Consider yourself a member of one of two factions: those who adore Wilco and have been anxiously anticipating the group’s newest release, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and those who will soon be smitten with the Chicago band.

After all, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is a rock classic, standing tall among the pantheon of other great works, like the Stones’ Exile on Main Street or Pearl Jam’s Ten. YHF is that good, as the album succeeds in every possible aspect that it could.

The songwriting is inspired. The lyrics are not only poetic but deeply felt and very meaningful, though sometimes comprised of nonsense phrases (“take off your Band-Aid cause I don’t believe in touchdowns/ what was I thinking when I said goodnight.”) The artwork is beautiful. The album order is perfect and the mixing is impeccable.

So what, oh-so-well-informed Herald reader, has kept you from perusing the depths of Wilco?

Wilco has been shrouded by its label, Reprise, for many years, despite enormous critical acclaim. For instance, Reprise was unsatisfied with Summerteeth, the band’s beautifully poppy yet dark 2000 release, requesting a “single” for the record, for which lead vocalist Jeff Tweedy penned “Can’t Stand It.” This “single” was not brought to radio or video by Reprise and Summerteeth went largely unnoticed by the general public.

Next comes the now-inescapable story of the latest album’s delayed release. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot has gathered dust in the Wilco recording studio for months. Completed in July 2001, YHF was brought before Reprise record executives, who deemed the album “not commercial enough” to release unless it was reworked, despite Wilco’s devoted fan base and 150,000 copies of Summerteeth disappearing off the shelf.

Wilco stood by its YHF, eventually buying the album back for $50,000 and entertaining offers from other interested independent and major-label record companies, finally settling on Nonesuch due to Tweedy’s respect for the company’s catalog. The irony of the situation is that Nonesuch is a subsidiary of AOL/Time Warner, which also owns Reprise. The record industry sucks.

Luckily, Wilco held true to its vision of YHF, as it is hard to imagine the record in any other form.

Although Wilco is often dubbed “alt-country,” YHF is anything but, sometimes employing a completely non-linear song structure (see “Poor Places”) and minutes worth of noise before breaking into the sugar that helps the medicine go down, the 3-4 minute pop song. This is done repeatedly, as the sprawling and visionary “I am Trying to Break Your Heart” is followed by the quite succinct “Kamera,” and the centerpoint of YHF, “Ashes of American Flags” is followed by the pleasantly reminiscent “Heavy Metal Drummer.”

YHF deals with issues of inadequacy (“all my lies are always wishes/ I know I would die if I could come back new”) and troubled relationships (“cheer up honey I hope you can/ there is something wrong with me”), while delving into themes of self-discovery (“I’m not going to get caught calling the pot kettle black/ every song’s a comeback/ every moments a little bit later”) and loss of youth (“I miss the innocence I’ve known/ playing Kiss covers/ beautiful and stoned.”)

The lyrics are sung in such honesty it’s hard not to believe Tweedy in every word he breathes. It would be wrong not to laud the now-departed Jay Bennet’s contributions to the album, as Bennet adds most of the experimental feeling to YHF. Bennet has been in Tweedy’s shadow for some time now, which is a possible explanation for his departure. At least he stayed long enough to finish the album, which is the best released this year.

If you, esteemed Herald reader, do not yet own a copy of this album and are interested in beautiful, influential music, buy a copy of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Wilco deserves it for taking on the record industry and winning. Also buy it if you just want to say “f*ck you” to the record industry in your own little way. Either way, you’ll be better off.