"In from the Cold" by David Fricke, Mojo (UK), May 2002 (issue no. 102)

Relevant excerpt (full article available on many fan sites, for instance: http://www.geocities.com/...old.html):

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The sacking by Reprise, an association that went back to the final Tupelo LP was a surrealist farce. When Wilco sent O'Rourke's first fistful of mixes to the label last April, the reaction was not kind: "They said the vocals were 'masked'," Tweedy recalls. "I could not figure out what that meant." After Reprise received the whole of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in June, Wilco heard nothing for two weeks, an extraordinary breach of etiquette by the company to an established band. Eventually the label asked for changes; Wilco declined.

"Then, out of the blue, they said, 'Well, then we should talk about you leaving'," Tweedy says. "I was like, Leaving? Can we do that? Are they serious? They were deadly serious. They ushered us out the back door with an efficiency that you would never see if you were trying to get signed." Wilco were immediately courted by a horde of labels, including an embarrassed Reprise, realising their error. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot finally landed, untouched, at another AOL Time Warner affiliate, Nonesuch. "I won't draw attention to the fact that AOL Time Warner essentially paid for the record twice," Tweedy notes, trying to keep a straight face. Extra irony: The whole thing's been caught on film; director Sam Jones was making a feature documentary about Wilco at the time. Look for the spectacle soon, in a theatre near you.

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"10 Questions for Elvis Costello" by David Cavanagh, Mojo (UK), May 2002 (issue no. 102)

Relevant excerpt (full article available on many fan sites, for instance: http://www.elviscostello....01a.html):

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Q: There's currently another reissue campaign of your old albums, with new sleevenotes and extra tracks. Why? Are you unhappy with the way your back catalogue has been packaged in the past?

A: My feelings about it change all the time. Somebody would no doubt remind you that I once said I was thinking of burying it all in a landfill and starting again. One of the main reasons for going ahead [with the current reissue programme] is that we did a very good job with the [1994] reissues while we still controlled Demon, but Rykodisc got a lot of credit in America for all the work that was basically done in Brentford. Ryko never did a lick. And they really gave up on trying to present those records to the public after the three easiest-to-sell ones came out. So when I signed a deal with Rhino, we decided to do the job in America properly, and also wrest back some control over the Warner Bros records [from Spike onwards]. I got very demoralised with Warners at the time of All This Useless Beauty. I don't like making a record I care about and finding that nobody even knows it exists because people are too scared to take an advert in a paper in case they get fired for doing it.

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