The album certainly seems to have some nods in that direction. The bursts of irritating noise at the end of “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart”, the ending swirl of “Poor Places”, the mysterious “Radio Cure”. Heck, I could even be generous and say that the horrible-on-purpose guitar at the end of “I’m The Man Who Loves You” is part of it. Sprinkled through the album it feels like we have “sonic migraine impressions” for lack of a better terms. Does Yankee Hotel Foxtrot = a concept album of “a day in the life” of a guy in a bad mental place periodically wracked by migraines? Could be. But it definitely feels like it was made by one.
Sort of an aside, I pulled out the late/great/underappreciated Tommy Keene's 1998 album Isolation Party this morning from a stack of pre-pandemic thrift store CD purchases (he was a truly fantastic "power pop" artist and definitely worth checking out). Listened to it in the car while running some errands. Anyway, Jay Bennett is all over this record, playing keyboards, bass and guitar on most every track. Jeff Tweedy sings backup on 3 songs. Its amazing the level of collaboration between Jay/Jeff in the years leading up to YHF.
Thanks! I’ll check it out. Just looked on Apple and that particular album is not there. The wiki entry has Bennett, as you say, all over the record. Jonathan Pines is right there, too, on the mixing, engineering, etc etc.
Tommy Keene, Poor Places demo, advance listening to Ghost and Sky Blue Sky...the continuing onslaught is beginning to overwhelm! (But it’s great.)
It’s a brilliant song. I heartily agree with all the virtues the former posters have so rightly extolled. But I’m struggling with the final part where the war sounds are taking over the music.
“Poor Places”- This album is ending with two of Wilco’s best songs. As good as the album has been so far, this is the high point on the album for me. The lyrics are so vivid and make you feel every word. Hearts wrapped in ice, broken jaws, bourbon breath, pulled fangs, sailors sailing, and voices dreaming. This is my favorite song on the record. It also flows so perfectly into tomorrow’s closing song. 5/5
Some of that piano Leroy plays is really gorgeous, even if it ended up buried on the final mix or deleted entirely. Shoutout to Leroy. Really talented guy who did good work with Wilco during their transitional mid period.
Another YHF outtake that went to Bennett in the divorce: Here’s the version released on The Palace at 4 a.m. (Part 1). Edward Burch on lead vocals. Venus Stopped the Train
Not much else I can say about "Poor Places", just brilliant. It really did evolve and for the better from the demo ...
Nor me either. Its a great song. A real "grower." One of those songs that I had heard many times while listening to the album and suddenly it just dawned on my how brilliant and wonderful it is.
Poor Places is a highlight on an album of highlights. It’s transformation from demo form - which was an amazing song in its own right - is phenomenal. On Saturday I hope to post a curated alternate album culled from demos and b-sides. It’s amazing that they left so much material on the cutting room floor. Yankee is a 10/10 for me, but they also essentially abandoned an 8/10 second album along the way that would have been a natural follow up to Being There-Summerteeth-Mermaid. Most bands would kill to have the songs that were thrown away.
I wouldn't say concept album so much as loose theme of personal disintegration. A coded distress signal sent with that pulsing monotone of the title repeated as "Poor Places" falls apart. I'd say more "A Day in the Life," including the occasional peppy McCartney-esque interludes.
yes, I agree with you. And when I referenced “a day in the life” I was definitely thinking about the Beatles.
"Poor Places" is another great track that is only let down somewhat by a gibberish set of lyrics of the kind that Tweedy delivers on occasion. For that reason, I can't give it top marks because it seems like Tweedy just threw random words and lines together here. That aside, musically, this is quite an astonishing piece of work. Brilliantly arranged and composed and beautifully sung and an absolute highlight of the album. I just wish what he was singing conveyed any sort of meaning to me - he might as well have been singing from the phone book (remember those?). Still, we're 9-for-10 now. Eat your heart out, Joe DiMaggio.
I’m personally a fan of his gibberish lyrics. I find they can really evoke certain emotional states. From that first line (“I am an American...”) I was totally hooked on this album. It’s interesting, too, that Corduroy Cutoff Girl has an alternate lyric for that opening line to I Am Trying... While it can be considered gibberish, Jeff certainly worked to carefully craft these words.
"Poor Places" is utterly brilliant. It definitely goes to show that the group wasn't done recording after the "Engineer Demos"--who plays the cascading sixteenth notes on piano toward the end of the song ("I'm not going outside")? The thing about Leroy, as talented a musician as he is, I never heard him nail that part live. Maybe he played it on the record, but he flubbed it every time on stage. Pat plays it fluidly. I missed the first live performance of "Poor Places" by one night. But I got it twice by that quartet lineup (and I have lots of live recordings from that lineup as well): 2003/04/22 in Lexington, KY, and 2003/06/30 in Washington, DC. Overall, I've seen this one at 5/13 shows, including at 4 of my first 5 shows. The last time I saw it was 10 years ago. This is one I wouldn't mind seeing every night; it's just that good. I love the Kicking Television version, how it flows into "Spiders (kidsmoke)".
I don’t find any of the other lyrics on this album “gibberish”, only “Poor Places”. All of the others I can divine meaning from; this one I just can’t.
YHFT really is Wilco's "OK Computer", and Summerteeth is totally their "Bends, and Ghost is Born is pretty much their "Kid A". Rest of their albums don't quite fit the same pattern.
Except, what is Radiohead’s Being There (assuming AM=Pablo Honey), or Mermaid Avenue, or Uncle Tupelo, or Golden Smog? Radiohead spent years in obscurity, modelled their first album after The Pixies which was a hugely successful sound at the time. Then developed their own sound on the excellent Bends (2) and expanded it to perfection with OKC(3), then threw out the rule book with Kid A (4). Wilco came out of the successful four album run of a critically acclaimed band who were well established in their genre. Their first album continued in that vein and Being There (2) is a classic of the genre. They then followed that up with a collaborative album (3) that is another classic Americana album. They then released a classic pop album (4) that isn’t really like anything else they’d do. And then another genre album (5). The rule book was thrown out on album 6 - unlike album 4 for Radiohead - and the trajectory to that album was quite different, including the fact that we are now on album 10 for Jeff Tweedy, 13 if you include Golden Smog and Loose Fur. Radiohead sustained the same membership up until that point and since. Wilco was quite turbulent. And while many people argue Radiohead to be Thom’s show, the fact that they’ve stayed together since high school is much more like U2 than Wilco. So other than the fact that they both threw out the rule book to release a critically acclaimed album at some point in their careers, I don’t really agree with the Radiohead comparison. Even arguing that part of that rulebook change involved a rock band incorporating electronic sounds doesn’t hold as they both did it in very different ways.
Does anyone hear the Genesis Lamb-era staccato synth that actually plays little repetitive riffs that are similar to the intro to the song Lamb Dies Down? You can hear it from about 2:24-2:32, I love that sound and have always wondered what synth it is. Strangely enough both songs have acoustic piano in the mix simultaneously...
I wasn't saying the bands or the albums/music are at all similar. Just that each of those respective albums had similar impacts for each band and similar receptions and historical followings for their fans and critics.
I do get that and am a fan of both bands. As some of the discussion up thread has argued, the Radiohead comparison is a journalistic shorthand that doesn’t necessarily reflect the realities of either band. But both bands definitely had (at least) one album where they threw out their conventions and received widespread critical acclaim for it.
And we close... Reservations I've got reservations about so many things but not about you That's a wedding vow right there. Pure, unconditional love. The lyrics are pretty succinct here. "How can I convince you it's me I don't like?" He's struggling with self-loathing, but he has absolutely no hesitation when it comes to her (Susie). This is one hell of a love song. It is also melodically so, so beautiful. The fact that Jeff gets sole writing credit on this suggests that he came up with everything. He did a truly beautiful job. The chords and melody are just aching in their simplicity and sad, strong, unending love. The last three minutes is really just a slow fade-out, gentle piano chords and those washes of dissonance. The album trails off rather than ending in a big bang, which I think suggests that his struggles are still ongoing. And, of course, they were and A Ghost is Born will continue the story. A perfect ending for the album but it is an ellipsis (...) rather than a period. I had the thought this morning that Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is the first album (other than Being There) that I don't think is a little bit too long. Being There's length was deliberate and well-formulated. I think all the rest of the albums have just been 1 or 2 tracks more than they needed to be. Here was have just 11 tracks presented in perfect sequence. A clear statement of purpose. Use today for comments on Reservations and for wrap-up thoughts on YHF. I'll be back later to post my album thoughts and rank the tracks. Tomorrow we will do the More Like the Moon EP (at the request of @Zeki ) and then move on to A Ghost is Born!
Reservations: this was always the song that Jeff planned as the closer on the album and it really wraps things up perfectly. “I have reservations...but not about you.” Just beautiful. Bennett plays: pianos (3+), pump organs, electric tack pianos run through Roland synth trigger (bubbly sounds) and the mellotron (mock human voice—high ‘iiiiiii’ sounds) I already have 8 songs from YHF on my playlist, two more than my seldom-kept limit...so am forced to keep this off. I suppose. (Unless I change my mind.)
