The Mountain Goats – Heretic Pride
I am but a casual Mountain Goats fan, so this review might end up sounding like depressingly vacant populism to hardened fanatics. I have no desire to fall foul of the hard-core fans actually, because this happened to my pal Coxon from To Die By Your Side and they are clearly a bit mental. Apparently Mountain Goats fanatics refer to themselves as Goaties, and oddly enough the direct translation of the Dutch slang for goatee – as in the beard – is ‘talking cunt’. I don’t know why I mention this. (It’s worth reading his post actually, because Coxon deals with the crazy comments better than I think I’ve ever seen. “Are you flirting with me?” Priceless!)
Actually, as a long time Mountain Goats fan he finds the album kind of disappointing. I, as a more casual fan, do not. I first encountered John Darnielle when The Sunset Tree was released in 2005. It took a while to sink in, but I love that album. After that I dug back into earlier releases, but I never found Tallahassee or We Shall Be Healed to be as musically varied or, ultimately, as satisfying. Get Lonely, released a year after Sunset Tree was so low-key and melancholy that I found it tricky to actually dig the individual songs out.
So actually, I find the renewed vigour of this record to be a massively welcome change. The musical playfulness of Sunset Tree isn’t quite matched, but matters are far less one-paced than can occasionally be the case with Mountain Goats records. Tracks like In the Craters on the Moon and Lovecraft in Brooklyn are downright venomous, which is a relief. Darnielle is a very wounded, emotional songwriter and the crackling loneliness can be a little overwhelming, so these releases are much needed.
Funnily enough, I went to San Francisco for a day or so for work reasons a couple of years ago and as I walked the city all I could think was that this was John Darnielle contry. It seemed odd, but I almost looked at the city through his eyes, as if it were actually his, somehow. I know that’s a slightly meaningless aside, but his music is like that. It’s so unprotected and so open that you barely get the impression there is so much as a sliver of a barrier between the writer and the listener, which makes his presence so much more dominant in his songs and perhaps explains the slavering devotion of the sort of fanboys who made a nuisance of themselves at Coxon’s site.
I’ve sort of lost track of myself a bit, there, haven’t I? Well suffice to say that although I don’t quite elevate it to the status of Sunset Tree, I think this may be one of Darnielle’s best albums and if you give it time to seep in then you should genuinely love it.
The Mountain Goats – How To Embrace A Swamp Creature[audio http://www.matthewjamesyoung.com/sbt/TheMountainGoats-HowToEmbraceASwampCreature.mp3]
The Mountain Goats – In The Craters On The Moon[audio http://www.matthewjamesyoung.com/sbt/TheMountainGoats-InTheCratersOnTheMoon.mp3]
I was a little disappointed with Heretic Pride. It’s even cheesy in parts, and it doesn’t seem as lyrically strong as previous offerings. Get Lonely was quite underrated I reckon, very soft, but very atmospheric. HP is punchy, but some songs are kinda empty.
Tallahassee-We Shall All Be Healed-The Sunset Tree remain the best of his 4AD stuff, and HP doesn’t yet beat Coroner’s Gambit, though it gives All Hail West Texas a run for it’s money.
Even though HP is disappointing, it’s still a helluva lot better than most stuff out there, eh?
Yeah I’d agree actually. It doesn’t make me moisten my gusset with delight, but then I have to bear in mind what I’m comparing it to.
I read the Coxon post & laughed at the comments.
This is a band that has the component parts what should get me all giddy in the knick-knacks & dribbling from my special eye. But, & I can’t put my finger on it as to why, they just don’t.
Nothing in their back catalogue gets me at all flustered or excited. I think, and this is a personal opinion based on listening to quite a lot of their stuff, they are quite a pedestrian band. There are much better versions of them out there, with a better consistency of quality. I’ll give the new one a go, but have no high hopes at all on previous fare.
If any Goaties have any truck with that opinion I’m more than happy to pass out my home address so we can discuss it over their hospital food.
)
Yeah, being threatened by alt-folk enthusiasts somehow doesn’t seem that scary, does it!
Ok, I’m a ‘Goatie’. Guilty. Did you only did as far back as Tallahassee, Toady? That’s one non-scratched surface you have there. Get you hands on the boombox stuff. You know you’re into the classic Mountain Goats’ years when you can’t hear the music over the grinding of the recording equipment! I could replace ‘recording equipment’ with ‘Panasonic’ RX-FT500′ if anyone needs to hear some back-up of my claim of being a Goatie(!)
I confess, no, I never went back any farther. I tried Tallahassee and We Shall All Be Healed and wasn’t that impressed, so I kind of gave up, really.
After I was given Heretic Pride to review I decided to delve into the back catalogue. I had never heard of the Mountain Goats before but Heretic Pride grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. I now have 153 tracks in my collection and counting.
I love Ghana, but not so much the other cassette compilations. Nine Black Poppies is terrific, though. The concept albums are, actually, kind of difficult.
Sunset Tree gets boring and Tallahassee is so sour.
And Get Lonely isn’t anywhere near the quality of its single “Woke Up New” which is, in my opinion one of the greatest songs ever written, if it is about a man who has been widowed. If it’s about a man whose girlfriend has left him then it is a little more twee and wee more weak, but it is still a brilliant piece.
HP is, I think, one of the finest works by Darnielle and, in a few days my review will be up on http://www.Shuffleboil.com. Have you seen the comic book press release for Heretic Pride? It’s fun. And informative. I can send it to you if need be.
I think Coxon, who I link to in the post, has the comic accompaniments posted actually. It’s quite a nice idea, I think.
I haven’t heard any of the really early concept stuff at all, but I can’t believe you disliked Sunset Tree – easily my favourite. Especially Dance Music.
Not that I didn’t like Sunset Tree. I just found myself a little bored. Truthfully, I haven’t given it the time and concetration I have Heretic. Tallahasee either. As I write this, I am listening to Nine Black Poppies in the background.
I think HP is a great place to start with the Goats. But I might think that because it was my first place.
Nothing is as devastating as “Woke up New” but, that’s subjective. it just makes me cry every time I hear it.
Oh. Yeah, the review is up, if you are interested.
i’ve only listened all the way through one time, and i have to say i agree with mr. toad on this one. it is a welcome change from get lonely. now, i love sad music perhaps more than anyone, but get lonely was too much all of the same for me, like you say.
i’m going to see him next month, so am sure to run into some goaties. it should be fun, i hear he’s quite engaging in concert.
I think you’re spot on Allen, HP is definitely a good jumping off point, and however far you get from there then good luck to you. I myself got only a short way, but so it goes.
Marcy – they’re playing the End of the Road Festival here this Summer so hopefully I’ll get to see them myself. Really looking forward to it. And, you? Sad music? Surely not Marcy, such a bubbly wee soul!
now that’s not one i’d heard before–a bubbly wee soul!