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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I've been obsessed with this album for months now, on and off. It's a miracle of content over style, probably the most lo-fi commercially released set of recordings I've heard (with the possible exception of Robert Johnson's "King Of The Delta Blues") - it's one man singing and playing an acoustic guitar and it's recorded on an audibly malfunctioning domestic tape recorder. The playing is perfectly competent but unapologetically basic, the songs are in the main constructed from standard chord progressions, the singing is reedy and nasal in the style characteristic of US indie bands and initially it sounds very samey and underwhelming. It's worth sticking with it though - these are extraordinarily good songs, economical, melodic and tender impressions of fragile, sensitive and impulsive souls, and after a few listens it becomes impossible to imagine a better way of presenting them than these sketchy and sometimes ragged recordings. This may be the best collection of songs I've heard outside of a Motown compilation, and I hope some enlightened record company sees fit to reissue it soon.
Format:Audio CD
The most militantly lo-fi of all the Mountain Goats' albums, this is arguably their peak. Recorded on an old-fashioned jambox, the production literally sounds like it was recorded in John Darnielle's front room - and is all the better for it. Earnestly sung tracks about wayward adolescents and weary lovers are underscored by frantic acoustic guitars, and seemingly impossible lyrics are delivered emphatically and beautifully. As an album, it ebbs and flows like a melodic tide - songs describing sadness and regret are offset by more upbeat tracks - but each has a unique charm, and is sung so dexterously and written so poetically that one could not fail to recommend this album.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
13 reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
a great songwriter who should not go unnoticed
8 Jan 2005
Format:Audio CD
I went for years being aware of the cult of John Darnielle, but never really looking into the music he makes under the nom de record, The Mountain Goats, until in the last year. While his latest records are more polished creations, the earlier releases, such as "All Hail West Texas" are truly honest gems. Darnielle may be one of the best "right below the surface" songwriters in all of popular music. His voice, and unique way of storytelling are pretty much without peer in popular music. Sure, people play and sing like him in coffeeshops all across America, but it's rare and refreshing to hear something like this on record. Songs such as "The Fall of the Star High School Running Back" and "The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton" brim with unique wit and insight, while songs like "Jenny" present Darnielle's impeccable attention to detail. While The Mountain Goats may be an acquired taste to many, for people who love honest, raw guitar and voice committed to tape, you should definitely check this (and any other Mt. Goats record) out.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
All Hail the Boombox
25 Feb 2002
Format:Audio CD
May the Mountain Goats never stop making records so long as I'm alive. This album comes right into cue with the rest of the Darnielle's fantastic poetic gems. The liner notes offer an explanation for new initates about the boombox sound, ubiquitously and erroneously labeled "lo-fi". Darnielle's recordings capture some inexplicable and sublime raw intimacy, which will draw you to the brink of oblivion, if you give it half a chance. After a highly metaphorical dance with death on the Coroner's Gambit, Darnielle's classic wit, straight forward style, and even keyboard percussion, return. Songs like "Balance" will remind you what it feels like to dig your own heart out with a spoon.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
I just can't get sick of it
20 May 2003
Format:Audio CD
First of all, it's not pretentiously underproduced. it isn't produced at all. by recording an album with only his voice, an acoustic guitar and a boombox, john darnielle has stripped music down to it's original american folk/blues roots and implicitly declares himself a storyteller, or poet. it's not too hard to understand why the music's so great. he's a brilliant lyricist. he's a master of the pen. he turns relatively uninteresting songs into small slices of culture. it took me a few listens to get past the outlandish nature of his stories and begin to realize that these songs are from the heart. they're tales of lost loves, broken dreams, and searching for happiness in all the wrong places. to like Tallahassee and despise this album makes me wonder why you would like the mountain goats in the first place. as you can tell by the spare instrumentation of Tallahassee, Darnielle uses careful thought when adding any element to his songs beyond the voice and guitar. he sings with more authority than any vocalist of our time. make no bones about it, All Hail West Texas is brilliant
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