Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

not very interesting or energetic

I would give this 0 stars if I could.

Just not good. Whiny, boring, bad lyrics, worse vocals, drab nothingness of music. And at some point I will encounter another one of their albums on this list, yieeeesh. Wilco and this album are if Modest Mouse had to fight the aliens from SpaceJam (The Monstars) and when lose, they lose all their talent and any ability to feel emotions. 1.2/10 59/1001

I just listened to this and I already forgot everything about the album. I don't think I've ever listened to anything so lacklustre before. At least bad albums are bad, this is just....beige nothingness.

Horrível

Nothing grinds my gears more than a singer who sounds like they're bored while singing

Maybe I'm not the target audience for this album but I couldn't get into this at all, it was too slow and it didn't grab my attention. From a quick Google search on Wilco, I found they were listed as alt-rock but I think they're much more alt than rock as alt-rock is a genre I usually enjoy. The bright spots in the album were the instrumentals and the lowest point was definitely capping off what I would consider to be a snoozefest with a 7 minute song. Overall yankee hotel foxtrot is more boring than bad, but honestly, I'd rather cringe than yawn. Best song: Jesus Etc. Worst Song: Reservations Skips: The whole album

This is so unremarkable that I'm inclined to believe that this albums inclusion on this list is the result of someone's having been paid off. I mean really. I make it a point to listen to each of these albums at least once through, but this one was a real challenge to not skip the aggressively boring tracks. 1/5

opinión choteada x el pitchforkcore, pero pue que legítimamente sea el mejor disco de los dosmiles. al chilazo. me acuerdo que la primera vez que lo oí, i am trying to break your heart me impactó tanto que el resto del disco se me hizo hasta simplón. dije chingà xq lo demás son canciones normales jsj y esa primera rola no deja de impresionarme y ser mi favorita pero el resto del disco se me ha ido revelando, tanto en los detallitos de la producción, llena de espacios ruiditos raros, la orquestación tan rica en timbres y texturas, y las composiciones preciosas que sostienen todo, melodías tan claras que se pueden dar x sentado y tan directas que se puede desnaturalizar todo lo que las rodea sin que se desdibujen. una chulada, no tiene progenitora, etc.

Where do I even begin. I loved this whole album!! Incredible!! It was so interesting and different. The music and the lyric lyrics went together so well throughout. It was art and it was beautiful. New favorite band.

One of the best indie rock albums ever. So many fantastic songs on here that it's genuinely not possible for me to pick a favourite.

Tweedy and company’s infamous YHF is a very good album, maybe their most famous, with a lot of baggage. I personally am more of a Son Volt head over Wilco, but that’s because Trace is an undeniable six star wildly underrated album. And for anyone wondering, my favorite Uncle Tupelo album is Anodyne, with No Depression as a close second. With that out of the way, this is a five star masterpiece. Over years of continued listening, it’s probably fallen to third on my personal favorite Wilco albums, with Summerteeth and A Ghost Is Born just ahead. I can whisper to the bands output following Wilco (The Album), as most of my passion for Wilco starts to waiver at this point. Fortunately again, I owned this album prior to listening to it for this exercise. In this case, I have the Super Deluxe box set, which I will be commenting on here. Wilco are almost a reminder of Record Store Days past and my years as a record store clerk. My ex boss would put on Wilco with some regularity. A safe haven of music of the day was usually the mix in A song like Heavy Metal Drummer off the remastered version of the album plays like an indelible part of biographical musical and personal history more than a song. It shreds, and Tommy Lee and Pamela should count themselves as lucky they’re MAYBE inhabiting the Wilco universe. Some of the highlights from the set include multiple LPs titled either American Aquarium: Building YHF, Here Comes Everybody: Building YHF, or The Unified Theory of Everything: Building YHF, and a 3 LP set from Wilco circa 2002 at a prior haunt of mine, The Pageant in St. Louis. As for the songs within those three sets, I found Not For The Season (Laminated Cat) on Side G, American Aquarium on Side F and The Good Part on Side I were particularly notable. Songs that made me ask, why wasn’t this on the album? Deeper cuts like A Magazine Called Sunset and Has Anybody Seen My Pencil? show the poppier and more avant-garde sides of Wilco, respectively. There are new arrangements of album cuts like I’m The Man Who Loves You on Side F and Radio Cure & War On War on Side I that were standouts. Overall, this was an amazing deluxe version of one of my favorite bands most essential albums. I was thrilled to revisit it.

Ah yes, one of my favourite albums ever, and one that's universally acclaimed as one of the greatest of all time. Now to simply take a big sip of this coffee and read the nuanced reviews on good old 1001albumsgenerator.com...

Truly one of the greatest albums of the last 30 years, an absolute classic

What perfect timing. Just saw Wilco last weekend. To me, this is a perfect record. It hit at just the right time in my life where I was first getting into independent music and this was the perfect mix of light experimentation and pristine songwriting that cracked open a new world of music for me. I can hardly put on a critical lens for this album, it's just... part of my life, and always will be. I still love it as much as when I first heard it.

5/10

Great, when I first listened to it 20 years ago. Still great now.

Start with great folk songs then try your best to ruin them by adding… -a bunch of weird drones -Tempo which drifts all over the place -Lyrics bordering on non-sensical -Vocals which consistently sound strained and miss every note -Synths which clip the mixing desk -Guitar solos in a different key to everything else -Drums which sound like a jazz drummer from a completely different band who just happened to be recording next door -Piano thuds about twice the volume any sane producer would mix them -shortwave radio samples The result is an even better album than you started with. A standout in the era of quantised snap-to-grid, compressed to hell “professional” recordings. The kind of thing AI would never create. And I bloody love it.

This is one of my all time favorite albums….had to listen to it twice! It goes to the deserted island with my other top 5 albums of all time 🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸

I'm gonna add this to the list of albums that made me think "how the hell did I not listen to this album sooner?" and listen to a lot more Wilco to atone for my sins. That's been happening with a lot of indie bands as of recent. My boyfriend got me into Animal Collective at some point and now I have four records by them. Anyways, I love the name of this album. Referencing The Conet Project of all things is incredible, and they even sample a Conet Project recording in Poor Places. I also love the music itself. It's that really simple country-ish kind of sound I've been spending way too much time looking for more of and coming up short.

Man I don't even know what to say. One of those classic albums I've probably listened to dozens of times in my life. It really grows on you too. 10/10

It took me a couple of listens to appreciate this, despite the moments of obvious loveliness such as Jesus, Etc. I had very much enjoyed Being There when that came out but this didn't quite have the immediate charm of that more bar band sounding record. Even so, I find it hard to understand the reviews here that call it boring. Surely it is obvious there is a lot going on in these songs, even if you don't care for the slightly subdued mood they have.

Foxtrot India Victor Echo Sierra Tango Alpha Romeo Sierra

This record is a great balance of fun, mystery, and yearning. Radio Cure and Reservations are so full of heart, but Jesus Etc. and Heavy Metal Drummer are so fun. Love this one.

Haven’t even listened yet today, but this is such a landmark indie record for me that it’s got me drafting my thoughts at 05:30. Instrumentation is so good on this. Album could be boring at a glance - and really is if you don’t get to know it a bit - but I’ve never heard anything like the opening track. Stop and listen to IATTBYH at some points and it sounds like total discordant chaos, but then these elements come together with a bit of guitar and piano - just a few chords for the whole song I think - and it sounds so good, before falling apart again in the outro, apt for a song I think is entirely about alcoholism ruining a relationship. Lyricism is fantastic on this track too “Still I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t easy” to name one of many simple but great lines on this album Then you dig into the album a bit and discover songs like “Jesus, Etc”, a crazy coincidence to have nearly came out on 9/11 and have lyrics referencing tall buildings shaking (along with the album cover of that building in Chicago, mental) I really love the more upbeat Heavy Metal Drummer too, I find it really catchy, as well as the way the prior track sort of glitchily transitions into it, and haven’t even really dug into some of the rest of the album which I love nearly as much

So excited to see this album come up today! I have too many favorite songs to listen them all.

An outstanding record. Every song is it's own world in an album that creates its own universe. It's a near perfect blend of songwriting and studio experimentation.

I am an American dixie cup drinker, I assassin down the avenue If that doesn’t hook you, you are on the wrong album and that’s okay. Along with Kid A, the first great album of the 21st century and along with Kid A, one of the last great rock albums of the 21st century. I think few artists of the 21st century have the lyrical abilities of Jeff Tweedy and was correctly listed as one of the greatest living American songwriters amongst the likes of Carole King and Bob Dylan. Jesus etc., written before 9/11, somehow captured post 9/11 America in the most tragic and beautiful way. Sure the “tall building shake, voices escape…” but how lovely to capture one’s love “you were right about the stars, each one is a setting sun.” Or the simple observations on this album: The cash machine, is blue and green, for a hundred in 20’s, and a small service fee, I could spend three dollars, and 63 cents, diet coca cola, and unlit cigarretes…” Dense but melodic. Experimental, deconstructionists Americana that you can play in your backyard. Every song flows. Not a skip on the record. Top 10, 5, of the last 25 years? Obviously a 5 on this list.

An album I was very familiar with before this generator. Wonderful album, so much depth with some really great songs.

Not much I can add here that hasn't already been written about this album. It's a hands-down masterpiece.

I was surprised by the number of negative reviews on this album, but then I remembered that I didn't like it at first. It took me a good 10 years to come around to this album. It's not perfect, but it's really good! 4.5 stars.

Overrated a bit? Yeah, maybe but man, is this record cozy with some decent experimentation shifting into more Lennon/McCartney-isms. Finely tuned pop that became a strange comfort for Gen X, Elder Millenial post 9/11 trauma. This also might be the first time in a I'm hearing this album from start to finish and not burned on some cruddy CD-R prone to skipping. Hits even better coming back after a long while.

Before we get started, I love this album & think it's one of the best pieces of art this century. I'd heard of Wilco & got a song here or there but wasn't till my cross-country road trip after college that I got this album. I was visiting Cousin Vickie in Chicago & had an amazingly fun time being a new adult in the big city with her. She asked what I was listened to and got out her big book of CD's (a staple in those days). "You have Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, right?!?" and gave me the album (burned cd haha... another staple). It was the PERFECT soundtrack for driving across America. Progressive, risk taking Americana that's fresh and still sounds great.

No private session used for Spotify. It must have been 2004 where I would walk about a mile to my work, grab a coffee and start cranking out code. For that first album of the day there were a dozen or so albums I would iterate through. This album was one of them, there are a couple of songs I don't care for, but those are overshadowed by the excellent songs and the flow of this album.

I Am Trying to Break Your Heart War on War Jesus, Etc. Ashes of American Flags Heavy Metal Drummer I'm the Man Who Loves You Poor Places

Beautiful

Just gorgeous. Gave me slight Elliot Smith vibes, but with more complex and experimental instrumentation. It even had me in the feels, intensified by the fact I was listening whilst walking through the rain. Definitely need to add this to my rotation, and I've no idea how it's eluded me for so long. Beautiful album. Favourite track: War On War Least favourite track: Poor Places

Some folks realized this was an instant classic as soon as it came out. It’s taken me some time but its timelessness is undeniable.

Their masterpiece.

This is one of the most meaningful albums to me. So much to say about it. The story of its creation is well known. Check out the movie if you haven’t seen it. It’s also known as America’s answer to OK Computer. But to me the beauty of this album is how well it tells a narrative about communication. The title references a way to communicate. How we as people fail to communicate with each other, leading to heartbreak. How we find ways to get around the communication blocks we put up against each other and find connection and love. Even the music is searching for a new way to communicate. The weird noises that become melody. For those of you hearing this for the first time, I urge you to give it a couple listens. Like OK Computer or Kid A, or like The Soft Bulletin, it is a bit unconventional but has some of the most beautiful music produced in the rock era.

this is awesome unsurprisingly. for sure going into the rotation i think it's skipless. and my friend grace is a fan! i love when you can tell that artists you like were influenced by a certain album and i definitely felt that while listening to this i listened while baking banana muffins favorite tracks: war on war, jesus etc, heavy metal drummer, pot kettle black, poor places

One of the best albums of the early 2000s. Great melodies and arrangements, and Glenn Kotche’s drumming makes every song.

Very interesting album from a genre I literally have never had on my radar. Bookmarked for repeats later on

Forgot how much of a banger this album is. Saw them on tour when this album was out. Good mems screaming I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.

The best Wilco album

Makes being depressed awesome

This record created quite a bit of buzz and controversy during its creation. The record company refused to release and there was quite a fight to get it out. I don't quite understand the resistance. There is certainly quite a bit of ambition in the arrangements and production. That is most evident in the very busy and demanding production of "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart' but it can be heard throughout the record. At the same time, there are a really beautiful set of songs produced by that process and a few of them feel immediately like they can be hits. A great album. As much as I love this album, I might recommend starting with Being There or Summerteeth.

Perfection, etc.

Simply a masterpiece. If this is what it sounds like when they’re trying to break my heart, I can only imagine what it’d be like for them to try to win me over.

A strange, disorientating mix of alt-country, electronic glitches, odd instrumentation, dadist lyrics, unconventional structures and it all works perferctly. Best Tracks: I Am Trying To Break Your Heart; I'm The Man Who Loves You; Reservations

#6 YHF is an old favorite of mine, and I was glad to give it another listen here. It is the perfect mix of Americana and Indie, with plenty of experimental elements laced throughout. It should really be listened to with a good set of headphones to fully take in all of the background layers and sounds. It has a fair amount of lore surrounding its recording and release too, which adds another layer to it. Every track has its place in building the bigger picture of the album, and it's hard to pick just one or two highlights. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart is a perfect opener. Radio Cure is haunting, angsty, and beautiful all at once, with so many sparse layers and sounds quietly carrying it in the background. Jesus, Etc. is the best song on the album, and possibly Wilco's discography. Poor Places leading into Reservations is a great way to close it all out. Overall, a fantastic album that only gets better with more listens. 5 stars.

I loved Summer Teeth when it came out, so at the time this was kind of disapointing. I still think it is the lesser album, but still great. 4.5 rounded up Heard before? Yes Owned: Yes: 72/287 (25%) Will I get: Already have

Wow I'm blown away

An excellent album. One of my favorites. Thanks for reminding me. 5 "happy as a lark" stars. Now back to listening to Fred Neil.

Best Songs: Radio Cure Heavy Metal Drummer

En Jezus huilde niet

Over unieke platen gesproken. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, het album wat het label niet wilde uitbrengen omdat het niet 'commercieel levensvatbaar' was. Gedetailleerd en bright (ik kan geen Nederlands woord vinden wat passend genoeg is), de perfecte balans tussen Americana en experimentele soundscapes.

I’m the man who loves… this album

Another favourite band

Supposed to be released on September 11, 2001, features two towers on its cover art, includes lyrics like "Tall buildings shake" and "Skyscrapers scraping together"... Now I'm not saying they did it, but they didn't *not* do it. Conspiracy aside, this album is really really great. I was fortunate to get their Mermaid Avenue project with Billy Bragg before this, and it left me wanting to hear more. There's a lot of character and special details that make it hard to describe as it has elements of ambient, synthpop, indie folk, alt rock, noise rock, and more. It feels like a 4, but honestly it checks all the boxes I require for a 5. Every song is great, it's very unique and set apart from any other album I've heard in a way that kinda blew me away, and when it ended I immediately wanted to start again. I feel that the more time I spend with this one, the more and more I'll love it.

Tweedy seems to be channeling his inner Thom Yorke, experimenting with odd background sounds and instruments and the like while simultaneously penning some of the most meaningful and midwestern rock songs. Wilco's version of OK Computer. A masterpiece.

Gonna be hard pressed to find folks of certain time and place who don't think this is one of the great all time records. Absolutely legendary.

I’ve… got reser-vaaay-shuns

An all-timer for me. This listen I enjoyed the silences and builds of each song. Often the build earlier, peel back to simplicity, only to build again in different ways. Fun and surprising instrumentation throughout--layers on layers, my favorite type of album.

I wish I had an insight to share. I don't, though this is a record that I sort of ration out my listening, for fear of being that guy that listens to Wilco all the time.

No podcast

A favorite of mine for a milestone listen. The only flaw (I feel) is Poor Places. I think that song was always my stopping point because I don't recall ever hearing Reservations and it might be my favorite on this album. 5/5

A common critical discussion topic in the late 90s and early 00s was who would be the American Radiohead. A band that could be forward-thinking, even “experimental” while also tapping into the zeitgeist. Initial candidates even included Sunny Day Real Estate, perhaps understandable given Enigk’s soaring vocals and their roots in something akin to an alt rock scene before gracefully evolving into arena-friendly rock. But, they could never quite get it together as people and had label troubles on top of label troubles. Enter Wilco, who also had personnel difficulties and more famously, label troubles. But Wilco was born out of that dynamic and Tweedy and Margherita deftly navigated the few ups and many downs of the great label contractions at the turn of the century. Wilco themselves gradually opened up the Tupelo sound to variety and by the Mermaid Ave sessions, were letting in what lesser folks call soundscapes which I suppose passes for experimentation. And then thanks to a horrible terrorist attack, unwittingly tapped into the zeitgeist. YHF and Summerteeth presaged the 00s roots/Americana explosion, firmly situating Wilco in a space largely of their own making, occasionally nodding to folk/alt country roots, but largely charting their own path. Tweedy may have never found a writing/sparring partner who best complimented his talents again like Bennett, but this was a clear peak for their pairing, and would’ve only yielded a different kind of acrimony had they stayed together. It’s a career best and despite a pretty impressive follow-up, it’s perfectly fine to hold YHF in the highest regard.

I’ve loved this album a long time. This one may be getting a nostalgia boost, but who cares.

Oh yeah I'm vibing 😎

I love this so much. Fxck! i saved the entire album😭I played it twice

An incredible achievement. One of the greatest albums of all time.

So good they made a documentary about it! Genuinely a personal favorite and one of the most important albums of the early aughts.

It’s as good as advertised.

4.5/5

This album is an incredible peak for one of the great American rock bands of the last 30 years. It's a really cool blend of Americana and art rock that makes it sound timeless and kind of futuristic at the same time. For me, this is Tweedy and Bennett's best collection as a short lived songwriting team. It's a melancholy album at times, but there's also some wonderful bursts of joy and hopefulness. There's not a weak track in the bunch, though my minor complaint is "Poor Places" would've been a great closer. Highlights for me are "Kamera", "Radio Cure", "Jesus, etc.", "Heavy Metal Drummer", "I'm The Man Who Loves You", and "Pot Kettle Black". Easy 5 stars and one of the GOATs.

One of my top 50 albums. No need to defend it here

Album 15 3/19/26 One night after a dive into the limited number of Olivia Tremor Control live performances available on youtube, I once found a surprisingly faithful cover of my favorite song at the time " the next thing that autoplayed was a somehow even more chillingly accurate "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" by the same group. They turned out to be called Luna Tango, the band club of a Japanese university. I performed in and led such an organization at my alma mater of SIU Carbondale so it was that much more relatable of a performance. Wilco, especially latter day Wilco singles, have been part of my Chicago suburbs musical background for many years. I'm a little surprised Wilco's earlier albums than this one are well represented but nothing after 2002 is listed, so I want to shout out the Nels Cline years, Wilco (The Album) (2009), and Star Wars (2016) for being awesome albums. Opener I Am Trying to Break Your Heart is a perfect 5-star album tone setter, and then the album's pace builds to War on War, and peaks with Jesus, Etc. I can never resist singing along to that one with a little vocal fry and melodrama. My two favorite second half songs are the sincere and also personally relatable Heavy Metal Drummer, and the sweet elephant 6 style horns and avant-garde guitar blasts of I'm the Man Who Loves You. I usually misremember the album as ending there, a little because the last 3 tracks that bring the album from 40 to to 51 mins are not as strong, but also because of the full-circle moment of the "I'm the man that loves you" shout at the end of the first track. Most underrated tracks are probably Pot Kettle Black and Kamera. The album ends with a decent closer Reservations and a song-length sound collage. The sensible politics, the good acoustic/electric blend of instrumentation, and poetic lyrics make this a solid 5 to my ears.

Wilco is one of my all-time favorites and this is their masterpiece. Easiest 5 for me so far.

yk what hell yeah i enjoyed

Another solid album by a solid band. The fact that they are rooted in country is incredible, because the end product is something so different and incredible. Lirically, musically and vocally just beautiful. It isn't perfect, but it's an incredible album experience nontheless. 4.5/5

Americana gold

Birthday listen. An easy 5 stars.

This is one of those albums that works well in the background, and yet interesting enough for an intentional listen on headphones.

I have this album

I like quite a few eras of Wilco’s catalogue. The AM, Being There, and Summerteeth records are badass, the Ghost is Born record after this one was a little more challenging for me to get into, but great once I settled into it. I kind of lost track after that record. But Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was kind of the pinnacle of Wilco’s work for me. The first couple listens were really challenging for me 25 years ago, but some time during the third spin everything about this record “clicked” for me, and I think it spent 2 months in my cd player on repeat. I still listen to it with great relish. It’s pretty damn close to a perfect record for me. 10/10

Best Track - "Jesus Etc."

7 stars out of 5

Jamais écouté avant. Un album qui parvient à paraître bordélique tout en restant cohérent. Une prouesse de songwriting sous influence bruitiste, presque psychédélique. Très fort. Top : Jesus, Etc. Flop : Reservations

Reminds me of my first apartment at the covey. Oscar loved it! Fave is Jesus, Etc.

i like this.

For me to discuss what this album means to me, I have to first discuss what Wilco is to me as a band, which will, unfortunately, require a slightly long digression into what Wilco is not and what they were once understood to be. Everybody got that? Because this could get really heated. In 2007, Rob Mitchum reviewed Wilco's sixth album, Sky Blue Sky for Pitchfork. The review was, characteristically for Pitchfork, more negative than that of most other critics. He rated the album 5.2/10 and dismissed its "unapologetic straightforwardness," stating that it "nakedly exposes the dad-rock gene Wilco has always carried but courageously attempted to disguise." Not only does the review essentially dismiss a band of dudes in their 40s for not making music expressly designed to appeal to 20-something-microbrew enthusiast, it also attempts to retroactively discredit that band’s whole body of work. This vitriol, if I can psychoanalyze the mid-2000s hipster brain, seems to stem from a sense of betrayal. You see, Wilco's run of albums from Summerteeth --> Yankee Hotel Foxtrot --> A Ghost is Born were "weird" and "experimental" (you'll never know how much I hate that word) and had established Wilco as America's answer to Radiohead. It doesn't matter that Wilco themselves never really intended to push music in brave new directions and were, in fact, a midwestern alt-country band that just happened to dip their toes in the waters of indie rock for a brief period before moving on (I call this a "reverse Pavement"). Because they happened to feature somewhat unorthodox instrumentation on a few songs, they must have been making Kid A part 2. What self-styled purists called "real" Wilco was, in fact, just a phase, with Sky Blue Sky marking a return to the sound of albums like A.M. and Being There, albeit with more proficient musicianship. Mitchum expressed his regret at the review in 2019. He, quite literally 3 weeks ago, was on a podcast discussing the subject. In 2021, Pitchfork quietly changed its position on Sky Blue Sky, calling it "essential" and rating it an 8/5/10. Jeff Tweedy has consistently voiced his displeasure with the dad rock tag, calling it "unflattering and hurtful" in 2014 and "reductive, ageist, gatekeeping" in 2023. While promoting Sukierae, the 2014 literal-dad-rock-because-it-was-just-him-and-his-son album, he insisted that Wilco were never cool or, at least, never tried to be cool. And while it's easy to knee-jerk and call him (and, yes, me) thin-skinned for being bothered by internet memes, I think there's no lazier form of criticism than being dismissive of things for being too popular with the "wrong" people. Even if we start from the premise that it's somehow unusual that a band of middle-aged men is especially popular with middle-aged men, to act like that invalidates them as artists is lazy. Just as it's lazy when the rockists on this site talk shit about Taylor Swift for being too popular with young girls, it's lazy when people boast that they'll never watch Star Wars because it's for neckbeards, it's lazy when the worst kind of person on Twitter calls it a "red flag" for a dude to enjoy Fight Club or The Catcher in the Rye. It’s all just a way to say, “this thing is popular but I refuse to engage with it, as it is primarily enjoyed by people to whom I feel morally and / or intellectually superior.” You don't have to like everything and, I would actually really strongly encourage you to not like everything, because if everyone had the same tastes then everything would look, sound, and taste the same a la the gray blob episode of The Fairly Oddparents. But I would also really encourage you to engage with art on its own merits or shut the fuck up. My own relationship with Wilco began with this album, included in some listicle about “times bands totally pwned their labels” (more on that later) or something to that effect. Like some others we've discussed, I can remember exactly where and when I heard this album. I initially classified it as "pretty good, not great" and "overrated" because I was a teenage boy and thought being contrarian and edgy made me cool. I too fell into the trap of comparing Wilco to Radiohead and, even worse, I fell into the trap of thinking this was in any way an original thought. In 2013, as a high school graduation present, my brother got me tickets to the Americanarama Festival of Music, headlined by my forever GOAT Bob Dylan and featuring support from Wilco and My Morning Jacket. Wilco was the act on the card for which I had the least enthusiasm because, as you would know if you read the paragraph above, I had declared them "overrated." They, in short, won me over through a stellar cover of George Harrison’s “Isn’t It a Pity,” where they were joined by Jim James, and through multiple subsequent concert experiences I have declared them to be the best touring band I've ever seen. Whether it's entirely true or not, they also became my default answer when asked who is my "favorite" band just because they're the only constant presence in the Top 3. The fact that I didn't immediately love this album represents, I think, one of the most radical shifts in my identity over my 31 years of life. It was the first album I ever bought on vinyl, and later incorporating it into my wedding decorations. The CD stayed in my old car's CD player for years and is, I think, the only CD I still own. When close friends visit Chicago, I will receive texts with pictures of the Marina City Towers and have been expressly told by someone "When I think of Wilco I think of you." I overcorrected to the point that I had "American aquarium drinker" as my Twitter bio for ages. I'll talk about Yankee Hotel Foxtrot now. If you're still reading this, text me a zebra emoji. The circumstances of this album's creation are, more than anything, probably responsible for its reputation. I'll reiterate, briefly, the three most notable things about this album, in order from least to most interesting. 1). Jeff Tweedy was struggling with addiction and mental health issues. He and Jay Bennett were in the midst of a tremendous falling out, and everyone hated everyone, as captured in the incredible I Am Trying to Break Your Heart documentary, which at times feels almost like a horror movie because of how uncomfortable the levels of passive aggression can be. To psychoanalyze again, it's more likely than not that a decent amount of his resentment toward the whole "dad rock" thing stems from the fact that his "good" music was made at such a low point in his life and the music made when he was in a much better place gets shat upon for being "dull" (read: too earnest). 2). Wilco turned in the album to their label, Reprise, with the intention of releasing on September 11, 2001 (an important date to remember!) who hated it so much that they refused to release it. Wilco managed to negotiate their release from the label and take the album with them. They offered it as a free stream on their website a couple of weeks later and people loved it. So, Wilco negotiated a deal with Nonesuch Records to actually release the album in April. Nonesuch and Reprise were both imprint labels of Warner Bros and, thus, Warner Bros famously "paid for the album twice." 3). The 9/11 of it all. Some of this album is so clearly about 9/11, and yet it also literally cannot possibly be about 9/11. Remember, the album was actually scheduled to be released ON September 11, 2001, meaning it was written, recorded, mixed, and sequenced prior. Because it was officially released later, it became "common knowledge" that album was intended to comment on 9/11 and the US response thereto. Jeff Tweedy was viewed as the Chicago suburbanite alt-rock answer to Toby Keith. The two towers on the cover, songs like "War on War" and "Ashes of American Flags," lyrics like "tall buildings shake, voices escape singing sad sad songs" and “voices whine, skyscrapers are scraping together.” But fucking all of it is wholly unrelated coincidence. Now, I'll talk about MY thoughts on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. I saw another reviewer say this album never tells the listener how to feel, but forces them to feel a certain way; and I like that. Jeff Tweedy is part of that elite gang of songwriters whose lyrics are as intriguing to me as his sound. Every song on this album has at least one line that makes me do a double take. This album is fucking sad. Even when it sounds happy, it’s through the lens of so much pain. The amount of static and feedback on these songs, combined with the amount of nostalgia, regret, and straight up apocalyptic imagery in these lyrics has always made me feel like I was listening to a broadcast beamed back in time from a bunker at the end of the world. I fully intended to do a write up on every individual song (and actually did write most of it) but if I spotlight everything I’m not really spotlighting anything. And also like 3 of them were just some variation of me saying “this is a perfect pop song” (“Heavy Metal Drummer,” “I’m the Man Who Loves You,” “Pot Kettle Black”). "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" is a bold album opener. It sets a scene but it is not at all a pleasant scene. The lyrics are cryptic and Dylan-esque, I don't know what "I assassin down the avenue" or "take off your band-aid cause I don't believe in touchdowns" means. But then when those lines are juxtaposed with the brutality of "This is not a joke so please stop smiling" and "You were so right when you said I'd been drinking" and "I always thought that if I held you tightly, you would always love me like you did back then" and "Still I'd be lying if I said it wasn't easy" the effect is simultaneously dreamlike and all too realistic. Even when I was in my "this album is overrated" phase, this was a song I would play on repeat. Not because I could relate to it, because I could not then and still cannot now, but because the mindset of this character felt so disturbing but also believable. It’s a similar mindset to “Kamera,” which is a great entry into the canon (that was a pun about cameras) of happy-sounding upbeat songs that are actually pretty fucking bleak. Those opening lines are perfect. “Radio Cure”’s “Distance has no way of making love understandable” is like this grim fucked up inverse to “absence makes the heart grow fonder” and I think it’s probably more accurate. The fewer experiences we share, the harder it is to maintain emotional connections. “Jesus, Etc.” is, I think, the most popular Wilco song, right? Like, if you only know one, it’s that one. And it’s also got some really powerful imagery. Not just the tall buildngs/skyscrapers stuff I mentioned but also, “you were right about the stars, each one is a setting sun” getting called back with “everyone is a burning sun.” It’s actually a pretty heavy song to be thrown in the middle of an album and especially to be as popular as it is. Ending with “Reservations” is a powerful move that demonstrates, at least, attempts at growth. Lyrically, it is essentially “I am trying to do anything BUT break your heart.” Today was the first time in I don’t even know how long that I’ve LISTENED TO Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, as distinguished from having it on in the background while I drive or do chores or whatever and I’m understanding more than ever what makes it so special. The themes of isolation and regret, but also the need for communication and connection.

Has been in regular rotation since college. Perhaps the pinnacle of indie rock. Nearly flawless record melding melodic, Americana sensibility with studio fuckery, obtuse lyrics, and atmospheric beauty.

I fear the 45 year old white men who can’t shut up about Wilco are onto something

great! surprised i hadn't listened to this point

Practically renders all Wilco albums after it meaningless (although I’ve come o enjoy the narcotic hangover that is Ghost). I love it. A ramshackle singular piece, fraying at the edges, threatening to topple from its axis.

Awesome album. One of my all time favorites. Every song is great. It’s crazy because this isn’t even my favorite Wilco album, but it’s a close second or third from an excellent band. I hope A Ghost Is Born is on this list because it’s an even better album.

Damn listened to it very high while drawing a horse and it was a great experience.

Thoughts before listening: One if my favorite bands with their most celebrated album. Not my favorite from them though. I mean it's full of classic songs for sure, I just prefer some of the other records. Review: Okay fine....this is a masterpiece. Even if I prefer Being There or Sky Blue Sky or one of the other 00s era albums, I understand why this is so celebrated. They take the alt country framework and flip it on its head, adding in plenty of avant garde flourishes throughout. Always an interesting album full of classic songs, I'll give this 5-stars.

This is an all-timer for me. At a time when I only wanted to listen to the most obnoxious indie and experimental tracks or most obscure punk bands, this album and "A Ghost Is Born" both managed to pull me in. Honestly, it's what got me to start listening to folksier artists, so I credit it for getting to be less of a pretentious teenager, ha. It's not even that folksy of an album, Wilco's got other ones for that. Regardless, I adore this album. Not a bad track on it. If pushed, I guess I'd say "War on War" is kind of mid. Otherwise, this is pretty much a perfect album for me. I might even consider it a desert island album, in all honestly. Love Wilco. Their early 2000s output was titanic.

Open and opaque. Imagistic lyrics about heartbreak and love, nervousness and bad habits, nostalgia but undercut and unsettled, all delivered directly and earnestly. Simple songs deconstructed, restructured and rearranged.

This is what Auture indie rock aspires to be. Very much the idiosyncratic voice of the creator. Strange and experimental at times. But executed so masterfully that it is also completely accessible.

Having listened to this album, particularly Jesus, Etc quite a few times, I approached with apprehension. Some albums that I once thought I was a big fan of have cropped up on this list, only for me to find that the sheen has worn off. Fortunately for me, YHF was the opposite. Beautiful instrumentation and lyrics drive this peaceful modern classic. RYM: Y (#257) Saved a song: Y

A wonderful blend of noise, country, and rock heralding as the Advent of streaming and online music, this record is monumental and filled to the brim with great layering. 10/10

Wowowow this was fab

TWEEEEEDY

There is so much to say about this album, but 100% agree you should listen to it before you die. The story behind the album (which you can see in a documentary) is wild, with the band being dropped from their label (a subsidiary of Warner Music) but given the rights to the album for free, subsequently streaming the album on their website (what an idea for 2001), to releasing the album on a different subsidiary of Warner music. I haven’t seen the documentary in years, but as I remember this album was basically their make or break record, and they still had the courage to pursue a wildly experimental approach. It pays off in the rich details and atmosphere on every song. It is hauntingly beautiful throughout, and wildly prescient considering it was recorded just prior to Sept 11, 2001 (which was the original intended release date). Overall just a phenomenal record, with depth that rewards repeated listens, dense instrumentation, but approachable songs and melodies.

very good

love love love

Great album. So many fantastic songs that they build and destroy. It's almost like they didn't want this played on the radio. Brings me right back to college. This album is a mood.

Loved this album!

Amazing album. Every song is great. It's amazing how they mix the folksy almost-country rock with various electronic sounds (sometimes with too much feedback) and symphonic sounds. And the melodies!

I always imagine this album as a sunny, strumming piece of pop Americana that was recorded next to a room where a darker, weirder art rock band was playing... and sometimes those two albums can't help but bleed into each other.

Timeless perfect 10

Heavy Metal and Jesus Etc all timers

I never remember to love this album, but it’s superb.

Poor Places is slept-on

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is a perfect album. Not only is it probably Wilco's most accessible album, it's also a fan favorite of die-hard followers of the group. They take pop conventions and bend them to their will and that's no easy task.

Yes

Haven’t really listen to Wilco and I really liked it… I will listen to more

rainy/cosy

Amazing album. 5 out of 5. Timeless classic. Wilco's finest and a staple of indie rock.

5 stars. Worth the hype. Still lasts. A beautiful album.

I’m biased, have listened to this album many times. Jesus Etc and Reservations :)

Oh God bringing back core memories!! Previous review: Lowkey may regret giving this a 100 but to be honest tho album is perfect. I listened to this after watching the first season of the bear and started making the pasta from the show. The show’s amazing, the pasta was amazing I don’t care what Carm says, and this album is amazing. I chose it because they’re both set in Chicago and to be honest this album matches the vibe of the show perfectly. They were meant for each other!

Soundtrack of modern Slavic winter

One of their best!

This has become somewhat of a staple album in my rotation over the last few years so I admit I have a pretty high bias towards it. I think what makes me come back so often to put this on is it feels like the perfect balance between being soft and low-key enough to unwind too, while also interesting and creative enough to listen to frequently. Each of these songs are simple and catchy, but actually have a ton going on musically. Lyrically as well, I find most of Wilco's music super intriguing because the lyrics feel just cryptic enough to keep you guessing at and trying to decipher. This album has kept my interest for the last decade and I expect I was keep enjoying It for a long time to come.

I had always been somewhat aware of Wilco, but I was fairly late actually discovering them. I only really started listening to them after seeing them live in 2018 (thanks Ben!), but Wilco, Jeff Tweedy's solo and side projects, and his earlier work with Uncle Tupelo all quickly became some of my all time favourites. This album in particular perfectly encapsulates what I love about their music. It's deep, complex, and surreal music masquerading as simple folk and rock songs. Each simple song has been fully deconstructed and rebuilt multiple times by Jeff Tweedy and Jay Bennett in the studio with Jim O'Rourke's mixing and were made more complex with Jeff's obscure lyricism, Glenn Kotche's complex drumming, and found sounds / music concrete samples added throughout. The Conet Project samples that led to the name of this album in particular are some of my favourites. If you have the time to listen to the deluxe version you can hear why the recording process nearly destroyed the band with Jay Bennett and Ken Coomer being fired in the end. There are multiple different directions that members of the band were trying to push leading to multiple album titles all with different mixes of the songs. Would this album have the same legacy if they had released it as The Unified Theory of Everything, American Aquarium, Here Comes Everybody, or Lonely In the Deep End?

GREAT album, thoroughly enjoyed this one. I’ve had this downloaded ever since I generated Being There so was glad to finally get round to it. It’s hard to find fault with it, every track hit the mark for me. I’ll be keeping this in my album rotation for a good while. Top Track - War On War

Another record I knew by reputation as an indie rock great, but have no memory of hearing (I apparently did once listen to it in 2018). I was a little unsure at the opening few, but around track 3/4 it clicked for me, and then I was loving it to the end.

Im shaking my ass to wilco

loveeeeeee this album!! it’s always nice to sit down with a full wilco record instead of abusing the main songs i know by them. i really enjoyed listening to their lyrics this time around. their use of imagery stood out to me especially. alt-country is hit or miss for me (and im not even 100% sure thats their genre) BUT this one definitely hits. old faves: i am trying to break your heart jesus etc heavy metal drummer new faves: radio cure i’m the man who loves you

Some of my favorite songs in high school. Heavy metal drummer totally blew me away on this listen

Fantastic songs. Experimental but still solid. Love it all.

One of the best!

Indie folk lover’s wet dream

I am hipster yes I am and I enjoyed this hipster band

I’d bet my last shoe this was my most listened to album when it made it to me my third year of college, and it still feels just as great.

5/5 - love this

I loved this album! I found the lyrics to be sensitive and introspective, and the production is interesting and a joy to listen to. Though a lot of indie from this era can sound kinda same-y (some of it even a little whiny?), I think this still holds up to this day as a classic indie album.

Oh, man. Terrific album. Got a burnt copy of this guy back in 2004, and I was hooked. Been a big Wilco fan ever since. Not a bad song on here. My second favorite album of theirs right behind Summerteeth.

This one and Summerteeth are my top two Wilco albums....such an incredible mix of alt country, indie rock, country rock, psychedelia experimental stuff, you name it. Could listen to this one over and over again.

Setting aside the backstory (covered well in the documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart), this is still an album that takes a huge leap forward for a band that had been around for five years and longer taking into account the Uncle Tupelo years. The album captures the angst and tension running through Jeff Tweedy and reflected in the culture of the early 2000s. No weak tracks, but highlights include Kamera, I'm the Man Who Loves You, Jesus etc, and Pot Kettle Black. Anyone who enjoys this should consider the recently released Super Deluxe edition, which is potentially overwhelming, but includes real insights into the creation of the album and a raft of other tracks recorded at the same time that demonstrate just what a productive period it was for the band.

An undeniable indie classic. Actually think this album is pretty under rated today because it got so.much hype.a d became the "come up to my dorm room to listen to the new wilco" meme

Perfection. I didn't get this album at first, but I remember one quiet evening, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart came on a TV I was watching and it blew me away. I immediately went and listened to the album. It remains one of my favourites of all time, and arguably one of the greats.

Beautiful album liked every song

I enjoyed the artistry of it. It had some interesting lyrics and it paired well for the sound. Pot Kettle Back was probably my favorite.

Merp, my review got wiped by an unexpected system reset. Oh well. Was just saying that we are on a bit of a heater since Kala (looking forward to going back to that one). This is "the" Wilco album and the first that I was exposed to prompted by Umphrey's opening their Valentine's day set with a cover of I Am Trying to Break Your Heart in 2010. I've spent a lot of time with this album, and just as I sang Zebra with Desmond when he was an infant, I sang I Am Trying to Break Your Heart to Miles during the same period of his life. Such a beautifully melancholy song of regret and love lost. This melancholic beauty persists throughout the record on tracks like Ashes of American Flags, Radio Cure, Reservations, and Poor Places. In other spots it shines in contrasting brightness with War on War, Heavy Metal Drummer, I'm the Man Who Loves You. Love this album through and through. The writing is fantastic. 5.

This album is awesome. Knew it had to pop up after having the other Wilco albums as this is pretty much known as their magnum opus. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart is an incredible album opener. Unsettling at times, beautiful at times, and a whole lot of melancholy. Kamera is just lovely, and probably my most listened to song on here. Jesus, Etc. is another beautiful one and one that I listen to pretty often. Strings are incredible on it. Listening to Ashes of American Flags must've been so sad to listen to after 9/11 the year prior. Heavy Metal Drummer is also one that I listen to often. Just a fun, upbeat song. Love the janky guitar on I'm the Man Who Loves You. The back and forth of uplifting and melancholy with mixed in dissonance on this album really sets a mood and vibe for the album that's hard to achieve. This was pretty much an instant classic from the first time I heard it way back when. Easy 5.

This is an easy one. But five stars isn't enough. A work of art, a true masterpiece, blah blah. It just is. I listened to it again. It's twenty five years old and still as remarkable as ever. Real poetry, unbound by any required context of contemporaneousness. Song segues that make the tiny hairs straighten and tingle.

Fractured echoes of country music drowning in a sea of keyboards and synths. The catchy songwriting from Wilco's previous album is still present here on tracks like "Jesus Etc" and "Kamera," not to mention the almost-out-of-place "Heavy Metal Drummer." But the songs are sparser, with blips and bloops adding lots of little details over the barest traces of guitar twang. This happens all over the final two tracks, which play as one big comedown, but it's most obvious on the masterpiece "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart." Every pained verse of that song gives way to a different interlude before the song collapses on itself. The lyrics beautifully reflect the downcast nature of the music; the chorus of "Reservations" is a highlight, as is "I shake like a toothache when I hear myself sing." Indie rock rarely, if ever, got more layered than this while still being so poignant and immediate.

This is one of my favorite albums bof all time! Reminds me of the summer after highschool, hanging out with my bros just enjoying the next step! Every single song on this album deserves to be here and I can listen to this all day!

Idk man it hit

So good.

What a great listen. I’ve loved these guys since their Uncle Tupelo days, but hadn’t listened to this album in its entirety. I remember the reviews when ‘Summer Teeyh’ came out acting that it was the next ‘Per Sounds’ and would revolutionize folk/Americana going forward. It didn’t…but this album just may have! Solid from start to finish with fabulous production, solid instrumentation and great he addition of beeps-boops made it the future. And it still listens well today.

Masterpiece, innovative for time I'm trying to break your heart Kamera War on war Jesus, etc.

Insanely good and interesting album

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Love everything about this album, the vocals are perfect and the instrumentation is beautiful. Love the blend between mediocre and upbeat songs. The album flows very well and I often revisit it

I own vinyl

Good album

Peak…

One of my favorite albums

experiments with sounds, unusual and varied instruments, and you can hear all the niche parts. produced really well, despite arguably relatively simple melodies - songs often are unstructured - layering - good singing backs up moods - good song construction - e.g. buildups, use of dissonance/haze of sheer noise (and voice singing properly over it exemplifies it even more - I am trying to break your heart) only problem is hops into different moods too much. but perhaps that is the point?

Whatever happened to the record execs at Reprise that rejected this album? Had anyone done an oral history from their point of view? What's going through your mind when handed such an epochal album, one that's stood the test of time and sounds as fresh now as it did 24 years ago, and say "nah we're not interested in releasing this"

The hate for this album shocked me. This is easily in my Top 10 albums and is the album that opened me up to indie. So many memories and landmarks in my life are associated with Wilco and this album.

I don't think Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is particularly groundbreaking or shocking or genre-defining in any musical standpoint. I had a hard time getting exactly what the people of the music internet loved so much about this record. There wasn't anything that popped out to me on my first, second or third listen. Somehow though I kept listening to it, and one day: I got it. Once I understood it, I listened to it even more. Then, I grew to love it the way I do now. I think this is the one of the best albums of all time simply because it's performed and executed very well. Maybe it was the right album for a world coming off the events of 9/11. But in these current days, I see Yankee Hotel Foxtrot as an album that feels like a coping mechanism. The words sung on this feels very emotionally resonant to me: "Tell them I'm lost by the sidewalk, and no, it's not ok" "Cheer up, honey, I hope you can" "I wonder why we listen to poets when nobody gives a fuck" "I shake like a toothache when I hear myself sing" "If I could you know I would just hold your hand and you'd understand" Jeff Tweedy delivers these bits and others in such a quietly striking manner that it melts my heart. When the record comes to Poor Places and its cacophonous name-drop ending, it feels like a monumental statement is being made. Something as tall as the two buildings on the cover. The noise comes to a boiling point before being scrubbed off and followed by the dragged out emotion of Reservations. It may have taken me a long time to understand what's so great about this record, but now I see it like a friend. Someone I met, took the time to learn and now love them like a brother. This record rules (10/10, 5/5 on this scale)

reminds me of bright eyes/conor oberst - there was something special about the singer-songwriters who came out of the early 2000s. it’s also insane to me that this album was supposed to come out on 9/11/2001 when so much of it has themes of war + america favorite tracks: radio cure jesus, etc. pot kettle black

En all time fav

Banger parade

Amazinggg loveddd ittt

Pretty album. And a new group for me.

So great, listening back I hear old Wilco with lots of layered sounds added. I wonder if the new albums are more sound oriented from their inception

Entirely new to me. Love the varied textures and tempos of this, so many different instruments and sounds bubbling underneath the guitars, and the way the mood swings effortlessly from misery to delight. It's a whole album listen: individual tracks just don't work as well. Not sure about the vocals.

It’s taken me multiple listens to finally unreservedly love this. More than anything, despite the melancholy throughout, I think this has a healthy sense of fun, the sounds of a band throwing all their ideas out there and seeing what sticks. Endlessly creative and really quite catchy when it wants to be.

A revelation. YHF still seems more like an event than a rock album. Shifted my listening and indie rock broadly towards a more daring and outwardly artistic palate. These records that come out from long-running bands that sound nothing like their previous stuff rarely work. YHF managed to reset Wilco’s career and cement Tweedy as an all-time great. In my top 100 of all time easily.

I quite like Jesus, Etc., theres almost a reggae adjacent melody with a very nice string part THE DRUMMING ONE IS EPIC very good final song it felt like closure ALSO im the man who loves you is objectively a great song

wilco sempre forti

Edgy and catchy. Rightfully has a spot on this Admittedly, I gave it a lot of over the ear headphone time this spin, so I have some bias here. It easily hits all the marks of a 5 star rating. The first 5 tracks are spectacular. No misses on this after either. Really interesting muffled production, Elliot Smith like vocals, weird sounds (especially on I Am Trying To Break Your Heart) and TIGHT runtime at 52 mins Bonus points for having a fun and cool documentary. I only watched about ten minutes, but I could see myself enjoying the entire film.

I could honestly sit and talk about this album all day, and it's tempting to sit here and wait for the exact right words to honor what is my (if forced to choose) favorite album of all time, but I need to move on and listen to more of these albums I haven't heard a thousand times! Really the only thing I need to write in this review is that me, Ted, and the boys walked up the aisle at our wedding to a string quarter of Jesus, Etc. but I'll start back a bit: The first time I heard of Wilco, I was at a Ben Folds concert at Summerfest, like 15 years old, probably a couple of beers deep because this was Wisconsin and I had older cousins. I was wearing a Phish shirt from a recent tour (yeah, I wasn't allowed to buy Parental Advisory CDs at age 12 but by age 15 I was somehow allowed to go to Phish shows unsupervised). I got into an argument with the 30-something guy behind me that Phish was the best band - he acknowledged they are good but that Wilco is the best band. A real modern day Lincoln-Douglas. The seed had been planted! And I have to credit Wilco and YHF for rescuing me from a life of exclusively jambands - who knows how long my dreads would be by now. I've made my case for Wilco in pieces over previous reviews, but they are on my Mount Rushmore for a few reasons: 1) excellent songwriting - Tweedy is a prolific craftsman of lyrics, melody and harmony. I love the his style of lyrics that are kind of clear enough in emotion but opaque enough that any listener can kind of ascribe their own meaning. It's annoying when some artists try to emulate this, but he's a master. His book How to Write One Song is worth a listen. 2) evolving sound - if you listen to their first chapter of music (post Uncle Tupelo) it continues that alt-country/Americana thing, with lots of simple but awesome tracks. That kind of continues through Summerteeth. YFH is such a turning point in their sounds and recording style, and the last with Jay on guitar. Ghost is Born (great mention Sean) I think is the only album with Jeff play all the guitar, and gives it that Neil Young sound. And then Sky Blue Sky onward has Nels Cline on guitar who is just an animal jazz player, but adds such a different sound from the previous eras of the band. All that is to say, their sound has changed so much over the years, and I personally love every stage of it. 3) emotional range and not too serious - this album has "I am Trying to Break your Heart" and "Heavy Metal Drummer" and "I'm the Man Who Loves You" - this is what sets Wilco apart from a band like Radiohead. 4) Chicago nostalgia - spent so many years of my life in Chicago, and would see Wilco in their hometown shows most years with a mix of family and friends. I could see the Marina towers (from the cover of YHF) from my office. Good plug, Chad for the excellent documentary "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart." Someday my son will come through the 1001 generator and write a review similar Sean about his dad. Okay that's all!

Didn't love this album at first, but it sure grew on me over the years.

One of my favs. I can sense vestiges of their older albums like Being There or Summerteeth, and also a look forward toward Sky Blue Sky

From my dives into Siouxsie and Fiona Apple I've realised I have become a bit of a percussion nerd........and this has great percussion! Inpressed throughout with mamy beautiful moments, it managed to be understated, yet ambitious and deserving of its apparant top tier status. In reality probably a borderline 4/5 but given it's been a while since I handed out a 5 to an artist new to me - and the cover features one of my Favourite buildings - edging to a 5 here. Your (sic) welcome, Wilco!

Wilco’s best album and one of the greatest albums of all time. 100% should be in this list. The ending to Poor Places is one of my favorite moments in a song in general.

I was there when it leaked and when they toured it and played monster shows at 930 club so how can I be objective when I listen to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The pinnacle of Tweedy’s electronica via Americana period, classic after Wilco classic here. Tens across the board

yeah ok this is great

A famous blunder by a major record label, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot represents an album a band wanted to make, refused to change under label pressure and which exploded when it finally came out in its unadulterated form. 'I Am Trying To Break Your Heart' is one of my favourite songs. The record represents something of a template for the Aughts folk/indie/singer-songwriter scene. We got a lot of these sort of thoughtful, introspective, metaphorical songs that would work on just an acoustic six-string but gained something from some ambient production work. I don't think it got better than this in the decade that followed. 5/5 this sets a bar for the early 2000s in the modern alt/folk/rock/country/indie sphere (which is a mouthful but really exists).

In consideration for the best album on the list, joining Kid A, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, and Stankonia

Is this a dad-rock band?? Man what a cool fucking record. I love this janky, tumbly percussive space we're in. "I am trying to break your heart" is just one of those phrases that is so singable, could mean so many things, gets stuck in your head, etc.. Amazing opening track Wilco is so good at the weird mono type sounds that just pull you into a specific world (Radio Cure). So much glitchy sound design inspo here. Intertwining chimey electric guitars reminds me of some House Art attempts haha. Love Jeff Tweedys voice on this one - tired, gravelly, broooding. War on War - those doubled bass lines!! Jesus, Etc - Iconic all-time great song I'm The Man - that guitar soloooooo There's just so many cool things about this record. Pure beauty from start to finish. There was a bit of talk (controversy?) when this came out because it wasn't too long after 9/11 and some lyrical themes + the artwork felt referential even though the album was apparently recorded before 9/11! 10/10 on Pitchfork in 2003. Someone called it "Americana's Kid A"

okay actually a fire album. major Elliott Smith vibes (cue Good Will Hunting). suuuper indie which is not what I always want to listen to, but this is awesome for what it is.

Hello

I loved this album when it was new. I love it just as much now. I was excited to see it make the list.

Honestly, I had already rated this in my head before listening to it this time. I've listened to this album so many times. There's something connective and calming about the whole thing for me that I realize might be specifically generational or cultural. I'm not sure why, but it feels like the perfect adult chill music for those of us who grew up on punk and metal (and still listen to both).

One of my favourite bands, sooo

Loved

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is one of those albums I discovered at a pretty formative time so it’s a personal favorite. I remember listening to it on youtube late at night, and some of these songs really hit different at the right time. Something like I am Trying to Break Your Heart or Radio Cure are just devastating when you’re alone in the dark with nothing else but the music and your thoughts

Such a great album. Definitely in my top 10 of all time. Musicianship is great, lyrics are poetic, like someone else on here said - it's like a warm hug that smells like weed.

no one is good enough for this album. it is literally better than all of us. it is the first time I have listened to an album thrice before reviewing it; each time excited to hear the songs and unpack another layer of sound the band has thought to include with discretion. the lyrics are sophisticated and make me want to cry. my chest tightens and my heart is filled. 'Ashes of American flags' is more relevant now than ever with lyrics like 'Speaking of tomorrow, how will it ever come? All my lies are always wishes. I know I would die if I could come back new.' It is noisy, but serenity exists alongside it. This album is simply a masterpiece. It sounds good through so many different mediums, the car radio, through headphones, household speakers. I have never been to a Wilco concert, but I can imagine the fan base being diverse. This music can find a home in the collections of anyone. From empty minded frat boys to pretentious record store employees, like I said, no one is better than this album, and no one is good enough for this album. 5/5 Highlights: I'm the Man Who Loves You, Pot Kettle Black and Reservations

I had a wilco phase a few weeks ago but was listening to sumerteeth

Jesus etc is a fantastic song. The rest was also good

Good enough that I'll probably return to it when I hit my first indie phase

Current Austin would say 3 or 4 stars. Austin when this came out would say 5 stars. Going with younger Austin. Still a great album.

albumazo. banger tras banger. Si no te ha molado es que eres un metalpaco zzz

Expansivo. Essa é a palavra para descrever Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Esse disco constrói e abrange universos próprios. Cada faixa é uma jornada de largo escopo. O som têm textura própria. Claro que, em uma casca de noz, o álbum nada mais do que um cara, um violão, e alguns blips e blups. Mas quando tudo está tão finamente atenuado, precisa mesmo de mais coisas? Um disco denso, colorido, na verdade me lembra bastante uma pintura sonora. Ok, agora estou ficando brega e tosco. Mas faz parte ao ouvir algo que te toca. E esse disco me tocou. 5/5

My second favorite Wilcox album. Love it. Was once one of my most listened to albums but is still up there.

One of the best albums of the 21st century

This album was the soundtrack to my dissertation

Really great vibes. Favourite song was Heavy metal drummer.

Apple Music said this album transformed Wilco into Rust Belt Radiohead, and I'm not even mad.

I greatly enjoyed the unique, largely acoustic, largely effects blended sound on offer. It's quite a balance, really, how a record of such uniquely compelling variation comes across as more reserved than anything. I get the impression that creating a more bombastic series of explosive melodies is well within Wilco's ability (even if that may require a more impassioned vocalist), yet the group settled on mostly creating the opposite, perhaps feeling that a subdued and moody approach is more reflective of a growing sentiment. Topping it off, a few tracks in this mix do skew louder and more overt, but their unique instrumentation and approach to layered vocals brings carries forward, bringing an almost Beatles-esq whimsy to the overall balance. I quite like the Beatles and I quite like this. Only real criticism I have is a personal distaste for this style of vocal delivery. Ordinarily I'd be referencing that distaste more often, but here I found myself getting well into the music regardless. Under or over the wonderful mixing and presentation is a relatable tale about how our responses to the world can lead to unassuming actors getting caught in the crossfire, creating and ruining relationships. Relevant. 4.5 pushed to 5.

Somehow Wilco wasn't in my rotation back when I started getting into indie rock in like 2009ish. There were always a few Wilco songs that I really liked but I didn't actually listen to this record all the way through until a couple years ago. I was bummed I had been missing out on it all those years. I think I would have really loved it back in 2009 when I was obsessed with The Shins, Modest Mouse, and Bright Eyes. I love that these songs are pretty simple but they have lots of interesting instrumentation if you're paying attention. It's a great album with good headphones on.

I love this record so much. Its really hard for me to be unbiased here, but its really one of my favorite indie records of the 2000s. And IMO, I think its one of the most important indie records of the 2000s. I don't know if its modern take on folk and the country, the weird reverb effects throughout, Jeff's apathetic sounding vocals or exceptional percussion, but I love this album. Its one of those albums, where the more you listen, the more realize. Its kind of psychedelic in that way, there is a lot going on between the lethargic droll of indie rock. This album has been in my life for a long time. Jeff Tweedy is one of my favorite songwriters and Wilco is one of my favorite indie bands. They're brilliant on all fronts.

My favorite album from my favorite band, can I give it more than 5 stars?

Smooth

Un classique du début des années 2000. Pour le Record Store Day 2023, je me suis procuré le coffret ''Crosseyed Strangers: An Alternate Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'', 2 alternate takes et des performances live. Intéressant comme complément.

Un band que j'ai découvert pendant l'université et qui m'a suivi tout le long. Je les ai vus en show 2 fois, et je connais à peu près tout des albums studio (sauf Cruel Country et Cousin). Bref c'est pas du neuf pour moi mais YHF est définitivement dans leurs bests. J'en ai profité pour dig sur l'histoire derrière l'album et le drama et les circonstances d'enregistrement et de publication sont pas mal fascinantes. Ça me fait réaliser aussi que j'aimais bien ce que Jay Bennett amenait au groupe (de Being There à YHF). Le cover de Radio Cure de The Bad Plus est bon aussi.

Carrément un de mes top5 albums de tous les temps. 5 étoiles facile! C’est l’album qui m’a fait entrer dans Wilco il y a une une vingtaine d’années maintenant (quoique je dois dire que Being There est présentement mon favori) Juste des chansons classiques! Kamera, Ashes of American Flag, Jesus Etc, Pot Kettle Black, Reservations pour finir. Juste wow! Un album créatif, inventif, virtuose, qui reste au top début à la fin.

It took a few years for me to come around on Wilco. I don't think it would have happened without this album and the documentary that followed them during the fractured process of making it. And now here we are. Something grows through the cracks in the sidewalks of these Chicago streets. I can barely keep up with Tweedy's prolific songwriting. Not every vine of Wilco's subsequent flowering has gripped me equally, but some have managed to come close to its hold.

I can't explain this album other than saying it's one of the best albums I've ever heard. Maybe it's because it is my favorite genre so it's easy for me to find an album in that genre that's critically acclaimed and I'll automate like it, or maybe the lyrical matter and the writing is so good that I can push away my bias to enjoy what I think is beautifully written music. I've heard this album a handful of times. Jesus, Etc. and Heavy Metal Drummer are on my main playlist so I listen to those songs often enough, but since I haven't heard it in a while I genuinely forgot how great this album is.

Super Dope

Fantastic album of collective dissonance, upbeat rock tunes and introspective songs that are diverse enough to keep you interested yet cohesive enough to present a sense of place throughout the album. A must listen all the way thru.

Band-defining. One of my favorites of all time.

Perfecto

Love the whole album, especially I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, Jesus, Etc., and I’m the Man Who Loves You. They’re excellent live and Jeff Tweedy’s memoir is worth a read.

Before I started listening, I thought there was a chance this would be only a 4. It’s one I have no childhood affinity for. It’s grown on me over the last 20 years—was maybe a 2 or 3 the first time I listened in 2002. There were definitely listens when I thought it was boring and bland. But then I dove in and there was no way it would be anything other than a 5. On headphones, which is not how I usually listen, there were so many interesting sounds. I love the lyrics. At this point it’s just a trusty companion. I’ve got reservations about so many things, but not about this album.

I have this album and had not listened to it in many years. I had forgotten how damn good it was. 4.5/5 #141

Incredible stuff. Never really listened to it in one sitting before now but it's damn near perfect. Standouts: Heavy Metal Drummer, Jesus Etc., I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

no skips this was great

Loved it. Great song writing, love the blend between acoustic and electric, great guitar tones too Fav tracks - all

if you don't get it, that's fine. If you do get it....good job

Wilco is one of those bands, like Radiohead, that lives in their very own space in the same way Pink Floyd does. You either dig them or you don't. They are an amazing band. Well worth a deep dive.

This grew on me so much after listening a few times. I went from thinking this was a 3 star album to now thinking this is solidly 5 stars. Beautiful music full of emotion and rich production. If you find this album boring as I did at first give it another chance or two and you might be well rewarded.

wonderful revisiting this after many years. a great chicago band with great chicago album art, and obvsiously american. I used to tear up during Jesus Etc, and now that im older with a hardened heart, I can feel the song massaging the parts that haven't been so embrittled.

There isn't a single miss on this album. Sometimes there are stretches of albums where you say "wow A to B to C is such an amazing span", but this alum is incredible from A to Z. I can understand why pop girlies and buddies could get lost in Radio Cure or Ashes of American Flags, but Jesus Etc, War on War, Pot Kettle Black , and Heavy Metal Drummer should be universally loved. While the largest pleasure of this album is the beautiful ebbs and flows, ups and downs, etc, it is the small pleasures that keep me coming back to it year after year. The trumpets calling out on I'm the Man Who Loves You which gives this a classic late 90s/early 00s Ska sound, the double tracked vocals on Pot Kettle Black a la Elliott Smith. 5/5

Pre listening: oh gosh another album where I'll never be able to separate it's reputation from my opinion of the album. In my recollection, Wilco was just too soft for me. But I'm excited to give them another try. +1 automatically for having album artwork of buildings I recognized long before I knew anything about music (not plus one star, just plus one) Interesting--I never knew Wilco started as an Alt-Country band (or rather, that the alt country band Uncle Tupelo was the progenitor of the indie rock band Wilco). The publication history of this album is wild. Hats off to indie artists for recognizing what they had and just releasing (also man the early internet was such a fascinating place-- :( such optimism for what eventually became sprawling networks of lies and truths). Also all that just to land on a different subsidiary label of the same company. Funny. Listening Notes: -I am trying to break your heart might be the only one I know well ahead of time. I'm not sure I can get behind his flat-toned singing. It's soft on instrumentation. (Second listen: this works better with the context of the rest of the album. Interesting choice to do that with a first song, since they initially exist without context per se) -Kamera is still sad boy vocals, but it turns out he has some vocal range. That makes I am trying to break your heart's flat vocals intentional, improving my opinion of both songs. Love the cowbell(?) here. -War on War was quite good. this album really works up a head of steam building up to the most famous tracks. An aspect of the album era that we seem to be losing over time (not in a crotchety way; plenty of people still make *albums*) -Jesus etc. is cheating. Jeff Tweedy knows that a short violin solo is the fastest way to my heart. I feel played. But it worked. (Edit: apparently not violin. this set off a silly search for the liner notes, but I can't figure out what it is. Just credited as "string arrangement," which I guess is obvious) -Ashes of American Flags has an inarticulable sadness (even with the distorted wail at the end) that I find really beautifully done. -It's incredible, given where we start, how natural such a fun track as heavy metal drummer feels in this space of slow somber reflection. -Reading Pitchfork's review from 2002 (I don't normally do this), it's so nice how unabashedly pretentious they used to be. Like, I'm an obnoxious dork, and there used to be a music review website for people like me. Ah well, it's probably for the best that they became more inclusive. Review: Ugh fine. After nearly a decade of raining on this parade, I have to acknowledge it's a perfect album. It builds perfectly to a full sound in the late second half. I'll have to listen a lot more to understand the album, but respect to an album I guess I never took the time to really sit with.

This whole album felt like a hug

Wonderful. Knew it already, but the songwriting is solid, the instrumentation is the right amount of interesting without being distracting.

This isn't the first time in this project that I've been pleasantly surprised by how much I vibed with an album. This is FANTASTIC for helping me focus! I got shit done! Active listening? Naaaaaah. I shall accept this gift from the ADHD gods.

Overall: 9/10 This album felt like a ray of sunshine peeking through the cracks of my mind. I felt incredibly chill throughout the listening experience but I was able to pick up on some dancey, catchy bits too. The production is insane and there's a lot of sounds added that enhance the experience. Such a great album, glad it was part of this project. Fav Song: I'm the Man Who Loves You Least Fav Song: Radio Cure

Another one I would give 4.5, but since I have to choose I will go all 5 for this one. Really liked seeing it live a lot better though.

I've always wondered what the deal with Wilco is, but I hadn't gotten around to it. I knew OF them, but only really knew Jesus, etc, and I feel like I've heard so much of them from who knows where. But I Get It. This influenced probably every indie band I listened to in college. I love how sloppy it is at times. 10/10

Rating this a 5 before listening to it because it is. One time I saw them in Granada, Spain, and it was a magical evening. Not many people there so it was weirdly intimate, a great show and I was feeling amazing when I was leaving the venue. I walked down an alley and a team of 15 Spanish SWAT team style guys suddenly rounded the corner at full sprint and rushed past me, pushing me against the wall. Two of them pulled out a battering ram and broke in a back door of one of the houses and they all rushed inside. I heard either gun shots or smoke grenades going off and I took off running and didn't look back. Never figured out what it was or what happened. Anyways terrific album, 5 stars!

I don't think i was expecting it but i absolutely loved Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Even if my favorite genre is metal, i still do enjoy an album that is so relaxing, it soothes the soul. Every song, even if it did have a faster pace to it, just felt so relaxing with the slower songs being the ones that really brought it out. I also liked all the little electronic sounds in each of the songs as they did help give the songs even more of an identity even if they did get a little noisy in the first couple of songs. I also never really found the length of the album an issue because i feel this album needs to be 57 minutes in order to fully soothe you. This is a really excellent album that i can easily recommend to anyone. Best Song: Ashes of American Flags Worst Song: I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

For the longest time now I've held reservations about indie rock. Y'know, "Why is a genre that's so acclaimed and beloved by music critics and journalists often some of the most boring music I've ever heard in my life? Are they dumb?" But, no, really, it really is some of the most "eeeehhhh" music I've ever heard in my life. It's like, for as much as I rag on post-punk (the pure stuff, I mean), I at least usually feel something listening to it, even if it **is** mostly offense at the idea that being unpalatable and unfun to listen to automatically deserves praise. Meanwhile, with most pure indie, all I usually wind up feeling is the need to take a nap. It's not exactly something this list has helped me with much, either: just look at how much I didn't enjoy any of the three Arcade Fire albums my group got. Which thus brings up to the subject of this little review/babble: Wilco, another darling of the indie rock scene (so I understand). They're one I actually had a lot of hope for going in thanks to featuring on another soundtrack of my youth, the one for THE SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS MOVIE. Now, like, sure, the song they did ("Just A Kid") wasn't my favorite on the album — it's no "They'll Soon Discover" or "SpongeBob & Patrick Confront The Psychic Wall Of Energy" — but if nothing else, it was a cue from the top that they don't make what I'd think of off the dome as "hipster-ass record store music." Real "RYMcore," y'know? Within the first track, then... I'll admit, doubts were setting in. Something about it on a first listen just didn't gel with me. I suppose (if I hadda guess) I just couldn't square away what the musical monotony of the track was adding to whatever it was about. "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart"... I understand the sentiment, and I can even get a feeling from the lyrics even if I don't 100% "get them," but on a purely melodic level (which is how I normally operate)... Boy, it wasn't a good first impression. Was the rest of the album gonna be like this? Thankfully: no. Oh, dear goodness me, no. Things really started picking up after that song, and by the time I got to the third record side (starting with "Heavy Metal Drummer"), I was all on board. This is real good stuff, and I was the fool from doubting the guys who made "Just A Kid". Way livelier than I'd expected... I mean, I'll tell you this: with the full musical context of the album in mind, I enjoyed "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" **way better** than I did the first time. Like, damn, y'know? It's just... Y'know, it's here I gotta describe the feeling I had around this album, and it's a... New one for me, I gotta say. 'Coz as I was listening through this album, I got the strangest sensation like I should know it already. That I should vaguely know the words well enough to kind of sing along with it... That I should be hearing instrumentals to songs and getting pumped as hell about them, like "YEAH, THIS ONE..." That I should have deep connections to these songs for the way I've wrapped my character and stories around them... It was so bizarre to feel this familiar with an album I was only hearing for the first time. I couldn't even pin down anything it specifically reminded me of — maybe some of the songs reminded me of the more serious cuts on the Barenaked Ladies' album GORDON, but other than that... Everything just worked for me that well, from the instrumentation and the mental landscapes they evoked, all the way down to, yes, even the lyrics. I've expressed before, being as likely AuDHD as I am, I'm usually never good with lyrics, especially the more poetic ones. They make me feel dumb for not "getting them" and having to look up what they mean... But here, thankfully, it's not poetic to an extreme like Bob Dylan and his ilk are. It's a lot simpler, which doesn't all detract from how... Evocative they are. Seriously, I'unno if I can really describe it, but even when I wasn't fully grasping the lyrics, they still evoked **something** just so well that I could still go along with them anyway. I'unno if you know what I mean, but that's really how it went. Of course, I wanna temper things a bit here and say that it's not like this album changed my brain chemistry or anything. **Maybe** it coulda been cut down by a couple minutes, y'know? It's just, in terms of the hypes and praise I'd always heard this album had... Jeez, yeah, no, yeah, it lives up. And I guess it's as good of a reminder as any that indie rock is a spectrum, not a monolith. Some of it... Boring as damn tar — seriously, I just do **not** get the hype for Arcade Fire. But on the other hand, you got stuff like this, and like with shoegaze and LOVELESS, this should be more the kind of stuff I think of when the genre pops up. So, yeah, good on yah, Wilco. I give this album a very enthusiastic Yankee Echo Sierra.

Wonderfully indie. Solid 5 Stars.

I’m at a 10. I knew this one had acclaim going in, and I’m very glad that it lived up to it. It’s much easier to feel this album in the moment, while your ears are just encapsulated by it & while the brain is conjuring up the imagery to match. In this case, it’s one of those albums where I got so deeply encapsulated that I’m having trouble finding the words to write down. There’s broad strokes flying around my head; “stellar lyrics”, “his vocals pull incredible emotion out of them”, “instrumentation & sound design that always fits the mood”, “perfectly captures a feeling my brain hasn’t gone to since Radiohead’s Kid A”, “did these guys steal the Beatles’ talents on ‘I’m The Man Who Loves You’ like they were the Monstars”, and so on. I guess I’ll touch on those a bit. Vocally, it did feel dry at first, but the intentions revealed by the end of “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” made the monotony of that track suddenly feel brilliant, and from that point onward, I was all in on Jeff Tweedy’s style. It’s subdued yet authoritative, for the most part, but when he needs to break out for the sake of the track, he meets the moment really nicely. I think the instrumentation & sound design do deserve as much credit as they’ll get here – I absolutely love the way each track sounds, & I can’t say I ever had a dull moment with the instrumentation, save for the last minute or so of “Reservations”. The moments where everything feels like it’s falling apart on a few tracks do a great job of mirroring the mental state of each track’s protagonist (is it the same guy throughout?), but even in this album’s happier & brighter moments, the instrumentation never really misses a beat. I’m fully convinced they stole a track from the cutting room floor of Sgt. Pepper’s for “I’m The Man Who Loves You”. As far as the Kid A comparison goes (which, by the way, also a 10 in retrospect), perhaps it’s a bit of a stretch, but this does feel a lot like a Radiohead album to me, at least in the way it’s structured & performed. I’m obviously not the first person to point this out & I won’t be the last. It did capture some type of vibe though, one that became far more apparent to me by “Radio Cure”. It’s like capturing a panic attack in slow motion, with all of the insecurities & self-doubt brought to the forefront. Sometimes, people say their brain is thinking at 100 miles an hour, so what if you just caught that on a camera & tried to actually view it? Kid A does a similar thing, but it takes the approach of sonic therapy in an effort to heal, whereas this one feels like introspection, swaddled in clothing that feels like toxic disdain for yourself, never quite resolving that inner turmoil. The lyrics do deserve a bit of love for enhancing that vibe; for tracks like these, I’m very much the type of person who follows along, reads them in the moment, and just treats it like a sort of live karaoke, to try and get a sense of how my brain would feel saying them. It’s a hit & miss approach, but in this case, it just worked perfectly. This is an album that I might define as poetry, but not in the curmudgeonly Bob Dylan sense where it’s far too wordy. It’s poetry in the style of a Maya Angelou, where the rhymes & verbiage are simple, but the imagery they evoke says far beyond the words themselves. Much in the same way that a poet can enter a zen state while reading their words aloud, I think I entered a zen state while reading along. I wish I could bottle up that sort of zen state, when it just feels like you’re in sync with the music, so I could more properly describe it, but I haven’t been able to do it for these moments on the last 545 albums, and I don’t think I’ll have an epiphany for the 546th. All in all, I just really, really enjoyed this. I haven’t been avoiding it for years, I’ve just never had a drive to listen to it until now, and I’m obviously a moron for not biting the bullet earlier. It’s one of those albums where I’m just glad I started doing this “project” to begin with. Fantastic stuff here, and a seminal album of 2001. Probably the whole decade, really. It’s a 10.

Beautiful and emotive. A sedate journey with just enough interest to waft you along.

Very nostalgic for me

Love being at a period in my life where i can enjoy Wilco. Love you Tweedy Jeffy.

One of my favourite concert road trips was venturing off to Minneapolis (without the wife and kids) to see a pair of shows from Wilco at the First Avenue club, in late June 2001. This was the first of many times I've seen the band and these shows were significant (if you're a fan of the band) because it was drummer, Glenn Kotche's first show with Wilco and the first live performance of songs from their "soon to be released" album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The shows were magical and in this venue it was perfect! The concerts were filmed and excerpts were included in the film, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart and I captured both concerts with my trusty Walkman tape recorder. Before the album was actually released there was much conflict within the band and record label shenanigans (captured in the film). Without a label to release it, Wilco posted the complete album on their website (for free!) for their fans and the record became a turning point for the band. YHF remains Wilco's most popular album and it's their masterpiece. I love this album and every time I hear it I have unforgettable memories of the special moment I heard first heard these songs.

5-

An album that brings you to a smoke filled city street where you can't see the person on the other side, but you think you're in love with them and all you have is your guitar and a pre-roll. It's very good. Favorite Song: I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

Only really banging wilco album, but a very banging one indeed Easily a top 100 album

another perfect album. I have loved this one since it came out. It’s even better after knowing the story behind it. The songs are amazing in every iteration. I can’t imagine writing a song like these. Take a song that would be great with normal instruments, take those all away, make it noisy, then add guitar back in. Love this one.

Classic, alt country that broke open the trail

This is what 2003 alternative sounded like............... feelings. kinda hippy.

*chef's kiss*

One can see the record company's point in terms of the strident warbling of the opener but it gets better and chiaroscura (dark/uncertain songs followed by brighter/tuneful ones) seems to be the key to this deeply thoughtful, creatively conceviied and exquisitely well made record, which was something like a personal life OST for the first few years of the new century. Too many grace notes to list, but the whole puzzle works and every piece has emotional substance and/or beauty and/or fun and/or psychological insight. Plus, the well layered sonic environs here, offbeat sound, and arfful noise rock flourishes. DOn't sleep on A Ghost Is Born, which is nearly as good and certainly merits inclusion on this full list. Wilco are a major artistic force in one';s life and this just one of several best-friend records they've blessed one down the years.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot loppuu Reservations kappaleeseen. Raaka mutta hiljainen kappale, ikäänkuin meditaatio hetki täynnä herkkyyttä. Alkukappaletta: "How can I convince you its me I dont like" Kertoja kääntyy sisäänpäin. Sanoen että suhteen ongelmat eivät juuri ole syytä toisesta henkilöstä, vaan kamppailu on itseinhosta ja epävarmuudesta. Seuraavat säkeet: Kertoja vaikuttaa sanovansa "En ole suuttunut sinulle, olen harmeissani itsestäni" Albumin ensimnäinen kappale taas on "I am Trying to brake your heart" joka kertoo miten ihminen voi olla saamaan aikaan vilpitön ja itsetuhoinen. Hän voi haluta rakkautta ja samaan aikaan pelätä sitä niin paljon että työntää sen pois. Kamera kappale taas kertoo epäluottamukdesta omaa mieltään kohtaan.

I've owned a copy of this album for several years, but I can't remember when or why I bought it. I remember that I really enjoyed listening to this album the first time I listened to it, but I think I've only listened to it in its entirety once or twice. I've tried to fire it up several times, but I'm just never in the mood for it, and I don't know why. I loved Mermaid Avenue and Being There, so I've really been looking forward to revisiting this album. I have no idea if I'm going to love this or hate this today, but here goes nothing! I was honestly worried that I wasn’t going to care for this album very much upon revisiting it, but I can brush that worry aside, because this was fantastic. Whenever I think of this album, I think of “I am Trying to Break Your Heart,” but Yankee Hotel Foxtrot so much more than that; it’s eleven songs of indie rock bliss. I enjoy Jeff Tweedy’s singing, but I really love the musical arrangements on this album too. The guitar playing is great, and the little effects peppered in throughout the album give the sound a unique touch that sets Wilco apart from other indie rock artists. This album feels incredibly cohesive, a factor that’s boosted by some excellent songwriting. Jeff Tweedy’s lyrics cover a wide range of topics and emotions, and even though it’s pure coincidence, some of these lyrics are perfect for the immediate aftermath of 9/11. As far as the individual songs go, I’d have to pick “Heavy Metal Drummer” as my favorite. It’s got such a folky sound to it that I really love, and the piano melody is fantastic. I love the contradiction of hearing a song about a heavy metal drummer with a sound akin to Simon and Garfunkel. “Kamera” is awesome too. The guitar playing is great, but the xylophone-like sounds and little electronic sound effects bolster the sound really well. However, there isn’t a bad song on this album in my opinion. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot might not be an album that I’m in the mood for often, but it’s an excellent album, and I loved revisiting it today.

I could put this on just about any time and enjoy it. Listened through 3 times before landing on that, and enjoyed it every time.

Fav: Heavy Metal Drummer Least Fav: I’m Trying To Break Your Heart Simply incredible, if you were trying to break my heart with this album you’ve failed

This was good. Not really into softer alt right now so going right down the middle. Could have been a 2 but them being from Chicago bumps it

The one that started it all. I was a fan of Wilco before this album, but this one set me down a path toward them becoming what today is likely my favorite band. Such an interesting back story. So many interesting sounds. Just a labor of love (and hate) that ended in a masterpiece. 5/5

best ever

I Am Trying to Break Your Heart is a great opening track, great song in general. There's something haunting about Jeff Tweedy's voice and delivery, a yearning or disappointment in his voice. This album was released in 2001. I would have guessed earlier. Jesus, Etc. was the hit and it is well deserved., great music, great lyrics. The whole album is great though. This is one of those albums where you can just put it on repeat and listen the whole day. This is an album too. It hangs together coherently in terms of sound, good sounds up and down the album without anything that stands head a shoulders above or below the other songs. Listening to the whole album makes more sense than picking one or two songs. It's a worthwhile hour.

I liked it. It was some nice easy chill relaxing listening.

It’s so good, but also I want to listen to that album like once every 5 to 8 years. It’s not exactly my thing. Close, but not quite. And damn sad.

While often considered one of the best indie albums of all time, I’m happy to say that I can see why *Yankee Hotel Foxtrot* is considered such a thing. It is an often gloomy and melancholic journey about love, breakups, disillusionment, and other things while sounding at times beautiful in the process. I adore the production and instrumentation on this album, it’s full of emotion and a certain atmosphere. It sounds like the album cover a little bit, haha. It’s crisp, but isn’t afraid to get more experimental when it wants to. The guitar and drums are good examples of this, I like them a lot. The occasional vocal samples are a nice add-on too. However, the vocals from Jeff Tweedy are a standout. They’re weary, full of emotion, and unique. A good example is the intro track, *I Am Trying To Break Your Heart,* with its melancholic atmosphere and abstract lyrics. *Jesus, Etc.* is a nice moodier track with great strings. *Heavy Metal Drummer* is a nice energetic poppy track, which Tweedy described as being about “the sweet yearning for an innocence that has passed.” *Reservations* is the closer and has amazing writing, and verges on ambient music. However, what I appreciate the most about this album is its lyricism and songwriting. It’s magical and pulled me in while listening to this more often than not. In short, while this may not click for everybody, I’m glad I liked this one and I’ll definitely come back to it. I’d still highly recommend it.

This is one of my favourite albums of all time. I love every note.

Wilco were a band that had dropped out of my rotation a bit, but this album reminded me why I love them and need to listen to them more.

Second only to Sky Blue Sky in my book. So many hooks that catch in the back of my mind. Jesus, Etc. is a very personally important track that helped me reach catharsis at a pivotal moment.

Jeg får vibes af både Elliot Smith, Radiohead og Pavement. Om den er det Indie mesterværk den er udråbt til er jeg ikke helt afklaret på endnu. Men den vokser for hvert lyt (har lyttet den lidt for nogle år siden) og den skal lyttes mere fremover. Det bliver til et lille 5 tal. Måske bliver det revideret inden projektet er færdigt. Måske ikke.

I’ll admit on first listen this album sounds quite bland. It took me a few listens to scratch the surface to find that there js so much texture, and clever catchy chord progressions that draw you back. It’s really laid back and calm but it is a very clever album.

A lot of this list is utter dross, but the main reason of doing this, discovering new music, every now and then brings something special. This album is superb. I remember the album Wilco did with Billy Bragg, Mermaid Avenue, and in retrospect I slightly undermarked it, as I still listen on the reg a few years later. I thought, though, that it was mostly Billy, and so I had medium hopes this would be decent. Much of the album is quite conceptual, reminds me of Death Cab or a mellow My Morning Jacket. I can easily go for mellow indie. But the range of instruments used by Wilco, and the variety of the atmosphere created (whilst still being cohesive), makes this very interesting. The lyrics are nice too, and the singing not intrusive and generally matches what's going on with the rest of the music. Best tracks: I Am Trying To Break Your Heart (gets better after repeated listens, wasn't that into it first time round), War on War, Jesus Etc., Heavy Metal Drummer, I'm The Man Who Loves You, Pot Kettle Black, and Reservations. A very, very easy 5.

sublime

The second best album to come out in the new millennium. This album is a masterpiece and for some reason makes me tear up at the oddest of songs (Ashes Of American Flags, Kamera, Jesus Etc.). I never get tired of any of these songs and there is zero filler in this, even the long outro of Reservations is appreciated for some time to think about the beautiful piece of art I am happy to have experienced.

me encanta!

This is one of the favourite albums I have listen to on this app. Exactly the vibe I am looking for.

Good stuff! brings back the memories

One of my favourite albums

5 star album from a 5 star band. The best album of the 2000s? Probably. Nothing beats the scene in the Sam Jones documentary when Tweedy and Jay Bennett are trying to mix Ashes of American Flags into Heavy Metal Drummer and struggling to communicate their respective ideas. A great rock moment, a great human moment. RIP Jay Bennett. This is a magnificent record.

Manages the tricky balance of being at once ingenious/completely original and thoroughly entertaining (best illustrated by easy segue from "Ashes of American Flags" to "Heavy Metal Drummer"). It's emotionally versatile, musically rich and aesthetically multi-dimensional (tight pop-rock songs and high-arty sonic sculptures mix easily and effectively -- see transition from "Pot Kettle Black" to "Poor Places"). It's also highly sophisticated in terms of engineering and production. One couldn't stop listening to this in the early days of the 21st century and it remains a high-water mark of the last few decades (as well as an all-time example of a record company self-owning/self-punking/self-pwning or whatever we called it back in 2001). And how impressively has Wilco built on that platform of freedom to evolve, expand, and more deeply engage a large and already deeply committed fanbase. A timeless sort of artifact, it feels every bit as advanced and relevant and interesting, and the ending of "Reservations" is music making of ambitious intent and deep, powerful beauty – a fully worthy and all-time great closer for an album of (borderline) world-historic import and influence.

The more I listened to this album, the more I enjoyed it. 😉 Each track is worth knowing, and going back to hear again.

Challenging yet deeply powerful—Yankee Hotel Foxtrot creates an atmosphere that’s both haunting and beautiful. It takes a truly great songwriter to make these songs work so effortlessly despite their dissonance and experimental edge. The album feels raw and unpolished in the best way, drawing you in with its vulnerability. It’s hard to explain, but there’s something about it that feels deeply personal, like it was made to resonate with moments you can’t quite put into words.

One of the classics from “back in my day”

The perfect album to start the new millennium and usher in a champion of the alt indie scene.

ik they had issues with the production/distribution of the record so it was not actually written as a post-9/11 album, but that’s when it got released anyway and i think it’s extremely interesting to look at YHF as a time capsule of that moment in terms of american identity. i mean, the very first words on the record are literally “i am an american”—but then they’re immediately followed by “…aquarium drinker,” which is such a non sequitur and yet so evocative—of what exactly idk but it still evokes SOMETHING in me. (is it an aquarium-drinker who’s american, or a drinker of american aquariums, or a drinker who is himself an american aquarium…?) “war on war” (”you’re gonna lose / you have to lose”) and “ashes of american flags” are the other obvious ones but i think that kind of well-meaning anxiety, a confusion about and dissatisfaction with oneself that is mostly clumsy but has the potential to cause genuine harm, is felt throughout the whole album. or maybe that’s just what it’s like to be in your twenties*: wanting to do right by people, not knowing how exactly to do it, wishing someone would tell just tell you what to do, knowing no one will, knowing you wouldn’t listen even if they did… the music is also interesting—the electronic elements are deployed really carefully and i think that’s part of what keeps the record from sounding too dated sonically. except for “kamera,” that is unfortunately such a target/cvs song…but if that’s the album’s ‘low point’ then it’s still pretty damn good. HEAVY METAL DRUMMER BEST SONG IN THE WORLD!!! everything good that’s ever happened in the summer can fit inside it. it never ever gets old. fav tracks: radio cure; i am trying to break your heart; heavy metal drummer; i'm the man who loves you; reservations *ok i looked it up and jeff tweedy was actually in his mid-30s when they made this album. i guess i listened and connected to it first as a teenager so i split the difference in our ages….i really thought this was giving quarterlife crisis mid-to-late 20s. well whatever.

This album is really fucking good. Most every song leaves an impression. Just everything was so well done. I got nothing else to really say about it, I don't know much else about Wilco besides the three albums on this list

An icon. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart is one of the all time album openers. Just an incredible song and Jeff doesn’t stop there. Jesus, etc, Kamera, Radio Cure… honestly after the opening half you’re still catching your breath by the time it all winds down. Easy 5

Sometimes I find Wilco a bit too esoteric or experimental. Not this album! Forgot how many really good songs are on this one. Jesus… feels very “Uncle Tupelo” to me (I will they’d stayed together) and I love Heavy Metal Drummer. This and the very first Wilco album are my favorites from them.

Maybe one of my favorite albums of all time? Ambitious, epic and such a sound from a very specific time.

Probably a top 25 all-time album for me, and likely only my third favorite Wilco record. Just outstanding in every sense of the word. 5+/5

Wilco. 5

Perfect background music...

Fantastic Wilco record. Nothing more to really say about that.

Amazing album.

Perfect album from start to finish and if you don’t know the background on how this album came to be it is an amazing story.

Somehow, this has never not sounded perfect to me. It never gets old, never sounds dated, and every time I put it on I end up on a months-long Wilco binge.

this is an album that you sit down and listen to. It is not background music, you need to commit yourself to sit down and enjoy it. It is experimental, but it hooks you with incredible harmonies and beautiful instrumentation and samples. it is so close to a 5 star album that I am giving it 5. "How can i be closer yet so far away" Reservations is a perfect way to end the album