Chicago Version)
12. Panthers (October 2003 Sear Sound-NYC Version)
13. Muzzle of Bees (7/16/2003 SOMA-Chicago Version)
14. Diamond Claw (10/9/2003 SOMA-Chicago Version)
15. Losing Interest (7/20/2003 SOMA-Chicago Version)
16. Spiders (Kidsmoke) (October 2003 SOMA-Chicago Version)
17. The Thanks I Get (6/26/2002 SOMA-Chicago Version)
18. Two Hat Blues (March 2003 SOMA-Chicago Version)
19. Improbable Germany (January 2002 The Loft-Chicago Version)

CD 4-5/LP 6-9: The Hook at The Wang - Live at The Wang Center, Boston, MA - 10/1/2004

1. Muzzle of Bees
2. Company in My Back
3. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
4. A Shot in the Arm
5. Hell is Chrome
6. Handshake Drugs (Live At The Wang Center, Boston, MA 10/1/04)
7. Jesus, Etc.
8. Hummingbird
9. I'm Always in Love
10. At Least That's What You Said
11. Ashes of American Flags
12. Theologians

1. I'm the Man Who Loves You
2. Poor Places
3. Spiders (Kidsmoke)
4. She's a Jar
5. A Magazine Called Sunset
6. Kingpin
7. The Late Greats
8. I'm a Wheel
9. Via Chicago
10. California Stars
11. Christ for President

CD 6-9: Fundamentals

1. Fundamental 1
2. Fundamental 2

1. Fundamental 3
2. Fundamental 4

1. Fundamental 5
2. Fundamental 6

1. Fundamental 7