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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Named in honour of the three-word codes used by short-wave radio operators, Wilco's fourth album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot sounds like a late-night broadcast of some weirdly wonderful pop station punctuated by static and the sonic bleed of competing signals. Songs that begin with simple, elegiac grace--"Ashes of American Flags" and "Poor Places"--end in a cathartic squall of distortion. The results can be initially jarring, but it's these tracks more than the sturdy jangle pop of "Kamera" or "Heavy Metal Drummer" that demand, and reward, repeated listens.
Mixed by studio experimentalist Jim O'Rourke and produced by the band, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot harkens back to a time when the words "pop" and "sonic adventurism" weren't mutually exclusive. The Beatles and Kurt Cobain knew this, and clearly so do Jeff Tweedy and company. --Keith Moerer
Review
As with any of the bands lumped by lazy journalists into the vague bracket of 'Alt Country' Wilco's successive releases see them break any remaining preconceptions into tiny pieces. Yes, there's an element of country but only in as much as there seems to be an element of everything here. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot will undoubtedly fox (sorry) even regular listeners on first listen, but repeated plays show it to be a veritable chinese puzzle: multi-faceted and knowing no recognisable boundaries. These facts are, perhaps, what Jeff Tweedy needs to know more than anything right now, for the genesis of this album was nothing if not painful. It was worth it, Jeff.
Blame the critical success of previous album Summerteeth but raising commercial expectations in a major record label was always going to cause problems. So much so in fact that YHF was rejected by Reprise as too left-field and in the ensuing tensions Tweedy and Co. lost guitarist Jay Bennett and their record deal. Following a small tour, a $50,000 price tag to buy back the master tapes and a new deal with Nonesuch (distributed by Warners, go figure...) one would expect the 18 month-old opus to have lost a little of its newness; but no. This sounds like the sound of next year built out of the wreckage of the past, and built to last.
While the first track "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" follows Tweedy's lo-fi acoustic template, it's immediately obvious that two things are different. One is the more finely-tuned craft behind the song structures. Make no mistake (as Reprise obviously did), this is a great POP album as much as anything else. Songs like "War On War" with its jangly chorus and "Heavy Metal Drummer" which wryly details a true middle-American love affair with Kiss, burst with great hooks and sumptuous arrangements. The second great new thing is Jim O'Rourke's job on the mixing desk. An album of such contrasts as the dour lament "Ashes Of American Flags" and the Beck-like silliness of "I'm The Man That Loves You" (top Neil Young circa-"Loner" guitar here!) deserves an attention to production detail that will allow it to rise above, say, the next Wallflowers release. What seems slapdash on first listen is, in fact, irresistably assured and locked into place by a sonic palette which veers between charmingly ambient ("Heavy Metal Drummer") and disarmingly jarring ("Ashes&" and "Poor Places").
What Wilco realise is that this is all acceptable currency to the global audience and, while retaining a sense of melodic stability is as key to their formula as anything else, they need never aplogise for their increasingly eclectic approach. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot will outlast any tags you dare to put on it, and then some... --Chris Jones
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
My oh my, they've done it again,
By
This review is from: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Audio CD)
Having initially read some rather dismissive reviews, I bought this with mixed feelings. On the one hand I have great faith in Jeff Tweedy's way with a tune, but on the other hand I suspected that he was becoming somewhat uneasy with the critical acclaim accorded to the previous records, and wouldn't think twice about "doing a Kid A", thereby alienating half his fanbase. I shouldn't have worried. Although certainly odd on first listening, the wicked skewed pop songs are still clearly in evidence: Heavy Metal Drummer, and the tremendous Jesus,etc never fail to bring a smile to my face and War on War is just a fine pop ditty. However, it's certainly on the more measured, downbeat songs that they come up trumps time and again. The opening bars of Ashes of American Flags send a shiver down one's spine, the song achingly melancholic until descending into a cacophony of feedback and white noise. And if that's not enough, the final two tracks Poor Places and Reservations are equally impressive, the latter possessing possibly the most gorgeous Tweedy melody yet. I must admit that after Summerteeth, I thought the only way was down for Wilco, particularly given all the trouble with record labels and line-up changes. They have of course quite categorically proven me wrong; the CD not having left my stereo for the past three months bearing witness to the fact that this is one truly exceptional album. How nice it is to be wrong sometimes.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
hear Wilco roar,
By A Customer
This review is from: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Audio CD)
Wilco are now some distance from the alt.country tag they seem to hate. Summerteeth let them flex their musical muscles, but YHF is even better. 'I Am trying To Break Your Heart' is a near-perfect opener in the vein of 'Misunderstood' or 'Sunken treasure'. Their 'pop' is a off-kilter version of Beatles Revolver and is perfect on 'Kamera', 'Pot Kettle Black' and 'War On War'.As one reviewer pointed out, it is the other sprawling, punctuated with static, tracks that are worth even more repeated listens. '...Break Your Heart', 'Poor Places' and 'Ashes of American Flags' are heartfelt, interesting and always hold something back so you discover it on the next listen. The musical performances are, as always, excellent, although it will be interesting to see how they cope now that the multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett has left. Jeff tweedy's vocals are close to crumbling on occasion, adding weight to lines like 'I shake like a tootache when I hear myself sing'. However, go see Wilco live and Tweedy's voice is as strong and vibrant as you hoped it could be. The album is terrific, but go see them live and you'll love the album that bit more.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This IS the cure...,
By
This review is from: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Audio CD)
It's kind of strange. Wilco have always been there, as some wonderful slice of american genius, proving that the art of songwriting is not dead, and will probably never die. And then, their record company drop them because they aren't commercial enough. As a consequence this album has scared a lot of people before they had even heard it. Many thought that this would be a 'Kid A' or a 'Two Virgins'. What they have instead, is a 'Low'. It takes all the classic elements that Wilco have always had, and hones them, refines them, screws about with them until there is something brand new spewn out and left on shiny disc. And in doing that, they have also made their best album. It was, by all accounts, a turbulent recording session, and that is clearly reflected in the sounds contained herein, but at the same time, there is a new joy to the recording process that the listener can actually hear. On 'I'm The Man Who Loves You'. the one note solo actually sounds fun. That song, which I view as the pivotal moment on this album, probably speaks volumes about where this all came from... It's a conventional theme bastardized into something new. 'Kamera' takes a standard riff, and then repeats it over and over, making a hypnotic drone, over which the most amazing melodies are spun. Heavy Metal Drummer is a throwaway pop classic, very much in the vein of a couple of the songs from Summerteeth. 'I Am Trying To Break Your Heart' is a fantastic opener, all stop starts and jittery feelings, whilst the closer, 'Reservations' slides along beautifully, Tweedy's cracked voice showing the song up perfectly, and ending in beeps and the crackle of radio hiss. Every track is astounding, which in itself is a damned rarity, and every listen just makes you want to hear it again. Much like Jim O'Rourke's 'Insignificance' (which Jeff Tweedy played upon, and then Rourke returned the favor by producing this) it is just a classic modern day rock album. Jeff; Thank you. You finally made it. I just hope the world will get to hear it propoerly now that it doesn't have the backing of a huge corporation. Incidentally, they don't know what they're missing. I still can't see how this isn't commercial! Still, all the better for those of us who do find it, I suppose....
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