I've really enjoyed this trip through YHF. I've come to appreciate the longer songs and the soundscapes more than I had in the past. I've come away with a greater appreciation of Jeff's lyrics and his voice - his vocals elevate several songs for me, especially on Poor Places and Reservations, just gorgeous and for me, his vocals absolutely carry these songs. For me, the album doesn't rise to the level of Being There, Summerteeth or a couple others we'll get to, but I do get the adulation.
This analysis fits the timelines I’ve always heard. A deluxe edition would be awesome if it included the Jay mixes between Engineer and final mixes. Unfortunately I don’t think those exist.
Another Jay story from the Tweedy memoir: Jeff talked to Bennett on the phone and then sent him a copy of the just completed A.M. to listen to. A few days later, Jay called Jeff and the first thing out of his mouth was praise for Tweedy’s vocals. Jeff says, paraphrasing, that he’d made five albums and this was the first time anyone had paid him that compliment. And then Bennett joined the band.
Wow! That was a lot to read. I had some catching up to do since I am also traveling (moving states) and I had no internet yesterday. I also don’t have my records or stereo so the next several days music will be all phone and car. I just drove all the way from Southern California and now I am in lovely Oregon. It’s so great to be heading back north! Reservations- Absolutely gorgeous! One of his sweetest songs. When he sings “I’ve got reservations, about so many things, but not about you”. It blows me away every time. I love his voice and the melody. Another one of my favorite songs on the album. 5/5 YHF- It falls somewhere in my top four Wilco albums. These 4 albums are always trading places. It’s almost impossible to put the 4 albums in an order of preference. We already discussed 2 of them (Being There and Summerteeth) and the other album is coming up next. YHF is a masterpiece and will likely never sound outdated just like all the other greatest albums of all time.
I just finished a full dedicated listen of the album. The song-by-song gives me a deeper appreciation, but the album as a whole is so much more. There's a depth and variety, both in the songs and in the production. Parts are crystal clear and parts intentionally muddy. It ranges from gorgeous acoustic sections to mind-numbing noise. It's filled with gorgeous melodies from start to finish. The sound quality is good enough to hear every layer. Just fantastic.
"Poor Places" Once in a while I run across a very good, or even great, album that tends to taper off by the end of the recording, where the last two or three tracks lose a bit of the momentum. YHF is not one of those albums. There's something ethereal about this song. It's another one of those languid but serious Tweedy performances, but there's a lot of fascinating stuff going on underneath that always pulls me into a song. In this case, the piano adds some wonderful texture, the guitar adds some balance, and the percussion accents are top notch. Again, another cool outro. "Reservations" The closer seems so fitting; a soft landing. Tweedy's performance is heartfelt, while the atmospherics bring in a kind of "sailing off into the sunset" tone to the track. This is an album I can never tire of. ______________________________ I'm not sure what more I can add to my impressions of this album. As I said before, it's easily one of my favourite albums of the last 20 years, and it only seems to get better every time I listen to it. It's a unique creative endeavor by a group of talented people, where everything just came together in a special way. Despite the conflict behind the scenes, or maybe because of it, I'd say we all benefit from this flash of brilliance. I have to add, I think that bringing Glenn Kotche into the fold was a great move by Jeff, and only added to the band's musical evolution. Re: The Jeff/Jay relationship... I realize that there are plenty if Wilco fans, particularly those that came in during the early years, that have a certain allegiance and/or soft spot towards Jay Bennett. That's understandable; it's obvious that he was a very talented guy. As someone who came in a little later, my perspective of his place in the band's history may be a little different. During Being There he seemed to be somewhat of a sidekick to Jeff. By time of the Summerteeth/Mermaid Avenue period in many respects he became an equal collaborator. While an integral part in the creation of YHF, Jay was becoming detached from the band dynamic, which created tensions not only with Jeff but with the rest of the band. Based on comments that I read in the Sunken Treasure bio, Jay had retreated into his own, independent bubble. I wouldn't suggest that Jeff felt undermined or threatened in any way by Jay's isolated working method, but Wilco was Jeff's band, and if he thought that Jay had become detrimental to the band's functionality, it was his call if he thought that Jay would hinder the band as it moved forward. Just my impressions, but it's certainly a disappointing part of the band's history. Who knows what direction the band would have gone if things worked out differently.
Thread guide Introduction and Uncle Tupelo Mar 1995 AM I Must Be High Casino Queen Box Full Of Letters Shouldn't Be Ashamed Pick Up The Change I Thought I Held You That's Not The Issue It's Just That Simple - live Should've Been In Love - live 1995 Passenger Side - live 1996 Dash 7 - live 2010 Blue Eyed Soul Too Far Apart Outtakes Oct 1996 Being There Misunderstood Far Far Away Monday Outtasite (outta mind) Forget The Flowers Red Eyed and Blue I Got You What's The World Got In Store Hotel Arizona Say You Miss Me Sunken Treasure Someday Soon Outta Mind (Outtasite) Someone Else's Song Kingpin (Was I) In Your Dreams Why Would You Wanna Live The Lonely 1 Dreamer In My Dreams Blasting Fonda (outtake?) Live 1996 - televised version Snow Job 97 June 1998 Mermaid Ave (with Billy Bragg) California Stars Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key Birds And Ships Hoodoo Voodoo She Came Along to Me At My Window Sad And Lonely Ingrid Bergman Christ For President I Guess I Planted One By One Eisler On The Go Hesitating Beauty Another Man's Done Gone The Unwelcome Guest March 1999 Summerteeth I Can't Stand It She's A Jar A Shot In The Arm We're Just Friends I'm Always In Love Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway (Again) Pieholden Suite How To Fight Lonliness Via Chicago ELT My Darling When You Wake Up Feeling Old Summer Teeth In A Future Age Candyfloss Interview 1999 May 2000 Mermaid Ave vol 2 Airline To Heaven My Flying Saucer Feed Of Man Hot Rod Hotel I Was Born Secret Of The Sea Stetson Kennedy Remembering the Mountain Bed Blood Of The Lamb Against Th' Law All You Fascists Joe Dimaggio Done It Again Meanest Man Black Wind Blowing Someday, Some Morning, Sometime Mermaid Ave vol 3 Loose Fur Laminated Cat Sept 2001 Yankee Hotel Foxtrot I Am Trying To Break Your Heart Kamera Radio Cure War On War Jesus Etc Ashes Of American Flags Heavy Metal Drummer I'm The Man Who Loves You Pot Kettle Black Poor Places Reservations
Other Tweedy memoir tidbits while still fresh in my mind: 1) confirms that Bragg approached Jay Farrar initially for Guthrie project. 2) found out after the fact that Bragg considered Wilco to be (paraphrasing from memory) ‘red-dirt Midwestern band.’ Says if he’d known that he’d never have agreed to the project. 3) says Kotche joined Wilco halfway through YHF, implying (to me) that Coomer is on a good half of that album. My new thought: maybe Wilco Is/Was has more to do with that midway transition from Coomer to Kotche than Bennett? Possibly. But then Coomer should have been listed in the is/was group.
I’m guessing he’s on Kamera but that’s what I’ve already speculated on our Day 1 YHF discussion (based on Kot book). The sparse liner notes list Coomer as an additional musician...so he’s on the album, without a doubt.
Okay, so that’s one song. How is that “a good half the album”? EDIT - And to be clear, as far as “Kamera” goes, I could see there being some remnants of a basic drum or percussion track that is Ken on there, but “half the album” is a stretch.
I have no idea! It’s Tweedy’s words, not mine. And Wilco didn’t list the players/instruments like they normally did. I have a feeling it was a rather touchy subject. (I said ‘implying,’ by the way. Again, Kot lists 10 songs that he heard that Coomer was on. I listed them on our initial discussion. Some (many? I forgot) of those songs didn’t make the album. I guess Coomer could have been there for half of the duration and Kotche could be on 90% of the album. Absolutely possible. Don’t know because Wilco hasn’t provided the details. Unless you know?)
I’d definitely agree with “Coomer could have been there for half of the duration and Kotche could be on 90% of the album” and that’s how I always took Jeff’s quote that you referenced, not that he’s featured on half the album itself, especially because Glenn’s drumming and percussion are so distinctive. I really suspect any appearance by Coomer is some drum or percussion part that was locked into a recording and not able to be removed, so is pretty minor, or covered up with Glenn overdubs anyway, hence the “additional musician” credit. But that’s just a guess based on not hearing anything particularly Ken Coomer-esque on there! They clearly recorded a lot of stuff that they eventually junked, be it entire songs or various parts of songs (guitar tracks, etc), and a huge reason for that was dissatisfaction with Ken’s drumming. With Glenn being such a perfect fit, I can easily imagine them spending half of the total length of the sessions frustratingly recording tunes as they always had and feeling it wasn’t working (in Tweedy’s mind), then they get Glenn, everything clicks, they ditch most of those recordings (including the drum parts of songs that did end up on the album) and it was off to the races, at least until it was time to mix...
Good morning! Over the next six days we will cover the songs on the More Like the Moon EP, originally released as a bonus disc on the Australian edition of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and then released to the band's website in 2003. First: Camera This song was already discussed a little bit when we talked about 'Kamera.' I've only heard this EP on the Alpha Mike Foxtrot box set which I simply haven't spent a lot of time with. For all intents and purposes, these songs are new to me. I much prefer 'Kamera' from the album to this version. This just feels like a rough version of a song that would find its true identity with the album arrangement. This is too noisy for me and it lacks the backing vocals and keyboard sound that I love so much in the album version. I do like alternate versions though, especially from a period like this when the arrangements are so crucial to the overall impact of the songs.
The only part I’m sure is Ken is the noise intro to “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.” Maybe he’s on more tracks, but it isn’t much.
And this is why I like liner notes. Tweedy, though, did say (and I’m quoting directly now—loc 3150 on my kindle), “Glenn, who came in halfway through Yankee;”
Camera Why was this version of Kamera released? It illustrates how great the album version is, that’s for sure. Listen to them back to back and judge for yourself, but there just doesn’t seem to be much point in including this (especially as the lead track) on the Bonus EP if your intent is to collect together some of the better outtakes from the YHF album sessions. If this was the only version of the song available, then obviously it would make sense to release it. It has some merits, but it mostly just comes across as a clumsy & less nuanced version of a song we already know from the album. If anyone knows the history of this particular version please enlighten me. I’m a bit mystified as to why this was included on the EP, but yet “Cars Can’t Escape” was given a separate download-only release.
Every time I see the words "dad rock" in print ... fast forward to the 1:30 mark in this video to get my reaction:
When the ep came out (all those years ago), I was more thrilled with it than I was with YHF! Now, I listen with not quite the same enthusiasm. As for Camera: I like it though agree with the decision to go with Kamera on YHF.
Camera is a song (or a "version") that I knew nothing about until I got Alpha Mike Foxtrot. I am not sure that I even knew about the EP when it came out - I never bought it. I mentioned a few pages ago that I have spent a good bit of time with Alpha Mike Foxtrot the past couple of weeks and its really good. Lots of great stuff on there. However, I would not necessarily classify this version of "Kamera" as "great stuff." Like someone mentioned earlier, it basically reminds me of how good the album version of this song is. The right choice of direction for this song as far as its path to the album was made here, for sure.
