Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Phenomenal pressing of a masterpiece, one of the best sounding records I own. Glad I bought it around the time it came out for $25 or so, the prices have gone sky high. Never selling it.

My copy seems to have an alternate version of Pot Kettle Black which doesn't include the fade out from the CD release. I have only this original vinyl release so I cannot speak to the other reissues.

Mine came with a vertical gatefold YHF hype poster. Anyone else have this?

Superior pressing in every way imaginable and worth every penny paid.

Here is a great shootout on you tube that is very comprehensive as well. This original USA press not only sounds the best and truest but is also the most collectible since it’s the original from their home country. If this is a favorite of yours then spend the $$ on it.
https://youtu.be/33bxUTXEYhA?si=0j75Po75HokFhNjK

I tried ordering this on D-Cogs several months ago but the seller sent me a different version, so I sent it back. I decided to give a different seller a try and this time the correct item arrived.
Last night I gave it a spin and all I can say is, this is the best I have ever heard this recording. It is so far superior to the 2008 reissue (which I had always thought to be very good) that it's hard to explain. Easiest way to describe it is the music flows with such realism and liquidity from the speakers, it feels as though the band is in the room. There is a newer (2020?) reissue with the SunDazed logo on the back, but that one is not so good. I don't know a lot about Sun Dazed and their processes, but I buy jazz records from another reputable label that touts the use of tube gear to do the mastering. This version reminds me of that tube sound I hear in the jazz records. Most early jazz and even rock albums were mastered on tube gear, which is why older records can sound so much better than reissued stuff. This record is also evidence of what a difference the mastering of a recording makes in the end result. THis record is scarce enough to be pricey, but I can honestly say it's worth every cent to me. Get one while you can.

I finally found a clean copy of this original Sundazed pressing, and I can safely say that I prefer it over the later reissue. On this cut, the vocals are much more focused, and the soundstage feels very natural. It has a softness to it that suits the LP perfectly. The reissue is very good, but the upper-mid range is exaggerated. I’d imagine this was to make the vocals more present and prominent, but it ends up sounding a bit harsher and distracting. Both are good options, but this one edges the reissue out for me.

Original Cut: 8.5/10
Reissue: 7.5/10

Wilco will forever be one of those bands from which I pick and choose which songs ride best in my back pocket, with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot being another. That being said, others have suggested that the album is nothing short of complex, dangerously catchy, provocative and lyrically sophisticated, along with being both noisy and oddly serene … if not a downright masterpiece, which to my way of thinking is a lot to live up to, offering zero room for any faults whatsoever.

I on the other hand, do not think that the album is all that majestic, quite good yes, yet hardly able to live up to the hype, though if one remembers what the airwaves were full of in 2002, it’s rather easy to understand the impression this record had on listeners across the spectrum, from an album that was perhaps the most talked about event of the year. But, and again there’s always a but … it’s important to be able to separate the social construct of the album, it’s free delivery over the internet, the radical departure of the band from their record label, and the music held within these grooves.

In essence the record brings forth a reality of provocative moving psychedelic earthy iridescent tracks, a mix of alternative rocking country inspired songs regarding the the survival of both a blown mind and a broken heart. Yes, Wilco do manage to create a sonic atmosphere where things sound as if they’re falling apart and then coming back together again, vividly, filled with chaos, remorse and a great deal of story telling.

In the same breath I could easily say that Tweedy and company have been taking a sidestep from their alternative county orthodoxy for a while now, and never more so than here with the their cryptic power pop influences that eerily teeter this way and that, yet seem rooted in solid ground. If anything Yankee Hotel Foxtrot does not take place in front of you, it’s more that it’s happening in the rearview mirror, as if you’ve passed through this event quickly and come to embrace it from two vantage points, as if to live in the present with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot might just shatter your tentative hold on life. While the music might unrecognizably be drawn from previous outings, Tweedy’s unbalanced and surreal demons are all over this record, often causing me to wonder why he’s not sitting alone in the dark with a needle and a spoon full time, giving up on life, perpetually searching for the next fast-food joint. Though (laughing), there’s a kind of universal honesty found in these lyrics that draw you in until you recognized them as being part of you.

Others have tried and failed, while Wilco manage to have created a record that builds, it’s a process, where anyone of these tracks could easily lead into any other, spiraling skyward, deconstructing, falling in on itself, and then by sheer force of will, re-establishing itself with a physical presence. To this day I’m not sure how structurally sound the layering is on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, that being said, it’s still standing due to the fact that the album is one designed to age, where most people dismissed or embraced the album as interesting, then at some point found that they couldn’t live without it, as it sonically changed the conceptual nature of the musical landscape we were living in.

This is a record on which Wilco shed their skin, and to this day I don’t believe they been able to find anything suitable to wear full-time, where if you’re a fan of the documentary “Ashes Of American Flags,” released a few years later, you’ll better understand the intensity and the magnitude of the sound Wilco was living in and need to excise … where in retrospect, I think that tour just about blew the doors off of everyone, including the band, as Jeff seems a bit more lo-fi now.

Of course from there I could say that Wilco (Jeff Tweedy) have perfected their own sense of insecurity on this ultimate hipster record in an effort to manipulate, using self deprecation and vulnerability to prey upon the needs of the masses and thus feeding their own egos, while at other times lyrically sounding (“I am trying to break your heart, But still I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t easy …”) sophomorically vengeful, as did Kerouac, Salinger and Bukowski, all whom were idyllically amoral, without the skills necessary to love and be loved by even themselves, that the album has been infused with resentment, compromised by its dedication to barriers and the refusal to break through them.

If anything Yankee Hotel Foxtrot will go down as a cultural artifact, and all you have to do is listen to the lyrics to understand the nature of Wilco’s being.

*** The Fun Facts: Chicagoans can recognize the identical towers featured on the album cover, they’ve been know by different names, there’s the original official title, “Marina City’, and then there's the colloquial ‘Corn Cob Towers’, though since 2001 they’ve been known as ‘The Wilco Towers’. The buildings housed the radio station WCFL, along with the Chicago Tribune.

As to the album’s title: The album was named after a series of letters in the phonetic alphabet that Tweedy had heard on the Irdial box set The Conet Project: Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations. On the fourth track of the album, a woman repeats the words "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" numerous times; a clip from this Numbers Station transmission was placed in the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot song "Poor Places". Irdial sued Wilco for copyright infringement, and a settlement was reached out of court.

On a side note: The band was tempted to keep the Uncle Tupelo name, but ultimately decided to rename the band. The group named itself ‘Wilco’ after the military and commercial aviation radio voice abbreviation for ‘will comply’, a choice which Tweedy has called “A fairly ironic choice for a rock band to name themselves.”

Review by Jenell Kesler

One of the best sounding records I own. Wilco have been doing vinyl right since at least this release. (the original Summerteeth wasn't so great on wax, but the 2009 remaster sounded great)

My copy of this release included a warped disc 1 but not enough defect to interfere with playback. The center hole was not cut cleanly and required some attention. The noise floor is quite low with very a few occasional pops (not cleaned). Sound stage is very big with great separation. The bottom end is good and frequencies are linear across the board. Highs are crisp and slightly bright. Midrange is strong and vocals have a very natural tone. Guitars are accurate and delicate. Overall a great mix and solid pressing. (Rega Planar 3, Exact 2 cart, PSE Studio SL, Linn LK85, Linn interconnects, Linn Katans)