This is the album that Wilco recorded, clashed with Warner/Reprise over, and then took the album with them when they left the label. After the record was leaked to the internet, it was picked up by Nonesush (owned by Warner) for release. And quite a successful release, if I recall. Kudos to Warner for refusing to release, then buying back, such a fantastic album.
"Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" at first glance seems to be a pop album, with happy sounding instrumentation and easy to listen to compositions. But under the facade of cheer, there seems to be something darker at work. Some songs seem to get darker the closer you listen to them. I haven't looked at the lyrics for the songs, so I am not sure where they fit. And I have only listened to the record once so far. Maybe I will discover that I am completely wrong with more listens, but this is my initial impression. The jangly guitars mixed with more experimental noise-rock make an interesting, and to my ears a highly listenable, combination.
I particularly enjoyed the opening and closing tracks. Jeff Tweedy really knows how to begin and end an album.
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2 comments:
Andrew,
There is a DVD all about the making of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, it is very interesting. Plus you get to see them fight a lot & understand more why Billy Bragg left the group mid-album. Have you heard their newer album, A Ghost Is Born, it's a couple years old by now. I don't like it as much as YHF, but perhaps I didn't really give it a great chance since I only listened to it twice. Another wonderful album Jeff Tweedy worked on is Mermaid Avenue. It is Woody Guthrie's words that Jeff & others put to music after he died. I love it! Sorry about leaving this as a big long comment, I just really love Wilco & wanted to talk to you about it but didn't know how else to contact you.
-Madeline (you know, Erika's friend, Kyle's too, really)
Hey Madeline, is that I Am Trying To Break Your heart that you're talking about? I want to see that movie.
I've been a fan of Wilco for a while, but somehow never got their albums. I also have Summerteeth, but that's it. I read quite a bit about that Guthrie project; Tweedy seems to get a lot of press locally since he's a Chicago boy. I used to frequent his wife's place (I don't know if they are still married, after all the crap he's gone through), Lounge Ax in Chicago before it got shut down.
I want to pick up the Ghost album next...the critic for the Chicago Tribune really loved it and it sounded interesting.
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