Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
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Free Music Notes for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Free Music Review: Best Album Of 2002? Without A Doubt.
Hit: 5 Stars
I am so happy to see this album at the top of Amazon.com's editors' picks. I have bought over a hundred records this year, and this one is indisputably the most intelligent, emotional, comforting, and inspiring of the year, if not in my whole collection.If a customer is disappointed and bothered by the "noise" on the album, I understand. Don't get me wrong, I was blown away from the first listen, but I remember saying, during my first month of listening, "It would be better if they cut off all the noise at the beginning and ends of the songs." But now I can hardly imagine YHF without this experimentation. You put it in, and really the time just flies by, and the once-annoying segments are essential to the experience.
Upon the first listen, the tracks that stuck out were the accessible ones: "Kamera," "War On War," "Jesus, etc.," "Heavy Metal Drummer," and "I'm The Man Who Loves You." The catchy, poppy "Kamera," oddly enough, has become one of the most emotionally reassuring songs in my collection; perhaps I have odd interpretation of the lyrics, but they have helped me through some tough times. "Jesus, etc." is the most relaxing song I have ever heard. "I'm The Man Who Loves You" is one of the top driving songs, particularly the thrashing intro.
Then, upon talking to a friend whose favorite cut was the slow, somber "Radio Cure," I decided to go back and give a new try to the tracks I didn't normally listen to, particularly "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart," "Radio Cure," "Poor Places," and "Reservations." These four are now my favorite songs, along with "Kamera." They are simply amazing. IATBYH makes me smirk, like I know something the rest of the world doesn't, just by listening to it. "Radio Cure" and "Poor Places" are perfect--just perfect--for when you're sad. "Reservations" is a love song for those of us who sometimes feel too complicated, or "smart," for love. "How can I convince you it's me I don't like/And not be so indifferent to the look in your eyes/When I've always been distant/And I've always told lies for love." Lyrically, musically, this is an artistic triumph and a soundtrack for life.
You should own this album, plain and simple.
Free Music Review: all day. all night. all the time.
Hit: 5 Stars
This record is stunning - possibly among the finest pieces of modern American music. It is hard to explain why it is so good, though. Folks who look for catchy pop will find this album formulaic and increasingly dull with each listen. Folks who look for way-out-there craziness will find this a pathetic effort given all the other electronic tweaking and Beefheartian possibilities being explored today. Folks who are committed to an underground or an indie or an obscurantist groove (e.g., Chilton-heads) will see this as just more evidence of "Summerteeth" sell-out from Tweedy & Co. But, those of us who are willing to listen carefully and really engage the music - those of us who are not necessarily wedded to some sort of musical ideology - will find this album ceaselessly rewarding. The songs get at something - a certain longing, a certain glee, a certain confusion - without being sophomoric musings in the key of G (yeah - lots of G on this record - it's true). Tweedy never reaches when he sings - but he is not lazy either. Like a good actor who knows that a little twitch above the eye or lean of the head is better at getting across emotion than an outburst, Tweedy hits the mark just enough when singing. It really feels like you are sitting with a good friend and just rapping. But, this is not enough to make it a great album. The music itself - so simple and direct - has a scrambled edge to it that keeps it from becoming just another example of a stale genre. Rather, the music spreads out and fills out the room (or wherever). The music feels like a peculiar and slightly awkward emotional response to everyday events. It is not spectacle - something people inexplicably still long for after 9/11 - it is rather music that reflects a very confident but perhaps too-intellgent person's confusion about what to make of the world before him or her. This music is meant to be savored and felt - it is not a quick one off. I have been a Tupelo fan for almost a decade and, for the first time, I will say it: Tweedy and co. have moved far out of the shadow of Tupelo. Congrats, Jeff... and thanks.Free Music Review: Wilco's best and one of the year's best
Hit: 5 Stars
The negative reviews crack me up, only because I have been there. Most of them come from alt-country fans (read: narrow minded, I can say this because I used to be one of those fans) who refuse to acknowledge anything as music which isn't derivative of the Carter Family. Not paying attention to these detractors Wilco have produced an album that draws upon the whole of music (save jazz, sadly, but maybe next time). They transcend genre or timeframe, aligning Melloncamplike arraingments next to the drones and blips of post-rock, all the while creating something wholly original. This should have been a cause for celebration amoung both Reprise and its long-time fans. The fact that it wasn't is just sad. It means that people have stopped growing and listening. It is similar to the reaction of such artists as Miles Davis and Coltrane when they went off to explore more sonically challenging territories to the dismay of some of their followers. The fact is those recordings went on to become legendary, just as YHF will.
I, like many of the reviewers here, have had this album for some time, but unlike a few of them, I loved it on the first listen and immediately thought it was their best to date. But I think that reaction was possible due to what I have been listening to for some time, which were bands like Radiohead, Mogwai, Godspeed, Do Make Say Think, etc. as well as the jazz of Mingus, Coltrane, Davis, etc. I say this because I think Wilco's future lies in the hands of fans of these more exploratory musicians, rather than in the backward looking minds of the fans of Johnny Cash and Ralph Stanley (not that there is anything wrong with either). This is a progressive album in the way that music should be progressive. It is Brian Wilson teamed with Thom Yorke or Tweedy of old teamed with Tweedy of Summerteeth. In short, it is a combination of elements both old and new that produces something extraordinary. Buy it if you love intelligent music, or really love music that transcends genre and special interests, and is willing to find its own voice rather than play to the crowd.
Free Music Review: Tweedy's Uncompromising Sonic Beauty
Hit: 5 Stars
Since so many people have reviewed this album already, I have no illusions about saying something for the first time nor plan on repeating what has already expressed fully and well.I do still -specially for those people reading this after listening to YFH's follow-up the also impressive "A Ghost Is Born- need to point to a couple of important things that this album show about Wilco's consistently surprising output.
This album clearly demonstrates that Jeff Tweedy's musical vision and commitment to shed songwriting skins is remarkable and an inspiration, specially in the current midst of so many Rock and Pop icons continuing to repeat themselves, who at best flavor their "butter" differently but go on churning the same formula, forgetting to take the kind of risks that made them important in the first place.
Now, unlike many people have mourned earlier, I don't think this album is an absolute departure from what Wilco has been hailed for before. Although this is not "Summerteeth" or "Being There," Tweedy's love for Pop has not been renounced, "Kamera," "Heavy Metal Drummer" and "Pot Kettle Black" proved that.
More than abandoning former song-glories, Tweedy has evolved, has taken all that he can do and pushed it further into a new atmosphere. Where Jay Bennet was so instrumental in what the albums that preceded this one sounded like, Jim O'Rourke is now Tweedy's full musical partner.
And O'Rourke is no Yoko breaking a great band -actually Yoko did not either!- but rather someone who helped Tweedy say well what he was already prepared to say. His production deepens and thrusts these songs to a higher level. " Ashes of American Flags," "I am Trying to Break Your Heart" and "Radio Cure" are magnificent examples of a composer and a producer making music together that reaches farther that either one would have managed on his own.
This is a great album, not the end of a certain Wilco but the evolution of a sound into brave, new and exciting new possibilities.
Free Music Review: An Instant American Classic!!
Hit: 5 Stars
reprise records are a bunch of idiots. wilco crafted this beautiful, dark, quiet, noisy, and challenging artistic record. they gave it to reprise (with pride, i assume), who not only rejected it, but also decided to cut the band off its label roster. the band eventually found a home, nonesuch records (ironically, owned by aol/time warner, who also owns reprise), and after many hassles, tears, and band members, yankee hotel foxtrot is upon us.the record starts vaguely reminiscent of 1996's "being there" opener "misunderstood", ending in a bunch of "revolution 9"-esque racket involving other songs on the record. the bouncier tracks, like "radio cure", and "heavy metal drummer" break up the dense, sullen nature of this record. bit i gotta say, this record is not a bummer in the least bit. this is the stuff bands dream of doing. "ashes of american flags" is classic, and something about the description of the cash machine incident just gets me, and i have no idea why.
their 1999 record "summerteeth" was the last perfect pop record i heard, and this one seems to take off where that left off. unlike the two records they recorded with billy bragg (mermaid avenue vols. 1 and 2, which consisted of wonderful interpretations of woody guthrie songs", the songs challenge the listener in a way that few do, much less attempt to. there are plenty of wonderful sounds on here, and it takes many listens to discern them all.
but it doesn't end there. named after the opening track on YHF, "i am trying to break your heart" is a full-length documentary on two years in the life of wilco. this is american rock and roll, in its pure form, and although it seems odd that a not-so-big band from chicago earned a full-length film that will do the album justice (at least from the lengthy trailer i saw), it makes perfect sense. singer/guitarist/god jeff tweedy's work can also be found on the just released soundtrack to the film "chelsea walls".
this is a glorious record, and it deserves the attention of anyone who can appreciate a listen that is not only fulfilling, but challenging.