Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002) (1 Viewer)

[pete]

Couldn't get into this AT ALL

 

[rettucs]

i'm giving this my full attention for the third listen, eyes closed, in the dark

is it possible this album put nooly to sleep and she still hasn't woken up yet?

 

[nooleen]

ummmm i never got back to the rest of the album

i still have the youtube tab open though so i'm definitely going to do it

 

[GO]

Im gonna go at this now.Never heard a Wilco album.

Dont even think I ever heard one of their songs tbh

 

[GO]

Actually this is a bit watery for me

 

[GO]

Background music.

This is about as over rated as anything Ive ever heard

 

[ernesto]

Great record

 

[My_Pilot]

Wow, surprising lack of love for this. I think it's an amazing album. Nuanced, subtle, very atmospheric and evocative. An air of what you might call quiet, resigned desperation throughout (aside from Heavy Metal Drummer which I've always regarded as a little bit of light relief and, actually, a bit out of place.). Production is class on it as well, quite spare and sparse for a nominally "rock" record. Also contains Jesus, Etc which as mentioned above in the thread is Wilco's best song. Most people would kill to write a song like that.

Some responses to the critiques above. "Pavement lite" (or words to that effect) was bandied about. Er, Wilco have never been or tried to be anything like Pavement. Totally different band.

Criticisms of the supposedly bad vocals: ah come on. This is the magnificent world of "indie rock" here. If you've ever heard and liked an album by anyone like Pavement, Dinosaur Jr., Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, Grandaddy, Neil Young, not to even mention more abrasive stuff like PIL, Joy Division or The Fall (to name just a very few) you will have heard vocals much much "worse" than the vocals on this album. This genre (I used the word loosely) of music is practically defined by wayward vocals. And anyway the vocals on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot are amazing.

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

Criticisms of the supposedly bad vocals: ah come on. This is the magnificent world of "indie rock" here. If you've ever heard and liked an album by anyone like Pavement, Dinosaur Jr., Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, Grandaddy, Neil Young, not to even mention more abrasive stuff like PIL, Joy Division or The Fall (to name just a very few) you will have heard vocals much much "worse" than the vocals on this album. This genre (I used the word loosely) of music is practically defined by wayward vocals. And anyway the vocals on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot are amazing.

Depends how you interpret bad. If you mean bad as in not typical classical/Broadway/mainstream pop then yes, Tweedy's in the same category as all the acts you mention. If you mean bad as in ineffectual and detracting from the vibe they're going for, then they're nothing like those acts you mention (although maybe Grandaddy, I don't really know them).

Just for comparison's sake, you mention Neil Young and Wilco have done a cover of Buffalo Springfield's "Broken Arrow" and even though I think it's a weak Neil Young performance on the original, Tweedy is light years behind (I can't find a better quality video but there's a pro shot Musicares tribute to Young that features it that Sky Arts show from time to time):

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The band recreate the sound really well but Tweedy's voice is definitely a weak link there. He never sounds genuine to me, he sounds like a bad soap actor being an indie singer.

Also, here's a video of them playing Pavement's "Cut Your Hair" and sounding like Pavement-lite. I can't remember which tracks I was listening to when I heard bits of Pavement seep through but it was in the first 4-5 songs on YHF.

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[Denny Oubidoux]

There's definitely a wretched malkmusesque drawl in the wilco vocals. He should stop it and sing properly.