Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
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Audio CD (23 April, 2002)
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Editorial Review

Named in honor of the three-word codes used by short-wave radio operators, Wilco's fourth album sounds like a late-night broadcast of some weirdly wonderful pop station punctuated by static and the sonic bleed of competing signals. Songs that begin with simple, elegiac grace--"Ashes of American Flags" and "Poor Places"--end in a cathartic squall of distortion. The results can be initially jarring, but it's these tracks more than the sturdy jangle pop of "Kamera" or "Heavy Metal Drummer" that demand, and reward, repeated listens. Mixed by studio experimentalist Jim O'Rourke and produced by the band, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot harkens back to a time when the words "pop" and "sonic adventurism" weren't mutually exclusive. The Beatles and Kurt Cobain knew this, and clearly so do Jeff Tweedy and company. --Keith Moerer ... Read more

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Somnambulatory Soundstage
So, everyone's favorite somnambulist grunge muswell hills hero tells us now that he has been addicted to painkillers. I, for one, am not surprised! Summerteeth is the one worthwhile record this band has produced, with sounds from eno, lennon, brian wilson and others blended together in an off-kilter formalism of subverted swagger. But this record? Please! If your in love with the idea of loving Wilco than love this too! Otherwise, steer clear of the pretension and the passionless pedantry. Get Spoon fed or borrow Ian Hunter's lead (as in better dead than read).

What's all the fuss about?
How about some decent lyrics...consistantly? Also the melody lines sound like what you would sing when you've got a few chords down and are first making up a verse or chorus, not a final product. A bunch of weird noises + dumb lyrics + singing like your hungover laying in bed = great music for some I guess. There are a few decent moments, but nothing a million garage bands couldn't duplicate in 5 minutes. Maybe my perspective is different than most because I record bands all the time and have done a few albums myself.

Decent, Not Great
I agree with some of the previous 3-star reviewers here in that I believe this album, if you were to strip it of the loopy production and Jim O'Rourke's off-beat mixing, would be shown to be the middle-of-the-road pop-rock record that it truly is.Anyway, what I'm getting at is this: great songs should be able to stand on their own and not have to rely upon overly fancy production.Strip George Martin's orchestral touches from "The White Album" or "Sgt. Pepper" and you're still left with a set of unequivocably great songs.On the other hand, the 11 songs here, 8 of them penned by Jeff Tweedy and Jay Bennett (whose contributions to the band are vastly underrated) and the other 3 by Tweedy alone, are nice and charming fare, but too often they fall back on the same lazy, overused chords and watery melodies found all across the indie rock landscape.

Tweedy's lyrics throughout are interesting, if somewhat overbearing, beat poetry that make a brief impression, but then slide straight off into the distance.The "confessional" and tired-sounding nature of his words, coupled with his low-register delivery, together just don't measure up to those of any other of the great singer-songwriters (Dylan, Drake, et al.) whom he so obviously imitates.I hear plenty of swirling electronics, bloopy keys and the ocassional blast of white-noise, but behind the superfulous touches I don't hear a musical genius at work.Tweedy is an accomplished songwriter with a distinctive voice, but he is not a visionary, and his material is nowhere near as strong as that belonging to songwriters such as Will Oldham, Mark Everett, or even to Radiohead, the band to which Wilco is so often compared.

With the exception of "Summerteeth," no Wilco album really separates itself from all the other good bands that churn out music just like this: the first two albums are serviceable country-rock, and this and its follow up, "A Ghost Is Born," are uptight, faux-experimental fare.I don't see how anyone could call this a "difficult" listen, as it's a highly conventional and straightforward album, with a few noisy moments here and there: it's "Being There" (check "Misunderstood" and "Sunken Treasure" from that release) with cleaner and more elaborate production.Turning a pretty pop song into a wall of noise is an age-old trick, and one that's been done far better and more daringly by the likes of the Pixies, Nirvana, the Olivia Tremor Control, Slowdive, Sonic Youth, and many others."Ashes of American Flags" and "Poor Places," for example, are fairly interesting noise studies, but they are not groundbreaking, plus they lurch along at sleepy, incredibly boring paces, pumping their modest melodies for all that they're worth.

If anything, this album is incredibly conservative, timidly shying away from the explosive revelation that it always seems to approach but never quite reach.Again, this record is not bad, just incredibly overrated.It's not experimental, "weird," or revolutionary: it's just ordinary. ... Read more

Asin: B00005YXZH
Subjects:  1. Adult Alternative Pop/Rock    2. Alternative Country-Rock    3. Pop    4. Rock   

Murray Street
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (25 June, 2002)
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Editorial Review

As Sonic Youth will testify, it's not easy being avant-rock superstars. Follow your urge to experiment, and you risk alienating your more conservative fans. Stop experimenting, and you lose the impetus that made you so exciting in the first place. Such is the dilemma faced by this exceptional band in 2002, now wryly rechristened "Radical Adults" in one Thurston Moore lyric. Given the bewilderment that's unfairly greeted recent attempts to push their remarkable music to new extremes--notably their contemporary classical project, Goodbye 20th Century --Murray Street initially feels like something of a compromise; the band themselves admit it's more "song-oriented" than their last few albums. But hell, what a magnificent compromise. Named after the New York street where their studio is situated--and where a plane engine landed on September 11, 2001--Murray Street is potent, accessible, daring, and often obliteratingly lovely. For a start, the first three songs ("The Empty Page," "Disconnection Notice," and "Rain On Tin") easily rank with the highlights of SY's previous 15 albums. Obliquely melancholic, tuneful but unorthodox, all are enriched by great cascades of intricate three-guitar noise. When the Youth spin off on one of these bright and wild trips, these rich musical elegies for their city, they remain one of the world's great musical wonders. --John Mulvey ... Read more

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Not nearly their best work but still pretty damn good...
Named after the NY street where Sonic Youth's studio is located, this release goes off on less noisy tangents than they typically do. But if you're looking for noisy tangents there are a couple of 11 minute epics such as "Karen Revisited" and "Sympathy for the Strawberry" to sustain you. The first three cuts are almost radio friendly and contain my two favorite tracks from this CD..."The Empty Page" which sounds like Neil Young singing for Television and "Rain On Tin" with a transcending guitar solo by Lee Renaldo. Of course Mission of Burma's sound is all over this as well as a touch of King Crimson in a few places. Not nearly their best work but still pretty good.

i rully like this cd a whole lot
i like to listen to this while i'm doing school work like writing papers.sometimes it has really long&beatuiful instrumental sections and then outta nowhere the vocals come in and they sound so wonderful your eyes get lil tears in 'em.

Surprisingly gorgeous Sonic Youth
This album is probably the most melodic and appealing of Sonic Youth's career. All of the songs, the first three in particular, eschew the dissonance and chaos that the band has long gravitated towards. It is probably the most beautiful 20 minutes of Sonic Youth ever put onto a record.

All of the songs are fantastic, but the aforementioned 3 stand out. The dual guitar work of Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo is sublime, and their interplay reminds me of Television at their best. Extending that analogy, "Rain on Tin" would be Sonic Youth's "Marquee Moon." The guitars dance around each other as they play beutiful melodies, the song dives and crashes, yet never loses its sense of grace.

That said, this is hardly Sonic Youth selling out. You still get the extended feedback on "Karen Revisited" and Kim Gordon's less than stellar singing on "Plastic Sun." But the album is a triumph. After their many experimental forays, including the dreadful "End of the Century," it seemed that Sonic Youth were willing to rest on their laurels as pioneers and "cover" John Cage songs by using feedback. "Fifth membe" Jim O'Rourke has done a great job of experimenting in the studio but still reigning the band in as a whole, just like he has done with Wilco.

The album may not have the same immediate impact that EVOL or Daydream Nation does, but it is a phenomenal album none the less. Rather than being a landmark album, Murray Youth serves to validate Sonic Youth as a currently vital force in music, over 20 years after they formed. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys alternative music. If you like Sonic Youth on the tamer side (less feedback, clear structure), than pick this one up. It's their best in years. ... Read more

Asin: B000066I6F
Subjects:  1. Experimental Rock    2. Pop    3. Rock   

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (16 July, 2002)
list price: $13.98 -- our price: $9.99
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Editorial Review

As these dimpled moptops from Oklahoma grow pepper-bearded and transform into wizened elder statesmen of sonic adventuring, the heartfelt candy of their loving bubblegum stretches ever longer into echoing soundscapes. If Radiohead are halfway to becoming U2, the Flaming Lips are nine-tenths of the way to pop nirvana. Hardly a song on Yoshimi isn't resonated, echoed, and reverberated--floating the listener higher until they have the ultimate bird's-eye view of what makes a great band tick. As with any album by the band, it's hard not to imagine parades and a sky filled with helium balloons while you listen to any of it--in this case, the party is enhanced brilliantly by digital filters and silver shimmering asides. The most immediate songs, like "One More Robot (3000-21)," are digital (almost trip-hop) dance numbers that lift the band out of the cornfields and into the loopy land of Björk. Little surprise, then, that the band are already following up this majestic splash of gummy bear brilliance by recording a CD with kids' TV show host Steve from Blue's Clues. It's like Woodstock meets Snoopy! --Ian Christe ... Read more

Reviews (305)

Starchilds
At this point in their career it wouldn't be fair to demand from the Lips a stylistic shift in every album but they still somehow manage to surprise and startle upon the release of their recordings.Yoshimi is a departure in the same way "Cluds Taste Metallic"'s psychedelia surprised after "Transmission from the Satellite Heart"'s bubblegum pop or the way "The Soft Bulletin"'s orchestral and baroque pop came as a surprise after the previous freaked experiments.

Yoshimi is more of an electronically based and bass heavy album than any they had ever done but what doesn't falter is the essential trait in their last few albums-the resplendescent songwriting they have achieved while still seeming bent on bettering it.

Psy pop rock doesn't get any better than this.

sweet, sweet lips
Since their birth in 1985, The Flaming Lips have produced albums that totally rocked things off, including those highly valued socks that you are wearing at this very moment.Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots is a highly valued piece of artwork in my collection of way cool albums.I will have to admit that I did not enjoy my first listening experience, but we all know that the songs you grow to like never seem to stick at first.

Overall upbeat, this psychedelic mixing of melodies is delightfully pleasing to the ear.Yoshimi is a journey, going from an epic battle of gargantuan proportions (as in "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots"), to an epic battle of self exploration (as in "In The Morning Of Magicians").

This album is one of few that I can listen to all the way through.There are not really any moments that I find myself skipping, although, sometimes you have to wonder what in the world head Flaming Lip Wayne Coyne was thinking when this album was put together.

"Do You Realize" is perhaps the most entertaining track on this 2002 album.In the back of my mind, I somehow envision the Muppets donating their vocal abilities to the cause.This track is all about not letting your life slip away, and being honest with everyone in your life.Essentially, this song makes you realize that the end could come at any time, only not in a so depressing way:"Do you realize that everyone you know someday will die?And instead of saying all of your goodbyes, let them know you realize that life goes fast."Those are huge ideas, and cause life wondering questions to occur inside that bundle of neurons of yours.

"Fight Test" is another one of those life reflecting tracks that forces you to think about the social stipulations placed on the male gender.Is it right to let something slip away, or should you fight for it?If you don't fight, is that wrong?Coyne is left with no answer for this one, as "it's all a mystery".

Even though this album deals with subjects that cause you to think about your life, it is accomplished in a way that you don't really notice.This album is just nicely put together, and things seem to fit to a sequence.This album is so good, although I just didn't realize it at first.The words come effortlessly, and fit with the music so well.In fact, I rate this album 4 spatulas.

Standout Tracks:"Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell", "Do You Realize??", and "Its Summertime".

If you like The Flaming Lips, be sure to try other artists like Wilco, The Postal Service, and Neutral Milk Hotel.Although I highly value the Lips, these groups are just as sweet and awesome.

OUTER SPACE AMATEUR HOUR
Something like a Battle of The Bands in another galaxy with the imprisoned singing prince from "Monty Python and The Holy Grail" dreamily singing into a reflective portal like a rock star canary in a cage. The bizarre idea and sci-fi atmospherics finally give way to heartfelt emotional depth, like Pinocchio come to life, as our guy in space, once pathetic, now just real sad, plucks some real human heartstrings craving for love and worship in songs like "In The Morning Of The Magicians", with it's sweet sad refrain; 'I was waiting for a moment, but the moment never came', and "Do You Realize?". Certainly "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots" is a nifty melodic spacescape with craft to spare, but there's surprisingly little identification and empathy for this wimpy Buck Rogers with a fantasy black belt karate girlfriend crooning to a house of space cadets in some galaxy far, far away. It's as if The Flaming Lips really met this guy and his story is only slightly worth documenting. ... Read more

Asin: B000068PQ0
Subjects:  1. Dream Pop    2. Neo-Psychedelia    3. Noise Pop    4. Pop    5. Rock   

Sea Change
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (24 September, 2002)
list price: $13.98 -- our price: $9.99
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Editorial Review

Beck is bummed. Really bummed. And if song titles such as "LostCause," "Lonesome Tears," "Already Dead," and "Nothing I Haven't Seen" don'tmake the point, his achingly sad lyrics and Sea Change's unerringlydowncast sound do. While 1998'sMutations--arguably thesinger-songwriter's masterwork and Sea Change's spiritual cousin--wasfilled with unflinching self-examination, moments of levity were found in songslike "Tropicalia." Not so on Sea Change. Beck's woozy, almost narcolepticdelivery seems to amplify the set's sense of ennui. But sad isn't necessarilybad, and despite the somber tone, there's much to praise, not the least of whichis the return of producer Nigel Goderich (Mutations,Radiohead), who wrapsBeck's gloom in a dreamy, warm blanket of soft strings and floating bleeps andgurgles. LikeDaniel Lanois, Goderichis all about vibe, and even Beck's most bare-bones songs benefit from billowyatmospherics. That's especially true of "Paper Tiger," a restless, slowlybuilding epic improbably propelled by a languid orchestra and Beck'sexpressionless drone. The inky black feel of "Round the Bend"--a glacially slowdirge with muffled vocals--may be the darkest thing Beck's ever written, notcounting the very grim "Already Dead." Whatever's going on in Beck's world, atleast we know he's purging, which, all things considered, may be better for hissoul than ours. --Kim Hughes ... Read more

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Very odd band....
Beck has very weird lyrics, but very catchy. Its hard not to like this band. Beck would have to be the weirdest band I ever heard.

Breakup Beck
This is the Beck "break up" album, recorded after his girlfriend of 9 years left. In "Hollow Log" (from "One Foot in the Grave"), he told us to "get yourself a pistol". Now, it seems like he's thinking about putting one in his mouth.

Every song here is bathed in melancholy, making it very much a "mood album". There's not really anything upbeat...or even uptempo...to break the consistent plod. It's all resignation and no anger..didn't it piss Beck off that he put 9 years into the relationship and it's just over now? Or an "I'll show you..I can get any woman I want" song? It just seems like this is a whole album's worth of a single emotion.

HIGHLIGHTS:
"Guess I'm Doing Fine" is understated and conveys its agony better by not overdoing it. ("It's only lies that I'm living/It's only tears that I'm crying/It's only you that I'm losing/Guess I'm doing fine") Single "Lost Cause" is Beck deciding it's not worth trying again. "Already Dead" proclaims him to be over her ("Love looks away/In the harsh light of the day/On the edge of nothing more") although the music belies the claim. You get the impression he's trying to convince HIMSELF, rather than the ex.

LOW SPOTS:
There aren't any really BAD songs..but outside of the highlights, the album suffers from sameness. It's not easy to tell where one tune ends and the next begins sometimes.

BOTTOM LINE:
There's no denying that the huge production and swamp of strings make it SOUND like Beck's "big statement". But ultimately the songs underneath all the windowdressing can't always carry the weight of the tracks. It's a nice album if you want to just listen to the arrangments and say "Oh, how pretty...", but there's not a whole lot here to make an emotional connection to. It's also difficult to imagine throwing this on CD repeat.

2 1/2 stars

Beck's Best!!!!!!!
This is my favorite and IMO the best Beck album. Im not a huge fan of his goofy techno dabbling that are often hit or miss and an acquired taste. This album is a lot more instrumental in the traditional sense. There is still techno dabbling, but it is kept in the background to Beck's monotone singing and his acoustive guitar. There is even some slide guitar used on the 3rd or 4th song.

The only detraction is the depressing nature of the album and the fact that some of the acoustic pieces sound a little similar.

This is the album that shows Beck is capable of writing a very good song and isnt just a gimmicky artist who hides behind studio controls and effects.

Highlights: Doint Time, Lost Cause, The Golden Age, Lonesome Tears ... Read more

Asin: B00006F7S4
Subjects:  1. Adult Alternative Pop/Rock    2. Alternative Pop/Rock    3. Pop    4. Rock    5. Singer/Songwriter