Photo Credit: Peter Crosby

In honor of the 20th anniversary of A Ghost Is Born, Wilco will release a deluxe reissue of their landmark fifth studio record. Set to arrive on Feb. 7, 2025 via Nonesuch Records, the deluxe edition features 65 previously unheard tracks, and will be available as a 9 LPs/4 CDs box set, a 9 CD bundle and all digital streaming platforms. To preview the expansive collection, the band has shared an alternate version of “Handshake Drugs” from Nov. 2003’s Sear Sound sessions, available to stream now.

Two decades later, Wilco is giving fans a glimpse of how the Grammy-winning album came to be. In addition to the original songs, February’s release will include alternates, outtakes and demos that span the making of A Ghost Is Born, as well as soundboard recordings of a 2004 recording at Wang Center in Boston, along with selections from Wilco’s “fundamentals” workshop sessions. Pairing well with the surplus of musical stylings is a forty-eight-page hardcover book, which will feature never-seen-before images from the album’s making as well as liner notes by Bob Mehr. 

The record won Best Alternative Music Album and Best Recording Package at the 2005 Grammy Awards, and has taken on a new life for fans who love the album in the years since. “I was worried the album was going to feel like something dark and not me anymore,” said Jeff Tweedy of the reissue. “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.”

This is not Wilco’s first homage to their past, as this edition of A Ghost Is Born arrives following a teaser performance of the entire record at Solid Sound Festival earlier this year, as well as a similar 20th-anniversary edition of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. A Ghost Is Born’s storied yet nebulous legacy makes the upcoming release even more exciting for fans who have been with Wilco for decades. “It’s not a human-sized egg, but it’s a pretty great alternative,” the band wrote on its website, referring to the 2004 album art.

The record is available for pre-order, and fans can read on for a complete tracklist.

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A Ghost Is Born (Deluxe Edition) Tracklist

A Ghost Is Born

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

dBpm: Outtakes/Alternates 1

1. At Least That’s What You Said (8/13/02 SOMA-Chicago)
2. Hell Is Chrome (10/5/03 SOMA-Chicago)
3. Spiders (Kidsmoke) (9/28/03 SOMA-Chicago)
4. Muzzle Of Bees (7/15/03 SOMA-Chicago)
5. Hummingbird (2/8/02 SOMA-Chicago)
6. Handshake Drugs (11/13/03 Sear Sound-NYC)
7. Wishful Thinking (11/1/03 Sear Sound-NYC)
8. Company In My Back (2/8/03 Hothouse-St. Kilda, Melbourne, Australia)
9. I’m A Wheel (August 2002 SOMA-Chicago)
10. Theologians (3/19/03 SOMA-Chicago)
11. Less Than You Think (11/11/03 Sear Sound-NYC)
12. The Late Greats (7/19/03 SOMA-Chicago)
13. Kicking Television (3/18/03 SOMA-Chicago)
14. The High Heat (2/5/02 SOMA-Chicago)
15. Panthers (March 2003 SOMA-Chicago)
16. Diamond Claw (3/21/03 SOMA-Chicago)
17. Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard (June 2002 SOMA-Chicago)
18. More Like The Moon (2/8/02 SOMA-Chicago Version)
19. Improbable Germany (10/7/03 SOMA-Chicago)

Unstitched: Outtakes/Alternates 2

1. Handshake Drugs (First Version) (6/26/02 SOMA-Chicago)
2. Hummingbird (February 2002 SOMA-Chicago)
3. The High Heat (2/4/02 SOMA-Chicago)
4. Spiders (Kidsmoke) (February 2002 SOMA-Chicago)
5. Diamond Claw (March 2003 SOMA-Chicago)
6. Muzzle Of Bees (October 2003 Sear Sound-NYC)
7. Like A Stone (11/10/03 Sear Sound-NYC)
8. Leave Me (Like You Found Me) (6/26/02 SOMA-Chicago)
9. Losing Interest (11/11/03 Sear Sound-NYC)
10. Old Maid (6/26/02 SOMA-Chicago)
11. Spiders (Kidsmoke) (August 2002 SOMA-Chicago)
12. Panthers (October 2003 Sear Sound-NYC)
13. Muzzle Of Bees (7/16/03 SOMA-Chicago)
14. Diamond Claw (10/9/03 SOMA-Chicago)
15. Losing Interest (7/20/03 SOMA-Chicago)
16. Spiders (Kidsmoke) (October 2003 SOMA-Chicago)
17. The Thanks I Get (6/26/02 SOMA-Chicago)
18. Two Hat Blues (March 2003 SOMA-Chicago)
19. Improbable Germany (January 2002 The Loft-Chicago)

The Hook at The Wang (Live October 1, 2004 at the Wang Center-Boston, MA)

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
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
13. I’m The Man Who Loves You
14. Poor Places
15. Spiders (Kidsmoke)
16. She’s A Jar
17. A Magazine Called Sunset
18. Kingpin
19. The Late Greats
20. I’m A Wheel
21. Via Chicago
22. California Stars
23. Christ For President

Fundamentals

1. Fundamental 1
2. Fundamental 2
3. Fundamental 3
4. Fundamental 4
5. Fundamental 5
6. Fundamental 6
7. Fundamental 7