What does Yankee Hotel Foxtrot mean??

It was the spring of 2002 when I picked this up. I remember the fall of the year previous that it was circulating the net. It was even streaming from their web site. I got a sneak peak of it and played it on my radio show. We heard the stories how Reprise Records thought this album was not commercial. I heard this story through various of sources. It is more then likely one of the stories that is associated with Wilco. I am sure you heard all about the story that Wilco sold their album back to a AOL/Time Warner subsidiary to Nonesuch. Personally I think getting Nonesuch to be their label was really cool.

Wilco is a band that I loved since the days of Uncle Tupelo. I thought their daring move of playing country rock styles in the middle of grunge was daring and bold. It was also a change of pace for what was going on in the early 1990's. I never saw Wilco at first, but I did see Uncle Tupelo twice and thought they were great. One of my fondest memories is going to Northampton Mass. to see them do the early show at the Iron Horse for a cheap $6.00 and then staying for the late show witch was also $6.00 and that artist was of all people Jewel. Cheap night with a lot of memories.

I did see Wilco during the Being There album. It was a small show in NYC and was great. I look back and realize that Being There was their Exile on Main Street or Manassas. If it was not for those two albums I am not sure if Wilco would have made Being There. Wilco is a band that can do no wrong after that album and when Summerteeth came out I saw them again. They had great energy that night in Providence. I came hope after that show saying to myself I will follow this band. Then they really impressed me by putting two albums out on the tribute of Woody Guthrie. Wilco fans loved it and like me I quickly bought them.



What makes Yankee Hotel Foxtrot different from all the albums previous is that it does not stick to one idea. The musical genres it passes through expand on Being There. Everytime I hear YHF I think that it is a Nonesuch kind of record. Nonesuch is a label that likes different kind of genres. It's a label that loves great music and lets the artists be themselves with out having a label tell them to do something. Nonesuch has artists such as Emmylou Harris, Steve Reich, Caetano Veloso, Bill Frisell and Pat Metheny on their label and these artist are themselves. They also can do what they want to do on their terms.

So when the spring of 2002 came around I only had a few shows to play it. It was wonderful and wished I had more time to play it. When the fall came of 2002 I was still at college and there is when I showed off Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Every week I would play a new song from the album. It was as timely as it was when it came out in the spring. So much so I added to the Top 10 albums of 2002.

Wilco took what they did on Summerteeth and Being There and added more ideas and made it more interesting and with the help of Jim O'Rourke added some touches otherwise Wilco would have not explored. What made this album for me was seeing these songs live. It was great. Later I acquired the demos from this album, none of these demos were incomplete and surely were keepers.

If your looking for a great album to listen to this is it. If your looking for an album that begs to be different and screams new ideas and thought provoking this is it also. What makes this amazing to me is the fact Wilco is ever changing and with this album it proves they could do something from their previous albums and make a huge statement. Enjoy a 2000's classic.