Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Cafe Society
1

Anybody get the new Wilco album yet?

I realize it isn’t actually new, its been available from the bands website as a download for months, but the CD just came out tuesday. Even though I’ve had it on my comp for ages, I respect wilco enough for what they’re doing that I ploppedd the 13 bucks for it anyway.

First of all, the production and sound quality is SO amazing on the CD, and the lyrics and album art are beautiful. Second of all, if you don’t already know the backstory on the album, Warner/Sire records (wilco’s former label) heard it and passed on it as being "too wierd and uncommercial) so they released a rough cut on line while crusing for a new distributer. So, if you like wilco and haven’t heard the album, pick it up, and if you have the MP3 and you like wilco and want to support artists who aren’t afraid to actuallytake some risks, show em with your 13 bucks.

ON to my review: I just got out of a long and arduous relationship and at the same time got a steady job that has made me a city commuter here in chicago. For the first time in the 4 years I’ve been here, I get up every morning and jump the redline to get down town. This album is probably the most accute description of both a) the nobility and pain of being lonely, and b) the unwieldy, fragmented but patchwork beautiful city of chicago. It SOUNDS like chicago. Part midwestern twang, part industrial clank, part urban art experiment, part introspective balladeering. I don’t get stunned very often by music, but this album is pretty awesome. listen more than once before you decide.

Chris

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It isn’t even that I disagree with Warner/Sire’s criticism, exactly–I just don’t even understand it. It isn’t like Wilco is such a commercial juggernaut that such a weird album will alienate its vast fan base. In fact, most of the people I know who own Being There are the sort of people who appreciate risk-taking in music.

I have only the downloaded cut of the album, but I plan to buy the official release. I agree with those who have dubbed them the Radiohead of alt-country, and that’s from someone who dearly loves both Radiohead and alt-country. The album didn’t grab me at first–I originally considered it a disappointment–but it is the sort of album that improves with age.

Dr. J

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http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=111437

I don’t know anything about the band or the album myself, but I remembered this thread. Here it is, so you can read some older responses. It’s almost on page 3 now.

::shrugs, rides off into the sunset::