Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West
November 18, 1997
Modest Mouse's "The Lonesome Crowded West" is unquestionably one of my favorite albums of all time. Isaac Brock's brilliant lyrics and eclectic guitar playing mixed with Jeremiah Green's outstanding percussion work and Eric Judy's great bass, there isn't any way I could call this album anything but one of the greatest albums of the 90's. Being an indie rock album at an hour and thirteen minutes long, you would think at some point it would become tedious, or repetitive, but the songs are so wildly different from each other at points that it never fails keeping things interesting. Teeth Like God's Shoeshine opens up the album with noisy screams and distorted guitars, while Styrofoam Boots ends the album with soft acoustic guitars and Isaac Brock wistfully singing.
The production on the album gives it a very dusty, western, feel to it (the lonesome feeling is immediately addressed on Modest Mouse's next LP in the discography "The Moon And Antarctica", but I'll probably do a review of that some other time.). Isaac Brock and Eric Judy both do fine jobs on their respective instruments, but the real stand-out is drummer Jeremiah Green. I can't say enough good things about the percussion on this album. All you have to do is listen to the opening of Truckers Atlas to see what
I'm talking about.
When I think of bad things to say about LCW, the only thing that comes to mind is that the song "Long Distance Drunk" outwears it's welcome rather quickly. That is the only complaint.
In summary, The Lonesome Crowded West is one of the greatest indie albums of all time, and I don't see it leaving my rotation anytime soon.
6/5 TOTALLY CRASHING PLANES
EDITORS CHOICE
HONOR ROLL
HALL OF FAME
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