All Hail West Texas (Remastered) - The Mountain Goats

Track List:

1. The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton
2. Fall Of The Star High School Running Back
3. Color In Your Cheeks
4. Jenny
5. Fault Lines
6. Balance
7. Pink And Blue
8. Riches And Wonders
9. The Mess Inside
10. Jeff Davis County Blues
11. Distant Stations
12. Blues In Dallas
13. Source Decay
14. Absolute Lithops Effect
15. Hardpan Song
16. Answering the Phone
17. Indonesia
18. Midland
19. Jenny (alt. take)
20. Tape Travel is Lonely
21. Waco

Running time: 61 minutes
Released: 2002

OK, we have an unexpected repeat now. I somehow missed that a remastered version of this favourite was available, complete with a bunch of bonus tracks and new liner notes by Mr Darnielle. I kinda had to pick it up once I saw it existed. I toyed with the idea of just listening to the new stuff, but... nah. I don't think I'll be able to make comparisons with the prior release because I'd have to listen to each track twice back to back. Just previewing it whilst ripping it sounds clearer in places but that could be kidology. 

This may have been available at the point when I bought All Hail West Texas for the first time; I don't really recall how long I have had, and loved, this material. Still, here I am, with something to listen to...

There is still a crackle at the opening of The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton, and Darnielle's voice sounds properly scratchy. Actually I catch myself thinking that the remaster may have more scratch and interference on it than the original issue. This feels rawer, fuzzier and harder to like, but I suspect a lot of that is rose tinting from the time since I last played the record. The fuzziness is unavoidable in a way that perhaps a flatter mastering tempered. What do I know? Nothing, that's what.

Colour In Your Cheeks is peppy, the riff is a little blurred by the recording but the punchy, separated blocks as it cycles through the keynotes are genius in terms of pacing and framing the track. On this track the vocal fares better - clearer for sure - and this carries over into Jenny, though the clarity here comes from proximity and volume, with the voice blocking out the general fuzz on the track. There is a really nice snap in the post-chorus guitar. Whilst the buzz on the line (as it were) is ever present, the vitality and essence of these songs is immense and immediate. I recently picked up the Goats' latest issue, Goths, and despite the more modern releases having more sophistication in terms of production the songs have but a little of the compel that I feel from these. Maybe that is the younger, angrier nature of things shining through and bringing energy, maybe it is that the creative well ran deeper, maybe I'm just so not a goth that an album of that name couldn't inspire... who knows.

Balance is a fucking awesome track. One of my all time faves. The guitar work guts me, the vocal punches the scar. It rips through me and leaves me happier for it.

Somehow that tune also seems to avoid the interference from the artefacts of recording, but I suspect that's my mind screening it out because of what the song does for me. In any case, I notice the buzz back hard on the follow up, which has a softer tone - what with dealing with new parenthood and all. At times it feels like the tape hum is being employed as a bassline, at others the frequency is subsumed by the lower thrum of Darnielle's guitar.

In truth I am not sure what the remastering adds (or removes) - no surprise there - but I am really looking forward to the new tracks. This is a first listen, albeit one where the first 66% is familiar. There is a nice clarity to the strumming on The Mess Inside, a rougher edge to the emotional, almost shouted vocal. The melody supports that emotion well, the lyrics demand it, and the track is powerful as a result.

Summer is gone; travel schedules have been messed up, it's raining heavily (or was until recently), and I've been feeling lonely of late. Making space for this listen is a good enforced stop and take stock. The songs on this disc are ones where paying some attention yields rewards, but they are also familiar friends by now. Walking the line between giving my ear, relaxing into the familiar structures, and actually commenting on things is a tricky one. I realise that I didn't really comment too much on things with the original listen - there is a bit more here already than on that post - but I don't necessarily feel a strong need to say much about these tunes. Yes, this album is a strong favourite, and one that I could evangelise about to someone I thought might appreciate it, but I have long since backed off from spreading the word into a soundless void, and on the off-chance any human being stumbles over this post then the only ones who read it will be familiar with the work anyway.

Ugh - that last sentence is my mind in a microcosm right now. Wrapped up in self admonishment and self pity. That's what I started the listening to push back against. Funny how bringing it up worked as a sort of focusing device, and not in a helpful way.

For what it's worth, I haven't really got any more fond of Blues in Dallas than I was originally.

The plus point of that observation is that we are almost onto the bonus tracks, the things I haven't heard yet. There is a little bit of trepidation there - I might be building them up too much, putting too much wait on their being contemporaries of the original set. They will be of interest, at least - even if they disappoint.

There is a lovely road trip image associated with Source Decay, partially from the lyrics, partially from memories of driving to it - even if that driving was on my regular commute. They are nice images, those memories - fields between villages, few cars on the road. They're probably not reflective of the actual journeys. I find myself drifting a little, then refocus my thoughts. I suspect that the remaster concentrated on cleaning up the guitar parts, because this is always pretty clear. The hums, thrums, and fuzzes from the recording are ever present, but they generally affect the voice more. In all - I don't find any significant differences in the fourteen original tracks.

There is some dead air before the bonuses begin - silence on the end of Absolute Lithops Effect. Then some oddities. Then Hardpan Song. First impressions are that it is sort of bland. Darnielle speaks his way through his lyrics as much as anything, and whilst there is clearly some urgency in the guitar work the riffs  don't have the immediate pull that they might have. That, though, is remedied on Answering the Phone - which harks strongly back to The Mess Inside, but veers into darker sounds rather than raw emotional ones, with lyrics to match. The sound here is raw, much more so than the previous tracks, but that doesn't seem to be universal to the bonuses as the next song doesn't have that same feel.

This track is busier, faster guitar work - fitting more notes in, rather than genuinely maintaining a faster pace. Its a nicer song for it. The strumming has a depth and melody to it that is often lacking on this album, and provides a welcome change. These bonuses are short numbers on the whole, racing by before I can really coalesce any worthwhile thoughts. I'll settle for a nod that they do, generally, fit with the tone of the core. That is helped, I guess, by one of the new ones being a re-recording of Jenny with a few variations in guitar and different pacing in the vocal in a couple of spots, but it definitely applied before that tune hit.

It still applies to Tape Travel is Lonely, though only just. There are definitely common elements here, but this song feels different in vocal style and lyrical focus. Less personal somehow - meaning less about people more than anything else; the track also ends abruptly, a little oddly. Then I am on the final stretch.

Last track Waco ends abruptly too, and the room falls silent. Run out of tape, John? Overall I am glad I bought this, and whilst I could probably cut the original album at this point I don't feel inclined to as having both gives more chance for those songs to come up! I might make a gift of the original hardcopy though, try to find someone to induct into the world of The Mountain Goats.

Blue - Joni Mitchell

Track list:

1. All I Want
2. My Old Man
3. Little Green
4. Carey
5. Blue
6. California
7. This Flight Tonight
8. River
9. A Case of You
10. The Last Time I Saw Richard

Running time: 36 minutes
Released: 1971

So I move from one classic to another; different genre, but same level of distance between me and the disc. However Windows Media Player must be the only entity in the world that would think that "Blue" should be listed after "Blue [X]" when sorting alphabetically. At least, I hope so because man, that makes no sense to me.

This album is a classic example of something I own because I thought I should own it, though that said it is not the only Mitchell album I have so I guess I thought something of it... time to find out whether I still do or not.

The jangling nature of the tightly stretched guitar on All I Want is a bit too bright for my morning mood, and Mitchell's wandering voice has a bit of a sharp edge to it when it goes into the higher registers, but despite these little grievances there is something essential about the way they combine. The minimalist approach can fall down pretty easily but here it seems to add gravity and weight to what is a somewhat flighty tune. I don't know whether this is confirmation bias or something else, but it seems to share that virtue of accessibility with Blue Train. Folk - especially 70s folk - had a bit of a retrospective reputation for disappearing from relevance, though I guess being '71 this probably predates that slide from the public consciousness.

I doubt that we will see much like this again somehow - the high floaty voice and a simple piano melody on My Old Man sounds like the sort of thing that would be rejected out of hand by modern music for being uncomplicated. Perhaps the stripped down sound will come back round - people do still try it and largely fail, after all - but here it seems to be nailed on. This doesn't disappear or shrink in the way I often find such noodly little numbers doing. The strong timbre to the guitar helps - it's not soft and receding and sucking the vocal down the black hole of anti-sound. The edge to her voice, similarly, guards against the shrinking violet syndrome. The sense is of a woman standing proudly in the spotlight, rather than a performer lurking in the half-light on the edge of the beam, which is how I see a lot of similar attempts. There is a natural confidence that comes through.

Switching tack a second, I am surprised given the title and indeed the rather morose-looking Joni in the cover image, that the first four tracks here are all relatively bright and joyful. I came into this expecting a sombre affair and I don't find myself mired in despair at all. The title track has a mournful air to it, but even then the piano melody and the style of the vocal delivery work to ameliorate the sadness some. There is real warmth in those keys even as the melody they create is tinged with regret, and with the exception of the highest, most warbly notes, the same could be said for Mitchell's voice. I find her singing hard to love. Those strayings into the upper limits of her range have the effect of nails down a chalk board in the middle of a fascinating lesson - little moments of excruciating discomfort peppered through songs and tunes that otherwise I really enjoy and engage with. I can completely see why this is a classic, even as I cringe from the slide effects on California - too many bad associations with 80s movies.

The higher pace and lower rumble of This Flight Tonight is a welcome change-up. I am reminded of some John Darnielle-penned numbers. I really didn't expect to connect Mitchell to The Mountain Goats here, but the aesthetic, including the tinny edge to some of the recorded elements is really a very good fit, even if the vocal approaches are chalk and cheese. Huh, two mentions of chalk in the same post. It being December, the similarities between River and Jingle Bells in the opening bars of piano are obvious for the first time, and with the month referenced in the lyric it is clearly a deliberate choice that somehow works. As an aside I bloody hate Christmas music - anything I can do to avoid it, I will. Beyond that I find this to be the least interesting of the songs I have heard this morning. Whilst the piano melody is nice, the song itself is dull and does not seem to come with the same sense of self-assurance that I would use to characterise the prior performances. In other words it trips around the edge of the pit of disappearance.

That makes no sense outside the context of this post, and even within it's a stretch. Ah well. Case of You is a very recognisable chorus, but the verses always seem to fade from my memory. The song is slower than I would have thought just from the recalled chorus, and a little plodding if I am honest. The same tune, the same words, with a little more pace. I suspect that might break it, actually, but it feels like something is missing and my first instinct is that it is an urgency that a higher tempo might address. What do I Snow.

As the last tune picks up, I find myself having reconnected with this. Whilst I may have bought it because I felt I should have (or at least hear) it, it now stays because it is every bit the masterful work that it was talked up as. I can certainly see why I went on to buy more Joni Mitchell records, despite her work all predating my life. I would never put this up as a favourite, or something that I am likely to listen to often. Alas, the modern mode of musical consumption probably renders most of these tunes pretty inaccessible. Something like Blue works far better in its original form - appreciated in flow and as a whole. That alone means it will probably quickly return to "forgotten" status, but does not provide a driver to exclude it from my collection. If anything, this instead suggests to me that the way we (or at least I) tend to consume music today is detrimental to our appreciation of some forms. I suspect I am far from alone in having most things be a shuffle of some kind now, and albums like this make me wonder what I may be missing as a result.

Beat the Champ - The Mountain Goats

Track list:

1. Southwestern Territory
2. The Legend of Chavo Guerrero
3. Foreign Object
4. Animal Mask
5. Choked Out
6. Heel Turn 2
7. Fire Editorial
8. Stabbed to Death Outside San Juan
9. Werewolf Gimmick
10. Luna
11. Unmasked!
12. The Ballad of Bull Ramos
13. Hair Match

Running time: 45 minutes
Released: 2015

So this is a bit of a first for this project - a listen of something that has been out less than a week (here anyway, and only just). I found out about this whilst I was away, ordered it, and then when I got home it was lying on my doormat. The Mountain Goats equals an instant buy for me based on past output, has done since The Life of the World to Come.

This will also be my first listen to this (save for a track and a half that played whilst I was ripping it from the disc) so will not lead to snap decisions to clear out unless there is something irredeemably bad - and I doubt that very much.

We open with keyboard chords, quiet backing to John Darnielle's distinctive vocals. There is a soft edge to this, and a wandering clarinet (or similar) gives Southwestern Territory  a very different tone, almost confessional. It strikes me as an odd match for the subject matter, wrestling as per the cover, but it is oddly effective. Melancholy and lament, even a side of pity drip off the track from start to finish.

We then get more familiar sounds, guitar-lead, drums in evidence, pace higher and a harder set to the voice. My initial reaction is that the opening track is a better crafted song, but The Legend of Chavo Guerrero is more immediately accessible and recognisable as The Mountain Goats. Foreign Object has both echoes of earlier work - something about the percussion harks back to the boombox recordings - and richer textures of the studio-produced content. A horn section dominates here, as much as any of the instrumentation can cover the chorus line of "I'm gonna stab you in the eye with a foreign object" and the overall effect on first attention is weak. It may grow on me but somehow I doubt I'll ever like this song much.

Animal Mask is more pleasant, simple hook and percussion form the base, other instruments floating around, slightly distant creating the space for the song to shine. This again sees Darnielle singing with a soft voice. The choice by The Mountain Goats to do a wrestling-oriented concept album rather bizarrely makes this the second album on the subject that I have, the other being Luke Haines imaginatively titled Nine and a Half Psychedelic Meditations on British Wrestling of the 1970s and early '80s. Given I don't like or follow the sport in any way, that's something of a surprise even to me (I cannot recall what made me buy the other). It does allow Darnielle's narrative writing to stand out though as I find myself drawn in to these stories of masked fighters.

Choked Out is angry, violent and punchy and over before I register it. Heel Turn 2 follows on quickly and sounds a little like it could have come from All Eternals Deck in style and tone which I rather appreciate. It then transforms after 3 and a half minutes into a light piano composition... this is an odd transition but I rather like the tune that emerges, sparse and haunting and concluded with a slightly discordant sound. This album may be concentrated in subject matter but its tone is ever-shifting - the next piece up is jazzy, it carries a piano melody and lightly brushed cymbals and I am stumbling to think whom it reminds me of. The tune's simple wandering is arresting and my thoughts are shackled, only released when it ends - I think I will grow to really like this track. I am impressed at how easily the style of each track seems to shift.

That is true once more as we get Stabbed to Death Outside San Juan - here the vocal is almost spoken, menacing strums and drums, left to stand alone. A really dark tone to this - as you might expect from a song about murder. The threat is set off by spine-tingling strings and although it feels like all the parts are in isolation in some way, the whole coalesces well. The menace steps up a level as we get to the driven Werewolf Gimmick - tempo ratcheted up by frenetic percussion and frenzied strumming, repeated notes to the fore in creating the sense of urgency and danger.

I am relieved when the tension breaks and Luna is a softer tune. This carries strong traces of something I know but cannot place... that is really going to annoy me now! I like the song though. Ah, that guitar reminds me of a Gomez track I think, but was that what I meant? Argh, annoying brain failures. This is a really nicely rounded tune, lots of layers. Yes - it must have been what I was thinking of, Buena Vista from Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline; there's a similar kind of jangle to the guitar, even if it is far less dominant in this case, just one of many elements in Luna's composition as opposed to the main theme in the Gomez track.

The rich composition is jettisoned then... no, its my ears playing tricks. Another confessional track in Unmasked, simple voice and guitar seemed at first to be all this was about but there is a nice subtlety to how the piano line snuck in there and took me by surprise. There isn't too much else to this, but its really rather good. What follows is another tonal shift, staccato guitar to the fore, voice harder again... and the song is over before I can formulate any more thoughts enough to transition them to page. Is that tiredness or something else? The placement of The Ballad of Bull Ramos seems odd, a single punchier track amidst 4 quieter softer tracks to close the album.

The final song, Hair Match is almost funereal in pace, very soft in effect. It is almost a lullaby in delivery, quiet and warm, whilst the subject matter is clearly not of that ilk. In truth I am finding it a pretty weak closing track on first exposure, and as it ends I feel that the song's story is only half told - though in fairness that could well be because I missed it rather than because it wasn't there.

And so the album winds up. First impressions are mixed - some very nice tracks here, and I remain impressed by the variety of styles, tempos, compositions exhibited here. One or two of them fell flat initially and the whole thing will need more listens before anything will become a favourite. Overall though, more good than bad and I am happy with the purchase. There was something old-school about the packaging when I received the hard-copy - jewel case with security sticker - and I now look forward to taking this disc to the car to give it a few more plays. It clearly merits more attention, and a chance for things to grow on me.

Bastion Original Soundtrack - Darren Korb

Track list:

1. Get Used to It
2. A Proper Story
3. In Case of Trouble
4. Bynn the Breaker
5. The Sole Regret
6. Twisted Streets
7. Terminal March
8. Percy's Escape
9. Faith of Jevel
10. Mine, Windbag, Mine
11. Slinger's Song
12. Build That Wall (Zia's Theme)
13. Spike in a Rail
14. What's Left Undone
15. Brusher Patrol
16. The Mancer's Dilemma
17. Mother, I'm Here (Zulf's Theme)
18. Pale Watchers
19. The Bottom Feeders
20. From Wharf to Wilds
21. Setting Sail, Coming Home (End Theme)
22. The Pantheon (Ain't Gonna Catch You)

Running time: 60 minutes
Released: 2011

This slots in here as a recent purchase, and the first example of a growing trend: soundtracks for videogames. I have picked up a fair few in recent months/years as it becomes more common for them to be offered as part of the purchase on digital platforms. Bastion I bought just days ago in a Steam sale; I got the soundtrack edition because a) I had heard it was highly rated and b) I already had and loved the soundtrack to Transistor, a game from the same studio carrying music by the same artist, so I have good hopes for this. I have been playing Bastion recently too and the music has made more of an impression than the gameplay, but in a context where I was not really concentrating on it. I wonder what attention might reveal?

This is one of two inserts, new purchases that come in the mid-Folds period (the other being the new Mountain Goats record, Beat the Champ which will follow once I am back home). 22 songs in an hour speaks to short tracks, but some are very short whilst others are more usual track lengths.

It starts with the intro - spoken word over a structure. The start of A Proper Story is jarring as a transition but the track sets the tone of the game's music. Fairly jaunty, evocative of a western-style brush/scrub badlands atmosphere. Strong guitars, steel stringed perhaps, such is their jangle. In Case of Trouble is, I think, the main theme really - the one that was with me a lot of the way through the game (I finished the first run through this morning). Either that or my tune recognition is garbage. The percussion is fairly tense which befits the soundtrack to what is - exploration and story aside - a fairly typical fight-em-all style procession. That edge is present in the consistent banging and pulses in the following track too - this has a darker, rougher edge to it, more immediate danger less promised trouble. Electric wails come in as a top end, then synth strings carry the ominous sound into a lighter and more melodic phase before the oppression overtakes all again.

Even though I was only just playing the game, I can't recall the context of each track, but I can hear the narrator's voice over each piece as it plays. The opening of The Sole Regret absolutely sells regret as the theme (although that could be biased by seeing the title). It then morphs into a more sitar-inspired piece, less oppressive as much of it simply creates a central space which lines then rise to fill in an effective and pleasing manner. There is a hint of a voice at one point (no words mind) and I am looking forward to the voice-as-instrument tracks to come (there must be at least one) as that was one of my favourite things about Transistor's music. Before then it has all gone more cyberpunk in tone, which feels slightly off - images of 90s videogame music arise in my mind as one of the treble themes is reminiscent of Street Fighter 2 music to me... thankfully its not a dominant sound.

I was not overly sold on the game, I have to say. Played it through, finished it with one of the two endings, but in no rush to go back to it. Too repetitive and really too designed for play with a console controller for me to want to replay on a laptop keyboard. Some cheap tricks too like hiding the ground and/or your character sprite; not a fan of that. The tension has ratcheted up again for Terminal March - rolling percussion is ever-present and the melody does nothing to take the edge off. Where it breaks in to the cacophony it actually serves to increase the sense of discomfort and unease, as if something bad is waiting just ahead, or following just behind. Apt. It isn't that much of a march though, if I am being picky - there's nothing regimented enough for that. Then, suddenly we're being chased. There is no other way to describe Percy's Escape, as it gives me a distinct impression of someone on my heels, footing not sound, but plunging on the only option. Funny - I don't recognise this track at all; not sure how the music is organised or coded in game so it is possible (however unlikely) that certain tracks did not appear in my play through.

Darker, but less immediately threatening now. Kinda like the idea of heading home after a nice holiday as I will be doing tomorrow. Mine, Windbag, Mine has the clanging of pick on rock in the background of a lushly layered piece. Strings and more strings over the clangy percussion, then an opening an electro-break followed by a sparser sound, double bass threatening us still. I am trying to think what I would liken this too, where I have heard a similar approach to percussion before but I am coming up blanks.

The badlands overtures return now; maybe Slinger's Song was the theme I heard most. Certainly it is more immediately identifiable with the section I started with this morning - jungle-type terrain, swampy in nature - watch out for that 'gator, don't swim in the bayou. I like the bluesy overtones here, they groove nicely, better without the visuals actually where it could simply apply to the stereotypical deep south.

Ah, there is the voice; humming and singing. The song not so much, but the hum I like, along with the maudlin tone. This has to be the same singer as on Transistor or my ears are deteriorating day by day. The song reminds me of Anaïs Mitchell - its about building walls and really rather bland, but nicely intoned even if the lyrics are terribad. The tone has left the Eastern themes of sitar (I guess meant to be associated with one of the cultures in the gameworld) and strangled notes aside and is squarely back in that southern/western badlands vibe now and I think this is the stronger suit, mixing tension with some interestingly modified tones, driving pacey beats with lines that could be played for relaxation in another context.

Occasionally lighter pieces drift in, like the Mancer's Dilemma, harp-like strains lead this, and whilst there is still a solid background rumble that contains the promise of threat, here it doesn't dominate like it has on most of the tracks thus far. It is a nice change-up, being more effective for that than the song that follows. Different singer this time, less enchanting but almost as effectively crafted to build the emotion. Unfortunately this effect is spoilt by the abrupt shift into the next track right as the final word is uttered - a second or two of quiet for the transition would have been more effective for me. What we drop into is more generic soundtrack music, tension conveyed but without the interesting themes that prior tracks had. Don't misunderstand, I think that Pale Watchers is a pretty decent track but... it lacks the character of something like Brusher Patrol or Slinger's Song where the decisions to use those steely guitar sounds really paid off and helped to craft memorable, enjoyable tunes that stand up well away from the game.

Into the run-in now, and Bottom Feeders has some character back, but alas its very definitely videogame character, not transcendent of the medium. There is a tinny, electronic edge to proceedings for much of the piece which means it is hard to see it as anything but an accompaniment to some gameplay that I am not currently engaged in. It must be from towards the end of the game - the bits I did today - because it is also spacey and reminiscent of some of the FTL soundtrack by Ben Prunty in places. In all honesty this track is probably my least favourite. We get a breather for the first 30 seconds of From Wharf to Wilds before synthetic horns blast in and the percussive edge is restored. It is a short piece though and it is not long before an end theme kicks in. One of the most annoying things about the game was unskippable credits at the end, so I have listened to this piece in full just a couple of hours ago. I did not notice that it was a duet then though, so I clearly wasn't paying much attention! When both voices are active the song is much better - singing different lines at the same time produces a nice haunting effect and brings out the best in Korb's composition.

Final track is a gravelly voiced song; reminds me of Mark Lanegan - just to tag another artist on this post for no apparent reason - but I guess it's actually the guy who voiced the narrator through the game. I rather like the effect and the bluesy guitar that accompanies it. Pretty good closing track this, ending on a really positive note.

Ordinarily I would cull some tracks at this point, for some I felt were rather weak when stripped of their original context. However soundtracks are soundtracks and sometimes best left intact. Re-use is a consideration here, and with that in mind I will be keeping all of it. My gut says Transistor was a better soundtrack, but this surely is not bad at all.

All Hail West Texas - The Mountain Goats

Track List:

1. The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton
2. Fall Of The Star High School Running Back
3. Color In Your Cheeks
4. Jenny
5. Fault Lines
6. Balance
7. Pink And Blue
8. Riches And Wonders
9. The Mess Inside
10. Jeff Davis County Blues
11. Distant Stations
12. Blues In Dallas
13. Source Decay
14. Absolute Lithops Effect

Running time: 41 minutes
Released: 2002

This is vintage Mountain Goats. Whilst plenty of time could be wasted trying to somehow unravel the cryptic tagline (right there in the image, folks!), it is much easier to simply sit back and listen to the songs that emerged, rather than try to tie them together. The album does feel themed though, there is a consistency in tone that strikes me whenever I put it on (invariably in the car). Part of that is surely down to how it was recorded, one man on a boombox, which leaves an audible thread running through everything.

Sure, the resulting sound quality is not always great but that takes nothing away from the songs themselves, which shine like diamonds. It feels weird listening to them whilst sat static at a laptop though. I should be behind a wheel, on the road - which would be really fitting because there is a theme of drifting/traveling in these songs too.

I like it from the get-go, the medium and method is more evident in this kind of listen than when I consume this on CD, with my attention on the road. Listening now I find myself drawn more to Darnielle's playing. His guitar (and the drone of the tape deck) is pretty much all there is to accompany his voice and the lines he plays are interesting. I am no great connoisseur of guitar, but I would not rate him highly as a player. His ability to craft a tune though - when to leave things sparse, when to amp up the music - that is another matter. I never realised just how empty or simple some of these tracks were - and I mean that as a compliment. When not paying close attention, there has always sounded like there was more depth to the instrumentation because the tracks are wonderful.

I have to say, I still adore Balance. The hook is catchy as all hell, it is played strongly and the song is short - it burns bright and quick and is easily my favourite track on the album even if others might have more merit as songs or stories set to tunes. Such as The Mess Inside, which gets me every time. I am pretty sure that I cannot say anything about this album that has not been said somewhere before by someone else so this is going to be a really short post whilst I just enjoy all but one of the remaining tracks.

The exception is Blues In Dallas - I really don't like the percussion and keyboard-provided... whatever it is, but mostly the percussion. It is too loud, too insistent and too repetitive; unfortunately it is the longest track on the album. Fortunately it is the only weak spot and is completely overshadowed by the majesty of the other tracks.

The end of the listen is interrupted by a request to move my car so a neighbour can have a skip exchanged and in truth as much as I like the last couple of tracks I don't stop and restart. I know them well from commutes past, and am secure in my knowledge and appreciation of this album. I was a late-comer to TMG, and to All Hail West Texas in particular. I only picked it up, along with a number of other back catalogue releases after someone started a thread on a media forum I frequent about trying to puzzle out the seven people from the songs. I am glad they did, because if that thread had not appeared then I would have a hole in my library where this now sits, firmly in the pantheon of my favourite albums.

Edit: I also acquired the remastered version of this album. That listen is here.

All Eternals Deck - The Mountain Goats

Track List:

1. Damn These Vampires
2. Birth Of Serpents
3. Estate Sale Sign
4. Age Of Kings
5. The Autopsy Garland
6. Beautiful Gas Mask
7. High Hawk Season
8. Prowl Great Cain
9. Sourdoire Valley Song
10. Outer Scorpion Squadron
11. For Charles Bronson
12. Never Quite Free
13. Liza Forever Minnelli

Running time: 42 minutes
Released: 2011

Now for the first of two Mountain Goats albums in a row. AED blew me away when it came out, to the point that I made the effort to treck down to London by train, on a week-night, to see them gig.  Recent plays in the car have me thinking that time and reflection have been less kind to it than some of John Darnielle's work, however. Time to test that theory.

Certainly Damn These Vampires sounds muted now, detached and less immediately impacting. It is a decent track still but my initial impression of the song was of a bigger hit to open the album. I suspect that it is my memory that is at fault, or perhaps having the song explained took away some of the magic.

There is a bit more urgency and raw emotion in Birth of Serpents, but it is not until Estate Sale Sign that I feel the album is really underway. I find I enjoy the anger in the delivery and the minimal arrangement - drums and strangled guitar, high tempo and strongly delivered lines. It, too, sounds more muted now than I remember it from release - but the energy and vitality in the performance carry it through. When melody returns in later tracks there is a warmth to the sound and it feels like the album has woken up. 

However it is generally better when the tempo stays higher. Yes the slower melodic pieces are nice, but there is a rawness to The Mountain Goats music and that shines through better on the pacier tracks. I am not talking thrashed out super-fast here, just a good driving pace rather than a slower ballad. The slower tunes expose the minimalist approach to arrangement a bit more, and whilst some of those songs are really good they give the impression they could take more beautification: bows and garlands provided by a deeper instrumentation. High Hawk Season is an interesting half-way house here. A slower song, arrangement is provided by a backing choir rather than more instruments.

Prowl Great Cain was my original favourite, no longer so. I like it a lot, but other tracks have supplanted it. I do love the chorus though - the line "I feel guilty but I can't feel ashamed" has always struck a chord and the whole song hangs together really well. I think my initial favouritism may have something to do with a keyboard line sneaking in, the tempo and the lyrics. The latter two hit you fairly early, and form a strong impression, albeit one that is weaker now that I have given time to some of its album-mates.

I find it really quite astounding what this man can do. Whilst the album does contain some more arranged tunes, the majority of his work is reasonably minimalist, yet leaves a strong impression. Not all of it great (there are songs on albums to come I do not like at all), but most of it very good. His songs feel like songs rather than some insignificant words provided to offset the music, which is often quite raw but no less accomplished for that. There is often a simplicity to the bass and/or rhythm, perhaps just a simple loop, but they are catchy, they are thoughtful and they are effective. I would say that Darnielle is a songwriter first and foremost. I cannot level the same criticisms of forgettable lyrics that I have used in the past here (though to be fair there could be an element of familiarity there too). I doubt I would put all the tracks on a high lyrical pedestal as entire songs, but most of them contain at least one very memorable line. He has, though, the knack of finding a chord, a loop, a hook to go with these songs and produces magic in doing so.

I am particularly fond of Never Quite Free. I could listen to this song over and over and over. It has a power, emotion, openness and a "from the heart" quality that strikes right at mine. The piano is back, and whilst the guitar line on the outro is a little parody of a melancholic line it is the only small fault that I find with the song. For me it is almost as if the album ends there, because even as Liza Forever Minelli plays (I like the song but it is not special) I find myself replaying Never Quite Free in my head. It is ever thus when I listen to All Eternals Deck.