So You Want to get into…The Mountain Goats Part 1

So I was reading over my Frank Zappa post and I think I realize the problem, I tried to put too much into one post. So from now on this feature will be a multipart chronicle of my own personal journey through an artist catalog. So with no further ado let’s begin

Heretic Pride

Best Song: San Bernardino

1.) Sax Rohmer #1
2.) San Bernardino
3.) Heretic Pride
4.) Autoclave
5.) New Zion
6.) So Desperate
7.) In the Craters on the Moon
8.) Lovecraft in Brooklyn
9.) Tianchi Lake
10.) How to Embrace a Swamp Creature
11.) Marduk T-Shirt Men’s Room Incident
12.) Sept 15th 1983
13.) Michael Myers Resplendent

When I was first introduced to The Mountains Goats I hated them. I was not a fan of lo-fi and wasn’t interested enough in the lyrics to let them lift the song. While John Darnielle does a good job at tugging at your emotions and it a great writer, he will never be my personal savior or my favorite lyricist. It was a couple of years after that initial taste, while getting some music from my sister, that I first heard “Dilauded” off Sunset Tree. I asked her “If he can write songs like this why doesn’t he do it more often?” I was immediately directed to get Heretic Pride.

Heretic Pride is without a doubt the place to start if you don’t like lo-fi (If you love lo-fi more then anything you may want to avoid this one at first). The use of strings is near perfect through-out but it suffers from a songwriting perspective as compared to his earlier stuff. I tend to lose focus about halfway through the album and really have trouble remembering how the later songs go. I could also do without the opener. “Sax Rohmer #1”. Its not that it is bad, it is just an inferior version of “Autoclave”: Same acoustic pattern, same vocal delivery, but the lyrical hook for “Autoclave” makes “Sax Rohmer #1” completely superfluous.

The highlights are what make this album worth it thought. Both the title track and “San Bernardino” are among my favorites Darnielle has ever written. “Heretic Pride” uses the upbeat music and vocal delivery as the perfect foil to the scene in the lyrics of the heretic being burned. “San Bernardino” is…just beautiful. The drawn-out and pizzicato strings, the rolling guitar, and the best lyrics on the record. It is a masterpiece. “New Zion” is the poppiest thing on the album, a great song to sway to, and full of stray guitar lines. “So Desperate” is a very simple song; nothing but guitar, voice, and some pizzicato strings. It is the perfect song to close the album on…

But wait a minute, THERE ARE SEVEN MORE SONGS!!! Well not for me there isn’t. I just lose all will to keep listening after “So Desperate”. Which really isn’t fair since at least one of these songs is the best on the album. “Lovecraft in Brooklyn” is just as good a song as my other favorites, and is one of the rare opportunities to really see Darnielle ROCK. But because I am done with the album by this point I don’t think of it as being off Heretic Pride. To me it like a single and not part of the whole.

So despite this album only keeping me interested half of the time I give it a good and hearty recommendation, if only because once you assimilate Heretic Pride you are ready to start reaching into the brilliant encyclopedia of songs by John Darnielle. But before we delve back lets take another step forward for the smooth transition between this and the older work.

Next time on So You Want to get into the Mountain Goats: Life of the World to Come

#43 Aerial Ballet

Best Song: One

1.) Daddy’s Song
2.) Good Old Desk
3.) Don’t Leave Me
4.) Mr. Richland’s Favorite Song
5.) Little Cowboy
6.) Together
7.) Everybody’s Talkin’
8.) I Said Good Bye to Me
9.) Little Cowboy (reprise)
10.) Mr. Tinker
11.) One
12.) The Weeping Willow
13.) Bath


Ah Harry Nilsson, one of my absolute favorites. Beyond creating amazing music, he was simply a fascinating person. He would follow up his biggest commercial hit with an album full of bluntness and profanity, only to follow that album with an album of Hollywood standards. A real anomaly in the music world it is nice to still feel his echo in some indie bands today.

Ariel Ballet starts with the very bouncy “Daddy’s Song” which immediately sets the tone for the first half of the album, with amazing vocal overlays that showcase Nilsson’s confidence in his voice. This is followed by the greatest ode to a piece of furniture ever “Good Old Desk”. Harry Nilsson once joked that the song was actually about the initials of the song, G.O.D; but had to constantly tell people that it was a joke. Another treat is “Mr. Richland’s Favorite Song” a story of a pop star that goes from famous to washed up but still loved. The vocal wah-wahs at the end are my favorite on the whole record. If you are wondering about the weird title on this one, well it has a simple explanation. Mr. Richland was a music publisher and this was his favorite song on the album.

“Little Cowboy” is actually a lullaby that Nilsson’s mother used to sing to him which it just sweet. “Together” is an anthemic song that serves as the side closer if you are listening to this on vinyl. Even with out that physical break, it still represents the end on the good times of the first half with its final line.

The second half start extremely strong one track that everyone probably knows already, a cover of Fred Neil’s “Everybody’s Talkin’”. There is no doubt that this is the definitive version of the song, the rollicking upbeat guitar is the perfect foil for the subtle darkness of the lyrics. “Mr. Tinker” is another story of a has-been but unlike the singer in “Mr. Richland’s Favorite Song” the tailor is no longer needed.

After the depression of “Mr. Tinker” we get treated to the greatest song about loneliness ever written. “One” is among the best songs Harry Nilsson ever wrote. The simplicity of the piano is what makes it. What is the perfect amount of notes to represent feeling lonely? Why one of course. It also has the most profound line on the record, “Two is just as bad as one it’s the loneliest number since the number one”; suggesting that it takes more then just being with someone to be happy. Unfortunatly we do get a small let down in the final track. “Bath” isn’t bad; it just feels like a fake Hollywoodish ending after all the depression of the second half. If you don’t mind tinkering with the artistic vision of an album I would suggest changing it on you MP3 player so “Bath” starts the album instead of ends it. This won’t be the last we here from Harry Nilsson, oh no. This is the first of four on the list.

Brandon Flowers: Flamingo

Best Song: Swallow It

1. Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas
2. Only the Young
3. Hard Enough
4. Jilted Lovers and Broken Hearts
5. Playing With Fire
6. Was It Something I Said?
7. Magdalena
8. Crossfire
9. On the Floor
10. Swallow It

Deluxe Edition
11. The Clock Was Tickin'
12. Jacksonville
13. I Came Here to Get Over You
14. Right Behind You

Looking at his recent output, it is increasingly impossible to pin Brandon Flowers as the guy who wrote that good but not great song “Somebody Told Me” that launched The Killers into the public eye. He is one of the few songwriters today who seems to understand what is working the best for him at any given moment. You can map a clear evolution from Hot Fuss to Sam’s Town through songs like the title track on the latter. Then through the song “Read My Mind” you can see the beginnings of Day & Age. And once you get there you get Flamingo.

Flamingo makes one thing clear; picking up a Brandon Flowers solo record is going to be just like picking up a Tom Petty solo album. The only real difference is the lack of band members to balance out personal tastes. So while Tom Petty without the Heartbreakers goes full Dylan, Brandon Flowers without The Killers goes full New Order.

Now this may not be a popular opinion but I think this would be a great direction to take The Killers in, and for one reason. Day & Age was without a doubt The Killers best on a song by song basis, but as an album it has trouble. You just get lost amoungst the spaciness of it all. Flamingo, on the other hand, has the cohesion of Sam’s Town with a sound closer to Day & Age.

The opening track “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” is a great start and firmly sets the tone, this is an American album. And this doesn’t sit well with some people, usually the same people who hated Sam’s Town. The sound is so very from British bands (except the couple of countryish elements) so how dare he, a Las Vegas born man, incorporate his own experience into the music. Yeah I don’t find this opinion at all valid. There is no longer a split between US and UK sounds. There hasn’t been for a long time.

After “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” we have another highlight. Hell I could just go through and name every song since everyone is a highlight. Instead I am only going to mention a few. “Only the Young” is the song I would probably use to introduce people to the album. It is a very poopy slow burning song. The absolute best song is the closer “Swallow It”. A meditative song about taking your time and not trying to do to much at once. If there is one songs the rest of The Killers wished they had tied to the name my guess is it would be this one.

Now I know Deluxe Editions of albums can be tricky business, some are worthless and some are priceless. Flamingo falls neatly into the latter. Seriously I can’t imagine not have these songs on this album. “I Came Here To Get Over You” could practically BE a New Order song and “Jacksonville” sounds like an elctronicfied Joy Division track. The best of them is “The Clock was Tickin’”. It is a great country song in fact if more country songs sounded like this then country wouldn’t get such a bad reputation from mainstream listeners.

So Final Verdict on the ablum is a big and hearty Thumbs Up!

So You Want to get Into...Frank Zappa

In this new feature I will advice new listeners how to beginning listening to difficult artist to get into. And I am not starting small. Frank Zappa has one of the most difficult discographies in all of rock music. Scratch that all of music in general.

Unlike British invasion bands whose difficulty usually derives from American basteradization of albums, Zappa’s difficulty is from the pure size of his discography. I doubt there is a single person out there who has heard all of Zappa’s studio and live albums, including the man himself due to a surplus of posthumous releases.

Once we get past the size we come to the next problem: the content. Zappa will follow a completely instrumental experimental album with an album of doo-wop. It can be really frustrating for fans of either as they dig deeper. I know a few people whose Zappa journey went like this “Oh Zappa he is the jazz-fusion guy I like his stuff…what is this doo-wop shit?”

Now one more thing before we get to my actual suggestions for albums (told you I didn’t start small). If you are easily offended by foul language, dirty humor, political incorrectness and general smuttiness then turn back now. Beyond maybe the song “Joe’s Garage” Zappa is not the man for you and I just saved you from getting offended by a dead man.

So now those I haven’t scared away lets begin…

…with a three part rock opera. The album “Joe’s Garage” may seem intimidating at first but two things make it accessible. First is the music is relatively simple for Zappa. Second the plot is extremely easy to follow for a rock opera. The title track even gets some radio play which is fitting since it is the best song from the album. “Catholic Girls” and “Fembot In A Wet T-Shirt” are two other standouts with the rest of the album being of equal quality.

From “Joe’s Garage” the next album on your list should be either “We’re Only In It For The Money” or “You Are What You Is”. Both are Zappa’s masterpieces. Both have great social commentary with some amazing music. “We’re Only In It For The Money” is Frank Zappa’s lampooning 60’s culture especially the hippie counter-culture. Best song there are “What’s the Ugliest Part of Your Body?” and “Take Your Clothes Off When You Dane”. “You Are What You Is” is basically one big standout being my personal favorite Zappa album. Pay special attention to the title track and “The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing”.

From here you are on your own. When ever you pick up a new Zappa album you are playing the lottery. As a helpful hint I like “Sheik Yerbouti” and “Freak Out!” but would avoid “Lumpy Gravy”

#44 Guitar Monsters

Best Song: Brazil

1.) Limehouse Blues
2.) I Want to be Happy
3.) Over the Rainbow
4.) Meditation
5.) Lazy River
6.) I'm Your Greatest Fan
7.) It Don't Mean a Thing (If it Ain't Got That Swing)
8.) I Surrender Dear
9.) Brazil
10.) Give My Love to Nell
11.) Hot Toddy


I was going to start by saying that Les Paul and Chet Atkins where the greatest early era guitar players, but that isn’t right. Les Paul and Chet Atkins are two of the best guitarist to every live. And Guitar Monsters, their second collaborative album, displays this perfectly.

Now I believe I need to clarify something before I move forward. Being a good guitar player does not mean that you can play hundreds of notes per second. Being a good guitar player means not having a single note out of place; it means always getting the right tone for the song. And lastly it means letting the instrument construct a song and not just play for the sake of playing.

Moving on. Guitar Monsters not only displays great technique but is also has a great sense of humor and is just plain fun. The opening two tracks may not be the best but they defiantly set the tone of what the album is about. "Limhouse Blues" is a swinging instrumental that alternates between Les Paul’s ringing runs and Chet Atkins’ twangy licks. "I Want to be Happy" is more of the same but this time with some banter before and during the song that lets you know how relaxed these sessions where. “Dolly Parton is big on TV” “She’s big everywhere isn’t she?”

Their version of Over the Rainbow and Meditation are both fine, nothing fantastic but perfectly listenable. It is with the 4th track Lazy River were it really starts to get good. The jazziest track on the album, it builds slowly till about a minute into the song when the guitars really starting singing, and I mean singing. Who needs a vocalist when you have Les and Chet playing in concert. Next we have I’m You Greatest Fan which is one of the best on the entire record. It has Les Paul and Chet Atkins telling each other that they are the others biggest fan, but pretending they don’t know any songs the other did. Really it is just 4 minutes of two people who admire each other making fun of each other, which is awesome.

"It Don't Mean a Thing (If it Ain't Got That Swing)" is a Duke Ellington standard being performed by there two; ‘nuff said. Now before we can move onto my favorite we do need to sit through the one stinker on the album, "I Surrender Dear" isn’t bad, just boring. So, in the context of the album is it a downer. It slows the pace and just makes you want to hit next.

Which is a good Idea considering Brazil is the best song here. The first time I heard a version of this song was in the Terry Gilliam film Brazil (which I highly recommend) and it is probably one of the catchiest, earworm inducing songs ever. And this right here is my favorite version. I am dancing in my chair just thinking about it which I bet makes me seem strange if anyone was watching me.

The last two tracks are both good, "Give My Love to Nell" is the only one that has them singing …which is fine since neither of them have good singing voices, especially since Chet Atkins was in his 50’s and Les Paul was in his 60’s. It is still a charming track, mostly because it is a traditional song so not being able to sing well doesn’t really factor in too much.

Now out of all the records on my favorites list this is one of the ones that I would not be surprised if most people didn’t like it. Being almost all instrumentals will be enough of a turn off for most people, and the fact that it is two old geezers will scare the rest away. But give is a chance…you might be surprised.

#45 Bone Machine

Trying out a new format that works as a cheat sheet to the review. Of course the "Best Song" will stay, but in addition I am including the whole track list. On this list I will make the stand out tracks red and the tracks that are stinkers (to be demonstrated on later albums cause this one doesn't have any) blue. As always I will try and link to audio files/YouTube videos of songs I mention if I can find any. Well, enough of this. On to the review!!!

Best Song: Dirt in the Ground

Track List:
1.) Earth Died Screaming
2.) Dirt in the Ground
3.) Such a Scream
4.) All Stripped Down
5.) Who Are You
6.) The Ocean Doesn't Want Me
7.) Jesus Gonna Be Here
8.) A Little Rain
9.) In the Colosseum
10.) Goin' Out West
11.) Murder in the Red Barn
12.) Black Wings
13.) Whistle Down the Wind
14.) I Don't Wanna Grow Up
15.) Let Me Get Up on It
16.) That Feel

Tom Waits is fantastic. Just have to get that out of the way. Once you adjust to his voice and unusual use of percussion and musical tropes from the 30s you will like just about anything he does to some degree. Now Bone Machine isn’t my favorite Waits album but it is the one that I listened to first. I am not going to lie, if you aren’t already a Waits fan it will take some time to get into. This is not an easy album to assimilate; how could it be considering it is THE album about death.

The opener “Earth Died Screaming” is a great indication of what a wild ride you have signed up for. The percussion sounds like rattling bones and the growl used on the song is Waits at his most primal. “Dirt in the Ground” is my personal favorite and has Waits adopting a lamenting falsetto over subtle, and I mean subtle instrumentation. You won’t notice the bells, or the tapping unless you are really listening for it.

“Who Are You” is a sorrowful ballad that can’t be beat and always makes me think of a person looking out at the ocean while on the edge of a cliff during sunset; which works well with the next song “The Ocean Doesn’t Want Me Today”. Now this song is creepy… no not creepy, that is too nice. Terrifying is more appropriate. Try listening to it in the dark with good headphones so it sound like it is coming from your own mind.

“In the Colosseum” is another growling song along the line of “Earth Died Screaming” just as good but more ethereal than earthy which is appropriate. “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up” (which was later cover by The Ramones) is a perversion of juvenile acoustic tunes and as such becomes a real highlight. There really are no bad songs on the entire album but there are sixteen songs. That makes it hard to talk about all of them with out rambling. This is the album that introduced me to Tom Waits and I would suggest it as one of two albums as a gateways, probably the more difficult one, into the Waits’ work. What is the other one? Well we will just have to wait and see won’t we.

#46 Really Rosie

Best Song: One was Johnny

The greatest thing Carole King ever did. Now this is a pretty bold statement seeing as Tapestry is one of the most celebrated albums of the singer songwriter movement. Am I really saying it isn’t as good as a children’s album…well of course I am.

Really Rosie is a musical based on the work of Maurice Sendak, who also provides the lyrics. This is really important to note, Carole King DID NOT write the lyrics. Why do I feel the need to stress this? Well, like I said this is a children’s album and King could have easily gotten away with writing trivial and cliché melodies and no one would have noticed or cared. But instead she wrote some truly inspired music to accompany some great story lyrics.

King’s vocal delivery reaches a level of passion and, on some tracks, frenzy that she could only hope to reach on any of her other albums. Screaming and Yelling (could only find a clip online? really?) wouldn’t seem out of place on any other of King’s albums and would be a highlight where ever it showed up. The Ballad of Chicken Soup is a dark song about choking on a chicken bone that has the only line on the entire album that I feel is out of place. “quicker than a winky” just does not work with the tone of the song.

My absolute favorite is the song One Was Johnny. It is one of the shortest but that only works to its advantage. It is a simple count to ten then count backwards concept but the lyrical flow and walking piano really works. Drum fill and funky bass signal the bridge continue to the end bring the song to fruition. Pierre should also not be missed and even though One Was Johnny is my favorite song the end of Pierre represents my favorite moment on the whole record.