Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

in general, yes, but as ilx's resident Wilco stan i can say will full confidence that Yankee Hotel Foxtrot truly is the beginning and end of pop music

ksh, how do you rate Radio Cure and what is the best song from this album in your estimation?

But didn't they have a song called Pop is Dead?

― Otherwise you're kinda being comp-lit in his racism. (kkvgz)

Wilco's big hit was "Exit Music (For A Documentary Film)" iirc

"Radio Cure" is solid for sure -- it's like a later career "Dash 7" -- but the best song on the record is, probably, a three-way tie between "Ashes of American Flags," "Poor Places," and "Reservations"

Wilco's best record is a ghost is born, though, so fuck all this noise

live version of "Ashes of American Flags" from Kicking Television, ending in a not-on-the-studio-record Nels Cline guitar solo is also quite excellent

best track on this album is either IATTBYH or Poor Places

best Wilco song is Handshake Drugs

science

best Wilco song is Handshake Drugs

LJ, you are a good dude, but this is COMPLETELY FUCKIN WRONG

also Less Than You Think is awesome

I may be expressing them to rile, but I actually hold these opinions

LTYT -> The Late Greats is some sequencing genius

Radio Cure is best Wilco song

xpost

"Less Than You Think Is" awesome, and the fact that it goes straight into "The Late Greats" to end the record is great

the best Wilco song, though, is "At Least That's What You Said"

Ha ha ha! Good humour abounds because the sun's out and it's a Friday... but really everyone knows Summerteeth is the album right?

awesome record, definitely their third best though, even if it is the first in their three album run of essential records

Still haven't heard Summerteeth

the best Wilco song, though, is "At Least That's What You Said"

^^^^^^^^

Here's the ksh guide to Wilco's discography:

Essential: Summerteeth, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, A ghost is born
Excellent: Kicking Television
Patchy: Being There
Slight, but good: AM
Eh, not awful but whatever -- some good tunes, at least: Wilco (the album)
Are you fuckin kiddin me dogg?: Sky Blue Sky

Actually, I'd roundly agree with this^

Being as I agree with four of those placements entirely and haven't heard any of the others, I may have to hear Summerteeth

Opening track of Sky Blue Sky is quite good, IIRC - shame about the rest (Wilco (the album) extends this to the first FOUR tracks before sputtering into mediocrity)

Can I please see the ksh guide to Sleigh Bells' discography?

LJ, get thee Summerteeth. their most poppy record, but still really weird

ilxor dogg, it'd just be "dope debut" O_O

I quite like Sky Blue Sky, but most of the time, I skip the mid-tempo plod of the intro/verses and just fast-forward to the guitar solos.

So you listen to, like, five minutes of the record?

the song 'impossible germany' on repeat morelike

That and the closing track are the only good songs on that record iirc.

http://sickmouthy.com/2013/05/12/wilco-yankee-hotel-foxtrot-2002/

Good piece. I think this album has aged well, actually. I've always been impressed with its relative austerity, especially following the denser "Summerteeth." There's a lot of space on this disc, which helps casts its moving parts in stark relief. The tour behind it, before the album had officially been released but after it leaked, was a remarkable thing. The date I saw in Anaheim was particularly memorable. Totally respectful crowd, Tweedy tearing himself apart, people crying (!), a novel sense of community at singing along to songs everyone had heard but no one had released yet. I've never seen many shows quite like that, and given that rehab was not too far off in Tweedy's future, he probably couldn't handle too many more like that, either.

i agree with you re. the austerity of this album. i think it really is a masterpiece, whatever people think of wilco's indie sincerity/corniness. the fact of the cover and that it was first streamed in September 2001 always leant it a kind of gothic aura to me that has been enhanced with repeated listens. it is a lonely album.

in their top three albums, with a ghost is born and summerteeth

i'd take it over summerteeth probably

coincidentally I sold my copy about two weeks ago

i think summerteeth > YHF > a ghost is born, but they are all good. i don't feel strongly about wilco's other efforts, really.

Being There may remain my fave, but there's a confluence of reasons why YHF is special/notable.

check out some of the demos too if you have time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdZLroTtYDo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb6ZwRcyxjc

cool, thanks, i'll listen to them when mad men's over

there's a bunch more shit out there but that's what i found in two seconds on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MSYgSSS-Lg

there are two different sets of demos for yankee hotel foxtrot floating around on the internet, one called something like "engineer's demos" or whatever. (do a quick google search for "yankee hotel foxtrot demos", and you'll find some shit.) the songs in the first two videos i posted above are, i think, probably from those volumes. the third song might be too, but it was also released by the band at some point.

this might be worth checking out: http://captainsdead.com/yankee-hotel-foxtrot-demos.html

For those who aren't from here, the building on the cover, btw, is Marina City, aka Corncob Towers, or Bike Handle Towers, which is just a condo building (designed by Bertrand Goldberg) overlooking the river downtown, right by the House of Blues and a bunch of touristy restaurants.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWtZ_C0DS1s

The towers are famous in architecture circles.

Jesus, etc might be my favorite song of all time.

I heard it in the supermarket last week.

probably just on half of these songs are spectacular. have never quite unconditionally tapped into the merits of the final two tracks, and that's probably why i'd fall short of calling the album a masterpiece. it does hold a very dear place in my heart though. despite its devastating subject matter and those really unsettling metaphors that enliven everyday struggle with a kind of poetic gravitas, it's interestingly a less harrowing listen track by track than either Summerteeth or A Ghost is Born. but if i'm looking for a quick, abridged fix of YHF's virtues, i'll cut straight to "Kamera" or maybe "Pot Kettle Black" these days. sadly burnt out on some of the rest.

i really like this record -- summerteeth > YHF > a ghost is born is probably right, but a pretty great run of records however you rank em. i saw wilco several times on this tour and yeah, it was kind of a special thing, in that the band hadn't quite figured out how to play the YHF stuff onstage but they were reaching for greatness in an inspired way. there was a vulnerability there that the lineup these days (as powerful as they are) doesn't have.

I'm not a dad, but felt like one tonight while playing this record.

heard Kamera in a potbelly today