Aural Fixations

WILCO
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
(Nonesuch)
JAY BENNETT & EDWARD BURCH
The Palace at 4am (Part 1)
(Undertow)
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the fourth album from 90s rock icon Wilco, was one of the most anticipated releases of 2001. The band had already proved itself capable of moving beyond its alternative country roots on its 1996 opus Being There, and had shown itself willing to completely obliterate the expectations of its audience on the follow-up Summerteeth. That record dropped any roots rock affectations left over from the group's early days, diving headlong into lush, quirky pop music and inducing orgasms in some fans and critics and utter bewilderment in others.

So the question was inevitably posed: what would Wilco sound like on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot? Would the quintet simply refine the breakthroughs on Summerteeth or go in another direction entirely? Further adding to the speculation were the reports that (a) Wilco's label Reprise had dropped it for making an album that was too uncommercial (whatever that means) and (b) guitarist/keyboardist Jay Bennett, whose wide-ranging instrumental capabilities had particularly shaped the band's sound on Summerteeth, had left to pursue his own muse. Wilco leaked tracks from the record on its website, but most of its audience didn't have a chance to hear the new work until Nonesuch Records (a subsidiary of Warner Bros., as is Reprise) released it in the spring of 2002. Not long afterward, Bennett and his longtime collaborator Edward Burch put out their debut record The Palace at 4am (Part 1) and longtime fans had a chance to compare the different approaches of the band's two driving forces.

So, with all the hype surrounding Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, how does it hold up to the harsh light of critical scrutiny? Pretty well, actually. The first thing one notices is that, despite the original label's fears and the presence of experimental musician Jim O'Rourke, this album is very melodic, even, dare it be said, commercial. Sure, there are odd noises, off-key keyboard tinkling and strange percussion ensembles mixed in the background of "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart," an epic ballad in the tradition of "Misunderstood," but they're just spice added to an already-tasty batter. The core of each of these eleven tracks is the same as it's always been: frontman Jeff Tweedy's catchy, emotionally forthright tunes. The sweetly wistful "Heavy Metal Drummer," the lazily grooving "I'm the Man Who Loves You" and the poetic folk rocker "Jesus, etc." ("You were right about the stars/Each one is a setting sun") would be great, universally-appealing songs if they were played on a plastic ukulele, so the addition of skronky guitar solos or the word "fuck" hardly damages their commercial potential. Tweedy's lyrics have taken a more impressionistic cast ("Sleeping eye sockets/Baby suck your thumb/I'll keep you in a locket/A string I'll never strum," from "Pot Kettle Black"), but he's still singing about the things he always sings about: love, devotion and desire. The sociopolitical tone poem "Ashes of American Flags" freely admits "I know I would die/If I could come back new." A metaphor for Wilco itself, perhaps? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is easily the band's best, most accomplished album since its debut. (more)

Loud Reading

OTIS! THE OTIS REDDING STORY
Scott Freeman
(St. Martin's Press)
At the conclusion of OTIS! The Otis Redding Story, one of author Scott Freeman's interviewees notes what a shame it was that no one has written an Otis Redding biography before. He's right. Otis Redding's biography reads like a Hollywood screenplay (hint hint to anyone with movie connections): Redding's rise from the tough streets of Macon, Georgia to become an R&B legend is intertwined with the success story of Stax Records, as well as the civil rights movement erupting violently across the South.

A sharecropping family, the Reddings left their dead-end existence in 1942 for Macon, a city where the grudgingly "separate but equal" mindset meant that blacks could find work and manage some semblance of a respectable life. From the earliest moments he could talk, Otis sang incessantly. Starting with the church choir and talent contests, Otis graduated to performing with local ensembles, knocking audiences dead with his feverish covers of Little Richard (also a Macon local).

Otis was singing in a prominent Macon band called the Pinetoppers when guitarist Johnny Jenkins began to turn some heads with an instrumental called "Love Twist." Atlantic Records took out an option on Jenkins, sending him to Memphis' Stax Studio to record some songs. Otis went along, and when the session ended early, he and members of Stax house band Booker T and the MGs recorded "These Arms of Mine." The song was a moderate R&B hit, and Otis began a relationship with Stax records that would lay the groundwork for Southern soul. (more)

Album reviews of new music by:

Alabama Thunderpussy

The band has improved its collective songwriting chops...forming nearly classic-sounding hooks out of parts cannibalized from various strains of thrash, punk, NWOBHM and arena rock. (more)

Citizen Bird

Bandleader Simon Ohlsson and crew find the virtues inherent in the rock mantra, creating a memorable riff or chorus and bearing down hard. (more)

FloggingMolly

The L.A. septet, led by singer/songwriter Dave King, still wears its influences on its collective sleeve: the Pogues, the Pogues and, for that matter, the Pogues. (more)

The Hangmen

A live document from a late August 2001 show that puts the grit back into earlier tunes...a good introduction to an unfairly-overlooked band. (more)

The David Klein Quintet

Saxophonist David Klein teams up with his mother Miriam for a romantic, sensual set of jazz ballads in tribute to 20th-century icon/hardcore jazz fan Marilyn Monroe. (more)

Bob Mould Band

Using his trademark combo of distortion, feedback, angst and pop hooks, LiveDog98 captures Mould and his cohorts on a really good night, tearing up the stage at the Forum in London. (more)

Stanley Smith

Smith's debut album displays a laid-back, bluesy style that sounds like an old jazz hipster reflecting on a life well lived. (more)

Plus: get sidetracked with Steve Earle, and enjoy a gentle evening with Townes Van Zandt