Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Even as you can turn to the back of most music magazines or virtually any music news website and find a review of Wilco's newest, here's another review of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. You may be asking yourself, “Why would this guy want to offer up his two cents, when I'm already carrying around about 10 bucks worth?” Well, I'll tell you: before this album I was a fervent Wilco-hater, if you will. All my friends in high school loved Being There and I just didn't get it; I refused to be apart of something just because everyone else was. Three summers ago, I picked up Summerteeth and tried to enjoy right up until I took it to the nearest CD Warehouse to trade it in. You could say Wilco and I don't have a good track record up until this point in my life. Yet, the first time through Yankee Hotel Foxtrot changed all that. It might be due to four years of college, broadening my horizons or coming to the conclusion that I will never figure out exactly why I'm alive. Or, it might be that my musical tastes have grown as much my ability to eat vegetables that previously made me nauseous. Any case, maybe it wasn't me that changed all that much, maybe it was Wilco. Throughout the entire album, one thing that intrigued me was the density, or lack there of. What fascinated me even more so was the fact that I didn't feel overwhelmed by it; the mastery displayed in each song allowed me to comprehend exactly what they were throwing at me. One thing that plagued Wilco albums of the past was the fact that I always felt like I was missing something. Amongst all the acoustic guitar strumming, howling slide-guitar, keyboards and piano, the steady drum beats, layered orchestration and Jeff Tweedy's poignant vocal delivery, the album plays hosts to thousands of seemingly trivial noises, guitar-produced racket and layers of sound. It does all this and manages not to be unusual. It does all this the most appropriate way possible. Now, don't think that my feelings for this album are simply fleeting; I'm certain that this album will remain near the top of my list for the rest of my life. As you've probably read elsewhere, this album is neither here nor there. You could say it kind of has a way of being timeless and completely innovative simultaneously. What's even more interesting is the fact that bands like Wilco can continuously re-invent themselves using the same instruments and ideas that they've had their entire career. That has a lot to do with influence and maturity, but make no mistake this is still Wilco. This album is made of nothing but elegant lyrics accompanied by a brilliant score. As you've seen, it startles even the most resolute critic and hopefully Reprise Records, who prevented its initial release. And rightfully so, from the strength of Tweedy's lyrics to each instrument played on the album, this is one of the most forthright and earnest albums I've had the privilege to listen to. [www.wilcoworld.net]