It must be the summer of the super group.

In May, hip-hop fans were taken to "St. Elsewhere" by powerhouse duo Gnarls Barkley.

A week later, The Raconteurs — the 21st century garage rock stew made of Jack White — Brendan Benson and two guys from The Greenhornes, released "Broken Boy Soldiers."

Now the alt-country crowd gets a peek at collaborative Valhalla, courtesy of "Another Fine Day" by Golden Smog.

Originally formed in the late 1980s as a jokey side project, Golden Smog has evolved over the course of three full-length albums into a leaner unit, at the core of which are Gary Louris, Kraig Johnson and Marc Perlman of The Jayhawks, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and Dan Murphy of Soul Asylum.

The band may have pared down its membership, but "Another Fine Day" covers all kinds of musical ground; to call it an alt-country record is to stretch the terms of the genre to the point of snapping.

There are roots instruments, thick harmonies and depression aplenty, but the meditative folk of "Listen Joe" and the textures of "Beautiful Mind" shirk the alt-country label.

In light of these disparate sounds, "Another Fine Day" never comes together as a cohesive whole.

Given its hour-long, 15-track running time, this would be a problem if the songs weren't good.

But for the most part, they are.

"Beautiful Mind," the aforementioned massive wall of sound, is the best.

For a song that would fit in on any of Wilco's last three albums, it's interesting that Tweedy merely contributed backing vocals to the track.

"Beautiful Mind" is a long song, but the enraged strumming at its tail end — unmercifully clipped before it goes anywhere — will make you wish it were a little bit longer.

The songs on "Another Fine Day" are credited to 10 different songwriting combos within Golden Smog, and one without (a cover of Kinks' guitarist Dave Davies' "Strangers").

It would makes sense, then, that the album's tightest track is the only one credited to the entire group, the nostalgic power popper "Corvette."

With its synthesizers and crunchy guitars, the song's title is a likely wink in the direction of a particular automobile-themed new wave band.

It's a testament to those varied collaborations that no one voice rises above the others on "Another Fine Day."

Johnson, Louris and Murphy all sing with a similar twang, and Tweedy never sounds like his Wilco self.

The sticky-sweet sibling ballad "Long Time Ago," however, may remind listeners of Tweedy's Uncle Tupelo self, a group in which he was the Paul McCartney to Jay Farrar's John Lennon.

If anything, "Another Fine Day" suffers from its length.

As strong as the songs are, it's still a trial to get to tracks 14 and 15.

As a sum of parts greater than its whole, the album may be better enjoyed in tiny pieces.