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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Universal acclaim
Based on 26 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 121 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Nonesuch
Release Date: 23 April 2002
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rock, Alternative, Alt-Country
Summary
The long wait for this fourth album from Jeff Tweedy & co. is partially the result of the tumultuous recording process that left the band without its guitarist (Jay Bennett) and its record label (Warner/Reprise). Fellow Chicagoan Jim O'Rourke mixed the 11 tracks.
Also By This Artist: a ghost is born Kicking Television: Live In Chicago Sky Blue Sky Summer Teeth Wilco (The Album)
Also On Metacritic
MUSIC: Billy Bragg & Wilco: Mermaid Avenue Vol. II Glenn Kotche: Mobile Loose Fur: Born Again In The U.S.A. The Autumn Defense: The Autumn Defense The Minus 5: Down With Wilco
Also On The Web: Official Wilco Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Mojo
A masterpiece, exactly the sort of record that your average sentient pop genius should make in 2002. [May 2002, p.99]
E! Online
This disc's rich, exotic flavor gets more intense the longer you chew on it.
Read Full Review >Splendid
The sheer scope of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is so utterly breathtaking that repeat airings only reinforce its stunning songcraft and otherworldly sonic splendor.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Complex and dangerously catchy, lyrically sophisticated and provocative, noisy and somehow serene, Wilco's aging new album is simply a masterpiece; it is equally magnificent in headphones, cars and parties.... No one is too good for this album; it is better than all of us.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
''Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'' is a subliminal album. Spin it once and it barely registers. Play it five or six times and its vaporous, insinuating, rusty-carousel melodies start to carve out a permanent orbit in your skull.
Read Full Review >Billboard
You'll be hard-pressed to find a more adventurous and rewarding release this year.
Read Full Review >CultureDose.net
Rarely has a record balanced such quality lyrics with such pretty music; it is also a rare occasion when a record can be both deeply sad and uplifting at the same time.
Read Full Review >Almost Cool
I'm not sure if it's the work by O'Rourke or the progression of the group (or a little of both), but this disc is so multi-layered that it's easy to hear new things many many times after the first listen.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
Yankee confirms what fans have long suspected: Wilco was right, the label was wrong, and the album could be the best of the band's career.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
A carefully layered, multifaceted album in terms of its sound, music, lyrics, and thematic cohesion -- in short, a great musical achievement.
Read Full Review >Resonance
Wilco's most rewarding work yet. [#34, p.60]
Austin Chronicle
After a while -- a familiarity period if you will -- it becomes clear that these songs are not only fully realized, they're damn near brilliant.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
An earthy, moving psychedelia, eleven iridescent-country songs about surviving a blown mind and a broken heart.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
While their songs still maintain the loose intimacy that was apparent on their debut AM, the music has matured to reveal a complexity that is rare in pop music, yet showcased perfectly on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
Read Full Review >Village Voice
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is basically a good album, even a great album if you're in the mood, though if you listen to a lot of hip-hop (or house music or basement bhangra or any other genre not dominated by white people), it probably won't be the most extraordinary album you'll hear all month.
Read Full Review >Playlouder
The most worth-the-wait long-awaited album in the world... ever? Could be...
Read Full Review >CDNow
Like so many great fuzzy rock albums, from the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street to R.E.M.'s Murmur, it takes a few listens to seep into your bloodstream.
Read Full Review >New Musical Express
It's a gripping darkness that doesn't often lift. It's hard going, but it's worth it, and that is undoubtedly their point.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
Tweedy takes conventional songforms birthed on his acoustic guitar and scrambles them completely, reassembled into fractured, dissonant epics with the help of the reliably brilliant Jim O'Rourke.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
Battered, bonkers and bewitching in equal parts, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at last finds Wilco's "interesting" phase becoming downright fascinating. [May 2002, p.121]
Blender
Tweedy whittles down the arrangements and drops in enough experimental nuances to make the whole thing sound refreshingly lo-fi. [Jun/Jul 2002, p.116]
Uncut
The most common description of this much-discussed album over the past few months is that YHF is Americana's Kid A. In truth, it's more successful than that. [May 2002, p.112]
Trouser Press
More time spent in the songwriting lab might have yielded material more suitable to the evident studio effort invested and brought Wilco closer to making a truly great album.
Read Full Review >The Wire
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot's faceless, airbrushed production takes you back to the dead days of 1970s AOR radio. [#220, p.66]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 9.1 (out of 10) based on 121 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Kevin D. gave it a4:
One of the most overrated albums of the new millennium period. There are four good songs on this album, and that's the nicest thing that can be said about it. Experimental? Yes, but something new? No, adding computer sounds and fuzz is experimental for this band, but it's an old trick. Good folk rock has two defining characteristics, melody and lyrics. The melodies on this album are mostly the same and wear out after the first four tracks. So then the lyrics... decent, but certainly not world class. For example, "Jesus, etc." is a gorgeous song with great lyrics, but "I am the man who loves you" has thin melodies and lyrics that are just boring. It's background music, something that puts me to sleep every time I listen to it, and I've listened to it several times, each time thinking, "maybe this time it'll be interesting." It never is.
[Anonymous] gave it a10:
Brilliance.
Hein gave it a10:
The Wire is deaf. Beautiful voice, brilliant songwriting and subtle experimenting. Perfect & timeless!
Scott H. gave it a10:
Superb. Certainly one of the best albums of this decade (so far).
Witt N gave it a10:
An excellent album that balances obscrue insturments and melodies with equally interesting lyrics and song progression; a must listen.
Charlie P gave it a10:
Easily Wilco's most defining album. From the relaxing Violins is Jesus, ect, to the tearing guitar solo in I'm The Man Who Loves You, this album does it all. A Masterpiece.
Toby I gave it a10:
phenomenal album. it is one of those albums that i could listen to over and over again, even though i already know the whole thing by heart. although some tracks are not as great as others, they lyrics are consistantly unbelievable, and it has gotten me hooked to the band and jeff tweedy. clearly, im a huge fan, and i could not have asked for a better album
