Wilco may be working on a new album, but they aren’t above looking back, either. In 2001, Wilco posted their masterpiece Yankee Hotel Foxtrot online, and the album finally came out in an official capacity in April of 2002. Right now, Wilco are in the midst of a run of shows where they’re playing Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in full. Today, they’ve also announced a forthcoming deluxe Yankee Hotel Foxtrot reissue that’ll feature an eye-popping number of unreleased tracks.
The Yankee Hotel Foxtrot sessions were so famously difficult that they almost tore Wilco apart, and the new box-set version of the remastered album — 11 vinyl LPs and one CD, along with a book — will chart many of the different versions of songs that Wilco recorded before finishing the album. The new box set will feature demos, instrumentals, and alternate takes, as well as a 2002 live-show recording and a 2001 radio set and interview. It’s got a grand total of 82 unreleased music tracks, which is a lot of music tracks. Wilco have just shared one of those 82 tracks, a 2002 version of “Reservations” recorded live at the Pageant in St. Louis. You can hear that below.
Wilco also got a chance to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot on TV last night. The band served as musical guests on their friend Stephen Colbert’s Late Show, and they teamed up with the string ensemble Aizuri Quartet to play the YHF classic “Poor Places.” Here’s their performance:
The deluxe reissue of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is out 9/16 on Nonesuch; pre-order it here.