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Album Details
- Artist: Wilco
- Album: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
- Label: Nonesuch
- Year of Release: 2002
- ME Rating:
- Reviewed by: dscanland on 2003-04-01
RecommendThere is a reason why record labels should give their artists creative freedom and Wilco proves that with the brilliant Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Sure, its not going to sell a million copies but it pushes the boundaries of their musical limitations (if Wilco even has limitations). Wilco give fans a logical transition from Summer Teeth and really don’t stray that far from where they have been all the way along. The only thing that’s missing is the country twang of A.M. and Being There. That’s all good because the pop on tracks like “War on War� and the albums highlight “Heavy Metal Drummer� more than make up for it. Tweedy has almost perfected the art of vocal harmonization better than the Byrds. There is still that tendency for Wilco to stray into a rambunctious territory like on the album opener “I am trying to break your heart�. For the most part Wilco sticks to very structured pop songs and does them very well. This is a tough statement to make but I will be quoted as saying that Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is Wilco’s best album to date. I will end this review with an inquisitive note to Reprise “What the hell were you thinking?�. For a bonus they have added a cool live video for “Heavy Metal Drummer�.
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on 2011-12-18 CharlesMartel Said:
This is an album which frustrates me and annoys the hell out of me. There are times when it is a fine piece of music, and others when it is almost abominable. Thank God for the skip button on the CD player is all I can say. Plus, to make matters worse, I have to be in the mood for this.
The times when I don't like it are those when it seems little more than a veneer of earlier artists, in particular Elliott Smith, and trades off that same sound but only in a much more insipid format. And I especially don't like it when it tries to be clever with all those little sounds and additions. But when it does what it is supposed to do, then it is not at all bad.
I suppose the band, and in particular Jeff Tweedy wanted to do something different after the bright and bubbly songs on " Summerteeth ". They certainly achieved that, but I am not sure that they intended quite the effect they got. To many, " Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" is the pinnacle of Wilco's career. To me, that is almost inexplicable for this is not a masterpiece by any means. It remains a work with too many flaws to make it one of the leading albums of its generation and genre.
Musically it is competent if not particularly innovative. The experimental is left for the sound effects. At times the chord progressions are so cliched it becomes unbearable, but the fact that it has been well-produced, perhaps even a tad over-produced, means that any offensiveness you might think you would find, you would not. Perhaps the songs could be a little better but this is music which is going to offend no one and therefore is likely to please almost everyone.
As for the songs, well "Kamera " is probably the best and " Heavy Metal Drummer" is not bad, but the album is basically too long to be able to sustain interest in it for me to listen to the whole thing at one go. Back to the skip button again. I guess my principal feeling is one of boredom. I can see the positives in this album, and if listened to sparingly, it is not at all bad. But whenever I listen to it I quickly find something else to do to occupy myself. That is not a good outcome for any album.
Rating: 6/10
