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Not one of my favourite albums by the band...needed it to add to my collection.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
One of their better albums.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Wilco’s ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’ carries a reputation for experimentalism, and whilst it is true that on this record you will find bursts of squally feedback and radio noise punctuating their alt.country template, the truth is that for the serious music lover this is not a difficult record to love and admire. I have been a music lover for nearly 20 years but I find it hard to think of another album that matches this one for passion and strength of emotional delivery. The feel of the record is very much post 9/11, but not in a mawkish or overly sentimental way. Instead, Jeff Tweedy and his band deliver songs which capture the mood of that time – songs which articulate fear, panic, confusion, uncertainty for the future and also deep nostalgia for the past. The opening track features a weary piano melody which disintegrates into a finish of squally feedback and radio hiss. ‘Radio Cure’ opens with the line “Cheer up honey, I hope you can” delivered in an agonising tone and blossoms into an evocative mix of angst and beauty. 9 references litter the CD -‘ Jesus etc’ features the line “tall buildings shake” over a lovely string and keyboard melody, but the theme is expatiated most explicitly on the aching heart of the album – ‘Ashes of American Flags’. This hazy guitar and piano piece unfolds in an atmosphere of helpless panic: “I’m down on my hands and knees/Every time the doorbell rings” and “Speaking of tomorrow/How will it ever come?” are stand out lines which send a shiver down the spine, before the track dissolves in a chaotic finish of bursts of noise and discordant snatches of sound. ‘Ashes..’ is followed immediately and most effectively by ‘Heavy Metal Drummer’, an upbeat, poppy song which is pure nostalgia for a more innocent past: “I miss the innocence I’ve known/Playing KISS covers beautiful and stoned”. The record on the whole has lighter feel after ‘Ashes..’ but is no less emotionally affecting. Throughout, the songwriting is unbelievably good – melodic, mature and engaging. The only very minor criticism is over ‘Reservations’, the final track, which starts with a lovely weary melody but fizzles out a bit disappointingly at the end, but this still remains one of my favourite CDs of all time and may be as close as one can get to the Great American Rock Album.Read full review
I so wanted to be blown away by Wilco. Unfortunately I wasn't. My first Wilco experience and I'm left feeling - so what? I was lead to believe the album is a modern classic, maybe it's just me, as I know it's a very well loved cd but I felt it just meandered along experimentally with no real cohesion or spirit. I like meloncholy stuff but this was just too downbeat for me. I respect what they are doing but it ain't my bag. Disappointing!
Wow, what an album, definitive genre crossing album covering indie/country/pop/rock, this is something special with great songs all over it
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