Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is the defining album of Wilco’s career: It saw the band pursue a more experimental sound, which caused a rift with the band’s label, Reprise, who actually refused to release the album. So, after Wilco streamed it online themselves, they joined Nonesuch (which would remain the band’s label home until they launched dBpm Records in 2011) and gave the album a proper release in 2002. It went on to become the band’s best-selling LP and their only one to be certified Gold by the RIAA.
Now that the album is 20 years old, the band is celebrating. In April, they announced a deluxe reissue of the album that includes a whopping 82 previously unreleased tracks. They shared one of those today, a new version of album highlight “Kamera,” dubbed the “The Unified Theory Of Everything Version.” This variation of the song is distinctly different from the final album recording, as it’s rough around the edges and is carried by a more aggressive guitar sound.
In a recent Paste interview, Wilco’s John Stirratt said of “Kamera” making its way to the song it eventually became, “I’m a little hazy on all of it, but I do remember several versions of ‘Kamera’ that all had weird potential and different angles. I remember joking with the guys that they’ll just have to wait for the box set for these versions to come out — of course never thinking there would be one.”
Listen to “Kamera (The Unified Theory Of Everything Version)” above.
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Deluxe Edition) is out 9/16 via Nonesuch. Pre-order it here.