Wilco

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

The best album of the new milenium. No ifs ands or buts.

Review Score:

(10/10)

In one of my music classes at Loyola University, New Orleans, my professor simply defined art as "That which deserves a second look." Your first perception of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot maybe that it's a cluttered mess; but if you give the album time to grow on you, it should become an instant favorite.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is an album heavily caked in symbolism. The title of the album itself is a common trio of radio call words. The album's warm folk cuts through layers of cacophony like an S.O.S., the work of a man lost in the 21rst century.

The noise isn't just random though; it is used as a dynamic device, waxing and waning like through song structures. I can honestly say I'd never heard a crescendo of feedback, cello, radio static, synthesize and xylophone until I'd heard Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. This is an inventive original album.

Song by Song analysis:

1. I Am Trying To Break You're Heart: (10/10)

This is possibly Wilco's master work; opening with a swelling of cacophony over a stead light drum beat, Jeff Tweedy sounds like a man just roused from a dream, and realizing he's surrounded by unfamiliar people and things.

The song teases a typical Wilco build up to a bombastic chorus that never comes; Towards the 5 minute mark it corrodes into spasms of feedback as an alarm clock jangles and xylophone lines fall like rain drops a Chicago street. This song alone is worth the asking price.

2.Kamera (9/10)

Kamera comes a long like a some what robotic take on the country-folk rock that made Wilco (semi)-famous. It sounds like Kraftwerk doing a Graham Parsons cover. It manages to be catchy enough to stick in your head, but detached enough to continue the ambience of the album.

3. "Radio Cure" (9/10)

A folky ballad reminiscent of something off The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, "Radio Cure" a synthesizer gently pulses, like a wave hitting the side of a beach. Although not nearly as effecting as some of the heavyweight pieces on this album, "Radio Cure" still holds it's own.

4. "War on War" (10/10)

One of the few songs that recalls the "easy rockers" of Wilco's previous albums, "War on War" is structured around a driving, undeniably catchy hook. The big country rock twang is eventually joined by a synthesizer and some dissonant piano notes, which bring the track careening too an end, a tail of feedback wiggling at the end.

5. "Jesus Etc." (10/10)

Words don't describe how beautiful this song is; the strings move along with the elegance of "Eleanor Rigby", over a loungey ballad . The melody is a pure gold too as Tweedy rasps "Last cigarettes are all you can get turning your orbit around."

"Jesus Etc" also reveals the first bit of the albums much discussed 9-11 symbolism. Completed a full 3 months before 9-11, the chorus "Tall buildings shake and voices escape singing sad sad songs." Is eerily prophetic, add in a finger snapping cool chorus, and you have one of Wilco's most bittersweet offerings to date.

6. "Ashes of American Flags" (10/10)

The Harrowing "Ashes of American Flags", structured around a broken record, two chord figure, is the most eerie song to hear after 9-11. You can hear the scraps of paper tossed around by a breeze in the aftermath in Ground Zero. The song ends with a piano, trying to force itself up through a wave of radio static.

7. "Heavy Metal Drummer" (10/10)

After a two really heavy emotional tracks, "Heavy Metal Drummer" gives us a much needed breather. A pop song write out of the Lennon/ McCartney song book, a head bopping beat, and a feel good lyric, "Heavy Metal Drummer" is the best pure pop song on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

8. "I'm The Man Who Loves You" (10/10)

The country fried cousin of "Heavy Metal Drummer", "I'm The Man Who Loves You" is propelled by a ratty blues riff, and a twangy acoustic guitar line. The most notable part of this song is the climactic horn fanfare at the beginning of the third verse; it's moments like this that make rock history.

9. "Pot Kettle Black" (9/10)

The main riff of this song reminds me of a Mid-western take on "Inbetween Days" by The Cure. An enjoyable pop number, much in the vein of "Heavy Metal Drummer" and "I'm The Man Who Loves You".

10. "Poor Places" (10/10)

This song bridges the gap between the three poppy tracks that proceeded it, and brings the album full circle with it's death squeal of feedback, and robotic monotone voice intoning "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot"

11. "Reservations" (10/10)

"Reservations", the closer to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, sounds like a more sentimental take on the first track; A cello weeps through out the song as cymbals twinkle, synthesizers bubble, and white noise swirls around you. The elements all swell up to a feverish crescendo during the chorus, reminding you of the first time you fell in love. After the main body of the song finishes, the noise wanes, and 5 minutes of brilliant ambient silence follows, allowing you to bask in it's sublimity.

There is a reason this album is so critically lauded; it's the single most representative portrait of 21st century America that has been painted thus far; a people, hopeful in the face of a mechanical world. If you heard it and didn't like it, sit down, try it again, and prepare to be moved.

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