This is the fifteenth installment of "Highlights from My Vinyl Collection," an appreciation of great music, not necessarily rare finds or expensive imports. This is not about "deleted Smiths singles and original, not rereleased - underlined - Frank Zappa albums," as Rob Gordon so eloquently put it, though a small few select gems might appear every now and again.
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Neither rare, nor particularly expensive, Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is nonetheless one of the albums I value most in my collection. In making the decision to stop collecting CDs, to convert my existing CDs to digital files, and subsequently shifting my collecting focus to vinyl, I made the conscious decision to only overlap formats with those albums that were absolute 'must-haves,' that were likely to be in a personal list of 100 favorite albums. Actually, if I remember correctly, when I started making a list, as I am normally found doing at any given time, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was the first entry. I am not going to spend this time on a review of the album. I feel as though this has been done, and incredibly well, by others, especially my brother in his Treblezine review. Instead, I'd merely like to comment on how this album makes me feel, which I would argue signifies the true worth of an album, and what it means to me personally.
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot runs me through the gamut of emotions with every complete listen, at times eliciting such ebullient happiness with songs like "Heavy Metal Drummer" and "I'm the Man Who Loves You," to the utter depths of a profound sadness during "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart," "Radio Cure," "Ashes of American Flags," and "Reservations." That is one of the many powers of this album. Not only is it inventive and visionary, but it is also varied and diverse while still holding on to a central core of melodic songcraft. More so than on any of their other albums, save for a few songs on Summerteeth, Jeff Tweedy's lyrics are pure poetry. How many albums, except for maybe one by Bob Dylan, could start with the line, "I am an American aquarium drinker"? Unlike other albums, I am not often taken back to the time I first heard it. Instead, I somehow managed to keep it free from those boundaries, or the album itself managed to retain a timeless quality. YHF is as fresh and challenging today as it was when it was first heard online ten years ago, and yet it will forever be associated with a particular time and space, for good or ill.
The timing of this post was not meant to be significant, but just like the album's release, it has become so. Not only is Wilco releasing a new album soon, on September 27th, but this post is being written and posted one day before the tenth anniversary of 9/11, an event that is hard to separate from the mythology surrounding the album. Before their storied troubles with their record label, YHF was slated to be released on September 11th, and the Marina towers on the cover surely acted as an unconscious trigger in the minds of listeners to the World Trade Center Towers. Though all of this may have been coincidence, the connection seems now inseparable. Luckily, the album has transcended any confining thoughts of being associated with a historical event, like Five For Fighting's "Superman (It's Not Easy)" or Enya's "Only Time." Though we are only ten years along now in the life of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, I would predict that in as many more years, we will be treating the album with the same kind of reverence afforded to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Pet Sounds, Astral Weeks, and Purple Rain, and it will be deserved.
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