| "Nach knapp 50 Minuten `Yankee
Hotel Foxtrot´ wirkt das bisherige Werk dieser bis dato schon wundervollen
Band wie eine Fingerübung, wie eine Vorbereitung auf dieses Meisterwerk.
Viele werden diese Einschätzung für übertrieben, ja verfehlt
halten. Denn auf den ersten Blick kommt dieses Album fast leicht daher.
Um als Meisterwerk zu gelten, bedarf es ja meist wagnerianischen Bombastes
oder zumindest einer gewissen Verstörung, die sich hier jedoch nur
selten einstellen will. So schön hat bisher noch kaum jemand am Abgrund
balanciert. Nicht auszudenken, was uns entgangen wäre, wenn sich nicht
doch noch ein Label für dieses Album gefunden hätte. `Every song's
a comeback/ Every moment's a little bit later.´” (Rolling Stone.
Platte des Monats Mai. 5 Sterne) |
| Few bands can call themselves contemporaries of both the
heartbreakingly earnest self-destruction of Whiskeytown and the alienating
experimentation of Radiohead's post-millennial releases, but on the painstaking
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco seem to have done just that. In early 2001,
the Chicago-area band focused on recording their fourth album, which ultimately
led to the departure of guitarist Jay Bennett and tensions with their record
label. Unwilling to change the album to make it more commercially viable,
the band bought the finished studio tapes from Warner/Reprise for 50,000
dollars and left the label altogether. The turmoil surrounding the recording
and distribution of the album in no way diminishes the sheer quality of
the genre-spanning pop songs written by frontman Jeff Tweedy and his bandmates.
After throwing off the limiting shackles of the alt-country tag that they
had been saddled with through their 1996 double album Being There, Wilco
experimented heavily with the elaborate constructs surrounding their simple
melodies on Summer Teeth. The long-anticipated Yankee Hotel Foxtrot continues
their genre-jumping and worthwhile experimentation. The sprawling, nonsensical
"I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" is as charmingly bleak as anything
Tweedy has written to date, while the positively joyous "Heavy Metal
Drummer" jangles through bright choruses and summery reminiscences.
Similarly, "Kamera" dispels the opening track's gray with a warm
acoustic guitar and mixer/multi-instrumentalist/"fifth Beatle"
Jim O'Rourke's unusual production. The true high points of the album are
when the songwriting is at its most introspective, as it is during the heartwrenching
"Ashes of American Flags," which takes on an eerie poignancy in
the wake of the attacks at the World Trade Center. "All my lies are
always wishes," Tweedy sings, "I know I would die if I could come
back new." As is the case with many great artists, the evolution of
the band can push the music into places that many listeners (and record
companies for that matter) may not be comfortable with, but, in the case
of Wilco, their growth has steadily led them into more progressive territory.
While their songs still maintain the loose intimacy that was apparent on
their debut A.M., the music has matured to reveal a complexity that is rare
in pop music, yet showcased perfectly on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. -- Zac Johnson
(allmusicguide) |
#4 in Jahresliste 
Plattentipp 
#8 Sounds(2009)
Mitglied in der "Hall Of Shame"!
eins von 1001 Alben, die Ihr hören solltet, bevor das Leben vorbei ist! (2008)
eins von 100 Alben aus der Basis-Diskothek Rock und Pop von Uwe Schütte (Reclam, 2011)
