|
|
Post by skvorisdeadsorta on Apr 18, 2006 11:00:27 GMT -5
I always thought "Summerteeth" was far better than "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot". YHF is good, but I would hardly call it the album of the decade. I think once the decade is over there will be a few pretty heavy competiters out there.
|
|
|
|
Post by Fuzznuts on Apr 18, 2006 11:07:18 GMT -5
Summerteeth is absolutely better than YHF, but, alas, it came out in 1999.
|
|
|
|
Post by Paul on Apr 18, 2006 11:10:09 GMT -5
I always thought "Summerteeth" was far better than "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot". YHF is good, but I would hardly call it the album of the decade. I think once the decade is over there will be a few pretty heavy competiters out there. Namely Pearl Jam's new album  |
|
|
|
Post by Paul on Apr 18, 2006 11:15:09 GMT -5
Summerteeth is absolutely better than YHF, but, alas, it came out in 1999. Its all up in the air for me...I'm so sick of YHF that I haven't listend to it in about a year and a half...recently I've gone back and listened to Being There and AM; don't know when I'll revisit YHF.... Having said that, that is the album that made me fully embrace Wilco, and go back and relisten to their back catalog...The first year I had it, I couldn't put it down...I think it's a damn fine album. Right now my order for Wilco albums would be: 1. Summer Teeth 2. YHF 3. Being There 4. AGIB 5. AM (not including the Mermaid Ave. albums). Although AM is my least favorite, I still love it, and really enjoy listening to it....Its at the bottom only b/c of how much Wilco has grown and changed their style since; it's very primitive compared to the rest of their albums. I don't care what anyone says, "Casino Queen" will always be one of my favorites... |
|
|
|
Post by Kensterberg on Apr 18, 2006 11:19:15 GMT -5
It's pretty obvious why YHF won this poll -- 12 people voted for it, 3 more than the next most popular record. Whenever you are trying to come up with some sort of agreement about a topic, it helps if everyone lists the same contenders. I doubt if there was a single list that included anything by Wilco that didn't include YHF, and a lot of lists included Wilco. Other bands who might have challenged this for the top spot split their votes amongst several records: Radiohead scored considerably more points than YHF, but it was almost evenly divided between Kid A and Hail to the Thief. If you add up the totals for each band, Radiohead's two entries wind up downing YHF/AGIB by a mere 10 points! But AGIB only got 84 points, total, and appeared on only three lists. I'm not at all surprised that YHF got the concensus album of the decade here. It's one of the few records released in this decade that really rises to the level of touchstone, on a par with (say) Blonde on Blonde for the sixties, or Born to Run in the seventies. All three may or may not be the best record of their respective periods, but all are essential for anyone who wants to really understand that point in musical history, and have to be dealt with when you discuss "best of XXXX." The fact that two thirds of the voters here could agree on YHF, at a time when the musical landscape is severely fragmented, says a lot about it, and us. For better or worse, polls to determine "best of ..." are about concensus, about the middle ground. Wilco today have that middle ground, just as U2 did in '87 (The Joshua Tree) or Springsteen did in '75 (Born to Run). Few records wind up defining their eras, YHF is the definitive document of the first half of this decade. At least that's my take on this ... and I voted for The Rising as the best of the nuthin's, so what do I know? |
|
|
|
Post by Paul on Apr 18, 2006 11:30:29 GMT -5
^^^^^
Yea, what he said. As usual, Mr. Holzman has a great way to sum things up; good post.
|
|
|
|
Post by Thorngrub on Apr 18, 2006 11:51:07 GMT -5
Yep.
2 of mine actually made it to the finals ! (Lateralus & Raise yr skinny fists)
and, er. . . .*I thought this was "Album Of The Century" ! ! ! ! !! You mean to tell me, we only have 4 years to go before we can wrap this up -?
|
|
|
|
Post by skvorisdeadsorta on Apr 18, 2006 13:04:42 GMT -5
I think 70s and I think Television's "Marquee Moon" not Bruce Springsteen. I know what you are saying Ken, BUT........there could very well be something wrong with all of you.  |
|
|
|
Post by maarts on Apr 18, 2006 15:30:39 GMT -5
Hell no! YHF a touchstone for the nought-decade? It's a generic rock record that by all judgement not is considered to be the peak of Wilco's career and in its genre has so many competitors. The media hailed YHF as a good album for the most part but certainly not as a masterpiece.
The only correct assessment is that there are more people here enjoying this album than the next, hence the win.
|
|
|
|
Post by bowiglou on Apr 18, 2006 18:40:22 GMT -5
I actually like Summerteeth the best.....
|
|
|
|
Post by Weeping_Guitar on Apr 18, 2006 20:42:54 GMT -5
I seem to remember the critical reception to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot to indeed be quite triumphant, especially in regards to the fight the band had to put up with just to get the album out. It and Wilco became the most notable figureheads of the victory of art over commerce in the music business. That alone made it a significant record of it's time. It was an early (the first?) pioneer in the pre-release online listening. It has a myth to it in it's short history that seems to be found amongst many a great album.
I'm not alone in feeling it has a haunting connection to September 11 of 2001 and is an anthem for what one may call the more introspective, yet nostalgic, American in the post-event era. Even beyond the striking "tall buildings shake/voices awake..." lyrics of "Jesus, etc" the album has a chaotic, uncertain and open nature that connect many to the period. It's a celebration of Americana of the past that longs for it to still exist in the future in all it's romantic glory.
|
|
|
|
Post by Kensterberg on Apr 18, 2006 21:27:55 GMT -5
I seem to remember the critical reception to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot to indeed be quite triumphant, especially in regards to the fight the band had to put up with just to get the album out. It and Wilco became the most notable figureheads of the victory of art over commerce in the music business. That alone made it a significant record of it's time. It was an early (the first?) pioneer in the pre-release online listening. It has a myth to it in it's short history that seems to be found amongst many a great album. I'm not alone in feeling it has a haunting connection to September 11 of 2001 and is an anthem for what one may call the more introspective, yet nostalgic, American in the post-event era. Even beyond the striking "tall buildings shake/voices awake..." lyrics of "Jesus, etc" the album has a chaotic, uncertain and open nature that connect many to the period. It's a celebration of Americana of the past that longs for it to still exist in the future in all it's romantic glory. I agree completely. For me, Ashes of American Flags is a song that just perfectly encapsulates the whole 9/11 vibe. Listening to that is (still) part of how I deal with the anniversary of that event. |
|
|
|
Post by rockysigman on Apr 18, 2006 22:46:24 GMT -5
Creepy that that whole album was written and recorded pre-9/11.
|
|
|
|
Post by Kensterberg on Apr 19, 2006 0:02:04 GMT -5
Creepy that that whole album was written and recorded pre-9/11. I think Tweedy arranged the whole 9/11 thing just to make YHF that much more poignant. |
|
|
|
Post by maarts on Apr 19, 2006 6:22:18 GMT -5
I checked metacritic and indeed, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot did get a high score (9.0). I remember reading some Dutch and German reviews that were a bit less impressed but the overall tenure for the press was that it was/is a good album.
Everybody has their own interpretation of albums that define a decade and 9/11 has proven to be such a marker for many people that identifying the happenings and the mood with music and lyrics makes the album stronger. At that time I was addicted to Agaetis Byrjun and though I did not connect that directly with 9/11, the music did really grown more poignant as it reflected the shock and beaten down atmosphere of the news in an unusual way. But, to be honest, there were more albums that did that (most notably Arvo Part's Miserere, which I was playing when I saw the pictures live on telly that fateful day). I guess that it worked less for me being not American although I did feel so connected with the USA at that moment in time.
I do understand Weeping's post in regards to that connection though. I just don't share the same type of affection for YHF.
|
|
