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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
by Wilco


9.1

based on 26 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 109 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

MUSIC:

Official Wilco Site

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.

LABEL:	Nonesuch
RELEASE DATE:	23 April 2002
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Rock, Alternative, Alt-Country

NOTES: Available as an enhanced CD.

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...

100

Mojo

A masterpiece, exactly the sort of record that your average sentient pop genius should make in 2002. [May 2002, p.99]

100

E! Online

This disc's rich, exotic flavor gets more intense the longer you chew on it.

100

Splendid

The sheer scope of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is so utterly breathtaking that repeat airings only reinforce its stunning songcraft and otherworldly sonic splendor.

100

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.

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.

Billboard

You'll be hard-pressed to find a more adventurous and rewarding release this year.

Neumu.net

YHF is a fierce record.

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.

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.

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.

PopMatters

A carefully layered, multifaceted album in terms of its sound, music, lyrics, and thematic cohesion -- in short, a great musical achievement.

Resonance

Wilco's most rewarding work yet. [#34, p.60]

Nude As The News

A stark, mostly beautiful but sometimes mind-numbing disc.

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.

Rolling Stone

An earthy, moving psychedelia, eleven iridescent-country songs about surviving a blown mind and a broken heart.

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.

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.

Playlouder

The most worth-the-wait long-awaited album in the world... ever? Could be...

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Wire

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot's faceless, airbrushed production takes you back to the dead days of 1970s AOR radio. [#220, p.66]

The average user rating for this album is 9.1 (out of 10) based on 109 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

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
by Wilco