Wilco
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
On Sale Now
For $12.98

The story behind the recent release of Wilco’s fourth (excluding the two Mermaid Avenue volumes they did with Billy Bragg) and best album is quite well known at this point. To recap, Reprise, believing that the record was too uncommercial, dropped the band when they submitted Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in early 2001, which prompted Wilco to buy the record from Reprise for $50,000 and then post it for download on their website while they looked for another label. The experimentally minded Nonesuch Records (ironically, Nonesuch and Reprise are owned by the same mother company, Time-Warner) ultimately signed the band, and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot debuted at an astounding #13 on the Billboard charts the week after its April 23, 2002 release date. The hype surrounding Reprise’s rejection of Wilco and the rave reviews the album received obviously helped fuel these high sales. Yes, Wilco has had the last laugh as they currently enjoy the highest popularity of their career (sans the support of mainstream radio no less), but regardless of Reprise’s idiocy and all the hype, none of it would matter if Yankee Hotel Foxtrot were a bad piece of music.

Of course, it’s a masterpiece, far beyond anything Wilco have done previously. In fact, it is hard to believe that the same band that initially released some fairly mundane country-rock (1995’s A.M.), then a decent double album full of Stones-inspired riffing and quite a bit of filler (1996’s Being There), and lastly an overproduced attempt to distance themselves from the “alt-country” genre (1999’s Summerteeth) have created such a strikingly beautiful album.

“I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” kicks off Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in epic fashion, much like “Misunderstood” from Being There. Swirling organ, flourishes of random percussion, and jaunting piano lines back up lead singer Jeff Tweedy’s enigmatic and melodic vocals (“I’m an American aquarium drinker”, “Take off your band-aid cause I don’t believe in touchdowns”). The song morphs and shifts continuously over the course of seven minutes, and it is absolutely addictive. The final two songs on the album, “Poor Places” and “Reservations”, echo the experimental bent of this opening song excellently, as noise effects, astounding percussion, and Tweedy’s worn and sonorous voice take the standards of rock music in completely new directions.

Aside from these more experimental moments, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is filled with great songs. “Kamera” recalls indie rock forefathers Pavement with its loose-feel and jangly chorus. The soaring guitar feedback of “Pot Kettle Black” sounds like a breezy Yo La Tengo song, and “Jesus, etc.” incorporates a bit of countrified fiddle and features the haunting lyric, “Tall buildings shake / Voices escape singing sad sad songs.” Meanwhile, “Heavy Metal Drummer” is simply the catchiest song you will hear this year. Aside from the meandering verses of “Radio Cure”, there is not much to complain about on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

Like Radiohead, Wilco have gotten to the point where they seamlessly bring experimental musical styles together with perfect pop hooks. Much of this can be attributed to the assistance of producer Jim O’Rourke, but Wilco have also learned the value of minimalism in their songs. The arrangements are never cluttered, as was the tendency on Summerteeth, and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot sports a definite clarity that makes it one of the best records of the past several years. Lyrically, Tweedy has reached a level of complexity and maturity seen in very few songwriters of this or any age. As has been shown by the recent sales of this record, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot has the potential for incredible mass appeal. Classic rock fans to indie rock kids to alt-country stalwarts will all find something to like about this near-perfect record. In spite of all the tumult surrounding Wilco in the past few years (I didn’t even mention that they lost two members of the band over the course of the recording of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot), they have shown that the power of wonderful music can ultimately prevail beyond the shallow opinions of a few record executives. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is a classic album that will be listened to frequently for years to come.

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