Wilco has (had I guess) it all down. I'm glad this album didn't disappear.

Superb. Certainly one of the best albums of this decade (so far).

The Wire is deaf. Beautiful voice, brilliant songwriting and subtle experimenting. Perfect & timeless!

An excellent album that balances obscrue insturments and melodies with equally interesting lyrics and song progression; a must listen.

I still cover 2 of these songs professionally: Jesus etc. and Pot Kettle Black (for those that feel there are no pop hooks) On my worst review I give it a 6; on my best a 9-something.... there are songs I still skip over (heavy metal drummer, kamera, radio cure) songs I still play (jesus etc., pot kettle black) song I'm indifferent (reservations, war on war, I'm the Man....) and song I still am intrigued by (poor places, I am trying..., ashes--esp the outlying guitar part) did they hype it? probably but why not hype what you've put a lot of work into? and I never actually bought any of it so I give them a 9 overall… Expand

A.M. was basically an extension of Uncle Tupelo; with Being There, Wilco moved from country to a kind of alternative country and have slowly swayed from their roots with each album. However, they manage to change styles without losing their appeal. Not a real catchy group of songs but a solid one nonetheless.

Masterpiece. Only one weak song, but even the black hole of "Radio Cure" is absorbed into perfection with multiple listens.

Though Not the most immediatly accesable album from the band, it remains one of their greatest, truley turning a corner in alternative country and giving a big fuck you to the rest of the shity music world. If you're smart and not so full of yourself as to have to dislike it because alot of people do, you'll love it. remember kids there's a reason to why some albums are popular

Brilliance times 10

This disc changed my life. I can't stop listening to it.

best album of 2002, period.

A disc that demands your patience. From annoying cacophony on the first listen... to strange curiousity after awhile... it eventually leads you to the conclusion that YHF is a brilliant americana symphony. Best of 2002

One of modern indie's most important records. Lyrics and music go along perfectly and create a truly fantastic atmosphere throughout the whole album.

Great album, I think this album is at the top of my list by Wilco. It really shows that "less catchy" music is worth listening to. Whoever said it doesn't live up to the quality of Justin Timberlake, I hope you were joking.

Having listened to this album through several times, I find myself constantly re-evaluating it. It grew on me slowly, reaching a peak but after a time slowly falling out of favor as I acquired new albums. Having just listened to it through once again, I remember all of the reasons why I liked it. This is definitely an album that requires patience, but one that will ultimately reward your faithfulness to it.… Expand

This album is among my favourites and it has nothing to do with the 'giving a big fuck you to those coporate assholes' or anything like that. It's because the songs are masterful, delicate, played well and carries a atmosphere of hopeful melocholy with it.

The most experimental album from one of music most inovative bands. Wilco is a force to be reckoned with this year!

this is the best album from 2001 and probably from 2002 too! God bless Wilco.

This shimmering beauty of an album is destined to be an all-time classic . . . it effortlessly blends Jeff Tweedy's earnest, unpretentious lyrics of love, loss, and life in general with studio white noise that complements, rather than distracts from, the lovely melodies already present. An album this great is a necessary shot in the arm to modern pop mediocrity--any music lover will fall in love with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. … Expand

It doesn't live up to the hype. But how could it? I was expecting to hear the sound of the present riding a rail right to the future. Instead i got an interesting, melodic and original record.

10/10...and its not even my favorite wilco album...

Okay their a great band and this a great record but honestly people need to calm down. Seriously calm down. You know how many great bands have gotten dropped from major labels and no one ever cared? Wilco isn't that much more special.

Boring hokey country pop sprinkled with electronica. It's awful, not an interesting note of music on the whole album. YHF is an album only music critics could possibly enjoy.

*gasps* it's.....BEAUTIFUL!!!!

the best marriage of folk acoustics and modern studio trickery

Overrated. I liked their work with Billy Bragg better.

Inconsistent effort. Some songs will move the listener, some songs will put one to sleep. It is as if the musicians fought with each other over musical direction and they each won a section of the recording. Disappointing!

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot could be considered a triumph for Wilco because it showed that they didn't need Corporate America to make the album that they wanted to make. Even through all the chaos and struggle the band came out with one of the best albums of the millenium. The album is melodic and soft because of the guitar and voice of Jeff Tweedy but also the noise that propels into the song brings out what the album was meant for. Now I am a fan of Wilco because they make smart music that is at times a riot of a mess and at times an orchestral triumph. You will find that this album is one of their bests and will remain that way because it is one of the high rated albums that deserves it and in 2006 is still listenable and better than anything that has come out this year.… Expand

The best album in a LONG time...

i have the downloaded version that they put on their website last year, so i have been listening to it for awhile and cannot hear it enough. definitely their best yet!

This record is an instant classic. There hasn't been a better record released since the last Wilco record in 1999. GET THIS RECORD!

Artistic masterpiece

The bells and whistles are different, but the core is classic Wilco.

Simply amazing. Flowing tales, rockin' fun, introspective, lost love, hidden fun... all rolled into one record company-panned album. A word to describe Reprise Records (in their decision to dis wilco an this album): Moronic.

what's next? wilco

Sheer unadulterated genius

Let's not get carried away by the hype. Their label was right to refuse to release this record. It's their weakest album yet and is completely self-indulgent.

Just about all the glowing praise has already been said. I don't disagree in the slightest. But what I've yet to read is that the album cover is clearly borrowed from Modest Mouse's 'Lonesome Crowded West' album. Borrow one, borrow all. Such is music.

Hard to remember the last time that the more I listen to an album the better I like it. This is one of them. Jesus, etc. is the best song of many.

What makes YHF astonishing is how much it resonates after Sept. 11. And all the songs were written and recorded months before. For the remainder of my life, whenever I listen to this disc, it will be a haunting reminder of what occured that day. An Amazing Disc.

This album is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I have heard for years. So it does not possess the political and breathless intelligence of the Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime or the brilliant anger of Nation of Millions or the genius of the White Album or Sgt. Peppers, etc. It is true - this is not pure pop music genius as the above albums are. On the other hand, it comes very close to that level. Sure - it cannot compete against the true greats outside of pop music (e.g., Kind of Blue). But, compared to the formulaic music that has been steadily pumped out since the mid 90's (see Wilco's early albums), YHF is revelatory. Congrats, Jeff.… Expand

One of the most refreshing, yet strangely familiar sounding albums I've ever heard. I stupidly lent it to my friend without considering the huge withdrawl symptoms i was bound to feel! Please! Give it back!

This was the album of the year...until "The Rising" came out...

this is, hands down, the best wilco album yet, featuring some of tweedy's best all-around offerings including the bouncy i am trying to break your heart, and the beautiful poor places. it is not, however, the GREAT album that it has been made out to be. perhaps the best album thus far this year, though ugly casanova could give it a run for its money.

Apparently Wilco spent a lot of time listening to Stephen Malkmus's debut before recording Yankee Foxtrot. Wiclo is a group that used to rag on Pavement and now offers us a mild imitiation.

Definitely my favorite cd right now... and has been for the past few months. Never before has a cd captured me so squarely. Please tell me how someone can NOT like this cd?

Listen and Listen, it gets better.

I've noticed that this has been said in 2 out of every 3 reviews I've read: if you judge this album by the first time through, you're going to be missing out and probably making others miss out. I was very doubtful that this would be a good cd. I ended up listening to it 8 times through the first day I bought it and it's definitely a must have.

YHF is an album I find myself returning to over and over.

I have purchases a ton of CDs since I picked up "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot." Somehow, YHF is the one that keeps finding its way back into my CD player. It inspired me to purchase the rest of the Wilco catalog, all of the Uncle Tupelo albums, the Billy Bragg collaborations, and albums by related bands, like Son Volt. As of yet, nothing has compared to YHF - perhaps, for me, nothing will. That all being said, I sort of hated it the first time I heard it. It took two or three listens before I realized that it was actually pretty amazing. Now, I find new things every time I listen to it. While I'm not convinced that this album I for all tastes, I do believe that more people would like it if they had an opportunity to hear it. That said, I highly recomend it.… Expand

This CD is, simply put, a band and a songwriter at the top of their games. Wilco leaps headlong into musical experimentation and create a masterpiece. There is not a single weak track contained in these 11 songs. However, this is not easy-access listening. The music is dense, covering the inherent beauty of Jeff Tweedy's melodies. Upon repeated listenings, however, the beauty of this poignant country-rock album is revealed in all its stunning glory. "I am trying to break your heart" will be your least favorite song upon first listen and your most favorite after your tenth. This record only gets better. … Expand

How an album that contains such pedestrian and unmemorable music thoroughly gauzed over with electronic studio trickery and hampered by pretensions to poetry has fooled so many people continues to surprise me. This is an album implicitly and explicitly MADE FOR rock critics.

Takes some getting used to and a few repeat listens, but once it finally connects... wow. Like a rush of chills in your ears.

My first listen to this album was a little dissapointing as I soaked in what seemed a monotone acoustic guitar and lyrics about a camera (my brother had me skip the noise ridden elegaic "I am trying..". I dismiissed it and yet kept listening to it, until I found myself playing it from start to finish over and over and over and over again. The album is a masterpiece, a mood changer and a revelation in listening to music.… Expand

Definitely one of the 5 best albums so far this decade. This timely masterpiece blew me away with its sonic creativity and poetic honesty,and sheer melodic brilliance.

The more you listen, the more you will like!

many say that it is a kid a ripoff , but the truth is, that is infinitely better

One of the best albums I have ever heard. I really love this album, and think you will too!

Keep listening! The more I hear this album the more I want to hear it again. This is the kind of album that becomes first priority and comsumes your musical thoughts. A truely great album from start to finish. YHF has set a standard that I doubt can be attained by many bands. Perfect in so many way!

dull dull dull dull dull. I'm reviewing this in early 2006 After having some perspective, I think this record was carried by sheer hype. I remember the songs clearly and how smug I felt listening to it (take that corporate fools!), but now I can not even will myself to put it in the cd player. The mere thought of this album can induce a coma.

It's a classic from the first clicks and buzzes of the opening track.

The final exclamation point of alternative rock. Demanding of the listener but well worth the dozen plays required to "get there." The best recording to date of this young century. And all of this from someone who has been listening to "rock' in all its variations and aberrations for over 40 years.

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.… Expand

An outstanding album!

this is my favorite CD. I have never heard better music than this

Being There is still Wilco's masterpiece, an amazing combination of musical genre. YHF is a less ambitious project, but manages to surpass Being There in some ways. It is carefully built around a central theme, is musically multi-layered and, most importantly, is works at an intense emotional level. The more you play YHF, the more you appreciate its depth.

An amazing progression. Wilco keeps on growing and improving with each new realese!

Excellent album! Worth it's weight (wait?) in gold.

Flawless, haunting, stalking, lingering masterpiece. Wilco have arrived and cemented in place an album that is unique and familiar, an album that is destined to be remembered. Brilliant.

Yeah, it's perfect.

I agree.

simply the best record since "Automatic for the People"

Brilliant.

This album? A Masterpiece? Don't judge it. Just give it a listen. And keep listening. Don't force yourself, you'll want to keep listening. You'll want to hear every note and every smokey word until you can't live without them. God bless you, Jeff Tweedy, you poseur hick, you.

Your chastizing me!! This album is not even close to the quality of some of justin timberlakes stuff.

its not even worth argueing over, this alum is so obviously the best of the last decade.

One of the greatest musical achievements ever. There is more in the album than any of us could ever dream of.

While other bands put out albums that are less melodic and tuneful, Wilco refuses to be mediocre and takes the high road on an avenue of great country-influenced melodies, true lyric genius, and pointed social commentary. The best example of the last of these three has to be "War on War," which is my favorite song on the album because it reminds me of how hard this war business really is.

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.

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

I agree completely with Pitchfork, this album is amazing. I mean it was great on thre first couple of listens but as I've spent more time with it I notice the subtleties and warm to those songs that I didn't like too much at first.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is a great album. It has soft melodies that just stick in your mind. It's simply amazing. "Jesus, Etc" is one of the best songs I've ever heard. All In All, Wilco has made a fantastic album that gets better with multiple listens. A-

A flawless album, everything in it is balanced perfectly. At the end it feels like a record that you can dig as deep as you'd like, yet at the same time one with which it is perfectly comfortable to stay on the surface.

Rolling Stone said it best when they called it "an American masterpiece." Upon it's release, it quite frankly, changed everything. They created a sound that has been done and redone ever since 2002. And I believe history will eventually place this up there with Sgt. Peppers & Blonde On Blonde. "Ashes of American Flags" is a highlight on an album of highlights. To further dive into the making of this record, check out the documentary I Am Trying To Break Your Heart. Another classic in it's own realm.… Expand