The Mountain Goats: Tallahassee (My Favorite Albums of All Time, Part 2)
(I’m counting down (or up – I’m not sure yet) my favorite albums of all time. I’m not sure how long this will take or how often I’ll write one. But this is Part 2. Part 1 is here.)
I can’t claim that I loved the Mountain Goats before anyone had heard of them (as opposed to now, when they’re world famous and all). I didn’t hunt down 7″s or order their EPs from Shrimper or comb record stores in search of rare compilations or do whatever else people do when they’re obsessed with bands no one else cares about. I don’t shout “GOLDEN BOY!” when I see them live, because I don’t really care about that song, and although I certainly can and do listen to their early stuff and enjoy it, it all kind of runs together for me, being as lo-fi and samey as it all is.
But I had heard OF them, and so when I joined eMusic back in 2003 when downloads were unlimited and I was casting about for new bands to listen to, I happily downloaded a little record called Tallahassee and gave it a spin. Read More…
Lotion: Nobody’s Cool (My Favorite Albums of All Time, Part 1)
(I don’t generally share more than a single song, but as will be revealed later in this post, this album is completely out of print. So I’m providing a zip of the full record here – if anyone from Lotion or spinArt would like me to take it down, I’ll be happy to oblige. Lotion: Nobody’s Cool)
I’m not sure I could make a list of my favorite records of all time. On the surface this seems insane – for the past 10 years, I’ve made a yearly list (and accompanying mix) of my favorite records of the year, and though the end of the list gets a bit flexible (especially over time), I generally have a pretty good idea what I like and what I don’t and how things fare in my estimation when compared to other things I like.
But best records of all time… try and make that list, and it gets all mixed up with personal recollections, the gradual changing (and hopefully, refining) of tastes over time, trends and backlashes, overlistening, radio play, and a thousand other things that conspire to alter your memory of how good something actually was, once upon a time. Do I love Disintegration because it’s a great record or because I once made out with a girl in my room (well, second base, really) with the lights out while it played? Do I love Seam’s Are You Driving Me Crazy? because it’s fantastic (answer = yes, but stay with me here), or because it was the perfect record to listen to while driving around late at night feeling lonely and depressed after I moved to a strange state where I didn’t know anyone and was getting over a broken heart? Read More…
