Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

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Heavy metal drummer comes across as fake, like he never actually liked heavy metal music at all. I think he has a slight Mark Kozelek complex. And on the second(?) song he tries really hard to be Ryan Adams. The one that goes "honey, cheer up".

The "experimental" noise on this record is totally pointless, it's not integrated with the songs - just pasted at the end. I don't like the vague lyrics either, especially since I heard that they don't actually mean much. For me that is the worst type of lyrics.

― Marc, Monday, 22 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

doomie is dead right. "I am trying to break your heart" sounds like an under (over?) produced "Downs".

― Sterling Clover, Wednesday, 24 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

right about the sister lovers comparison I mean.

― Sterling Clover, Wednesday, 24 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

You 'heard the lyrics don't mean much,' Marc? Do you ever decide the meaning for yourself?

― Dare, Wednesday, 24 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Q:

How come Tweedy is getting shit for his supposedly oblique lyrics when mister Convolution Disquised As Depth Bob Dylan has uttraly, at certain points, been propelled by it? Nuggets of strained words free passed as "oracular wisdom"?

― david h(0wie), Wednesday, 24 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Decide my own meaning from random words? No.

― Marc, Wednesday, 24 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

It was actually Jeff Tweedy himself that said the lyrics didn't mean much.

― Marc, Wednesday, 24 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

And if Bob said that?

― david h(0wie), Wednesday, 24 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Decide my own meaning from random words? No.

I interpret this statement as Anti-Art.

I saw Wilco live last week. I enjoyed the record before, but more so now. It didn't feel "experimental" before, but when I saw them perform "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" I saw Wilco experimenting. There are no genuinely radical ideas, but there are no inhibitions either. It is experimental pop, exactly.

― Keiko, Wednesday, 24 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

I was replying to "Dare".

― Marc, Wednesday, 24 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

IF the author didn't mean anything with it then it doesn't have a meaning.

― Marc, Wednesday, 24 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

i agree with sean. the album really grew on me aswell. but i wouldn't say album of the year at all either. "i am trying to break your heart" is an amazing tune, and i like "heavy metal drummer" because it reminds me of pavemant.

― dyson, Wednesday, 24 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

I was replying to "Dare".

So?? You didn't mean it, then?

― Keiko, Wednesday, 24 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

When I wrote "I was replying to Dare" I was replying to dave h(0wie) but yours came in the middle of it all. Ofcourse I mean it.

― Indieholic Anonymous, Wednesday, 24 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

''It didn't feel "experimental" before, but when I saw them perform "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" I saw Wilco experimenting.''

keiko- can i ask what were they doing? how were they experimenting?

― julio Desouza, Wednesday, 24 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

haha foiled by cookies

julio: it involved pipettes

― Josh, Wednesday, 24 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

I've been thinking about the lame lyrics on YHF for a while, so I'll try to write something about them soon. just for you
I am still interested on your thoughts, Josh. But I still wouldn't dare to dsimiss the lyrics as I didn't get most of them yet. But the lines which made sense to me (see upthread) were rather brilliant. Check what Badger wrote about the album last year (including most lyrics). I can agree a lot to that. YHF is one of those few albums on which I can almost detect new sounds every new time I listen to it. And those often experimental sounds fit better and better into the context of the tunes after each subsequent listen. That is exactly what I look for in music.

― alex in mainhattan, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Sorry, here is the link to Badger's Handy (Mostly Cannibalized) Guide to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

― alex in mainhattan, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

sorry alex I was deterred by not being able to be scathing enough about it, I'll try harder.

― Josh, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

''julio: it involved pipettes''

Josh, you have done something no one has managed: I'm now interested in Wilco (not really).

― Julio Desouza, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Julio - It didn't really sound more "experimental" (except when they did the noise thing between songs), but watching them make those sounds with the precision and purpose that they did helped me realize why they were there. Before, I kind of assumed they were quirks of O'Rourke's production, studio flourishes, or, at the very most, pleasant background effects. For example, the last half of "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart", on the record, seems like a drone with odd noises thrown in. In a live setting it's more like a showcase for the chaotic percussion, noise samples, etc., things that now seem as important as the melody.

― Keiko, Thursday, 25 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

six months pass...

Okay, here's where all of us who actually liked the Wilco album now get to gloat about it's high placement in the P&J poll.

OK, gloaters, start your engines...

*insert sound of crickets chirping*

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 13 February 2003 23:16 (twenty-one years ago) link

I may be the only sap in the universe who likes the Loose Fur rec - shld I bother w/ YHF on that basis (nb I have reservations about Tweedy's lyrics on the LF disc)

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Thursday, 13 February 2003 23:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

yes please tell us why some of you enjoyed such thrash.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 13 February 2003 23:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

I haven't heard LF, so I really couldn't say how it compares to YHF. My opinion on YHF is that while it has some flaws (primarily Tweedy's affectless delivery), at it's best moments (basically everything from "Jesus Etc." through "I'm The Man Who Loves You"), it is actually a very good record, kind of like John Zorn's The Big Gundown crossed with Hotel California

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 13 February 2003 23:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

yes please tell us why some of you enjoyed such thrash.

JEFF TWEEDY SPEED METAL! Best typo ever, Julio!

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Friday, 14 February 2003 00:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

one year passes...

I'm surprised that a good amount of this thread was fairly positive.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 22 March 2004 21:10 (twenty years ago) link

I'm guessing the reaction to A Ghost Is Born will be more divisive. It doesn't sound particularly good.

― edward o (edwardo), Monday, 22 March 2004 21:14 (twenty years ago) link

I'm anxious to hear it, even though I burned out on YHF within a matter of months. Every mofo I try to download it from (with a good transfer speed) signs off before I'm even half way done.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Monday, 22 March 2004 21:19 (twenty years ago) link

A Ghost Is Born sounds even better to me.

― Andy Jay, Monday, 22 March 2004 21:23 (twenty years ago) link

one year passes...

Haha I *just* heard this record! I really like it a whole lot.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Monday, 7 November 2005 03:50 (eighteen years ago) link

Gravel Puzzleworth
PO Box 422
67 Crater Way, THE MOON

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 7 November 2005 19:28 (eighteen years ago) link

I think it's pretty good. It starts a bit meh, gets really good and then peters out towards the end. The middle three songs, "Jesus etc", "Ashes of American Flags" and "Heavy Metal Drummer" are great though.

NTI, Wilco aren't really very big in the UK.

― dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 7 November 2005 19:47 (eighteen years ago) link

The first song is still the best thing they've done by a lunar eclipse.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Monday, 7 November 2005 19:51 (eighteen years ago) link

Brits be onto sumfin...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 7 November 2005 20:04 (eighteen years ago) link

I listened to this album for the first in a while this past week. Must say that it has aged quite well (much better than Summer Teeth, which seemed trite and gimmicky the first time I heard it and still does) ... "Ashes of American Flags" is especially resonant.

― Chris O., Monday, 7 November 2005 20:22 (eighteen years ago) link

Yes. Summer Teeth has aged horribly for me, too. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and Being There are still there two best albums.

But their alltime best song will always be California Stars, off the Mermaid Avenue vol 1 Woody Guthrie cd.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Monday, 7 November 2005 20:54 (eighteen years ago) link

Trite and gimmicky? Oh, you mean "fun"? Yeah, Summerteeth is a lot more fun.

― I Agree About The Fun Part, Monday, 7 November 2005 21:27 (eighteen years ago) link

This album is still boring as shit.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 7 November 2005 21:39 (eighteen years ago) link

Bro's before hoze, yo...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 7 November 2005 23:11 (eighteen years ago) link

Yeah, Summer Teeth has its moments. It's just kinda dopey ... I mean, one song sounds like an outtake from Chicago 12 or something.

― Chris O., Tuesday, 8 November 2005 01:00 (eighteen years ago) link

I went back and listened to this yesterday because it seemed like good music for being in a really shit mood to. The first song's great, the middle section (specifically between Jesus etc and Pot Kettle Black) is pretty fantastic, but the other songs are just kind of there. The dopiest songs on Summerteeth are the ones I think have aged the best (except She's A Jar, which is a bit timeless, maybe).

― edward o (edwardo), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 01:08 (eighteen years ago) link

The first song is still the best thing they've done by a lunar eclipse.

otm

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 01:21 (eighteen years ago) link

It's been a long time since I've seen such a discrepancy between greatness and mediocrity. "Jesus, Etc" is a classic, one of the most beautiful songs of the last 10 years, and like all classics, seems effortless. Then there's muddled nonsense like "Heavy Metal Bands" and "Ashes of American Flags" which inspire nothing but growls and the gnashing of teeth from yours truly.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 01:32 (eighteen years ago) link

I like "Heavy Metal Drummer", but it would be better if it didn't have that awful, tinny, hook-hiding production. Just do it as a proper pop song, you guys, like you did on the first three albums, idiots...

― edward o (edwardo), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 01:33 (eighteen years ago) link

"Heavy Metal Drummer" is the worst song on this album, and possibly the worst Wilco song. "Radio Cure" may be my favorite. And yes, "Jesus, etc" is one of the prettiest songs ever.

― billstevejim (billstevejim), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 05:08 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm not going to argue about Wilco on the internet.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 06:29 (eighteen years ago) link

"Radio Cure" and "I'm Trying to..." be ownin'

― Baaderonixx says DANCE!! TAKE A CHANCE!!! are you ready for... TRUE ROMANCE (baa, Tuesday, 8 November 2005 12:46 (eighteen years ago) link

Edward O has it right here ... while I would put this record on my top 5 for the decade, the bells and whistles and goofy unneeded touches (like the piano tinkle in Heavy Metal Drummer) keep it from being a towering masterpiece. The songs themselves are extraordinary.

― Chris O., Wednesday, 9 November 2005 00:30 (eighteen years ago) link

I really disliked this album for a long long time, and then just the other night I heard it in a bar and it started to grow on me.

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 04:39 (eighteen years ago) link

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