The Lonesome Crowded West by Modest Mouse

Modest Mouse
The Lonesome Crowded West
1997
Indie
Up

1. Teeth Like God's Shoeshine
2. Heart Cooks Brain
3. Convenient Parking
4. Lounge (Closing Time)
5. Jesus Christ Was An Only Child
6. Doin' The Cockroach
7. Cowboy Dan
8. Trailer Trash
9. Out Of Gas
10. Long Distance Drunk
11. Shit Luck
12. Truckers Atlas
13. Polar Opposites
14. Bankrupt On Selling
15. Styrofoam Boots/It's All Nice On Ice, Alright
(Also included is a 500x500 album cover .jpeg)

Cowboy Dan's a major player in the cowboy scene
He goes to the reservation, drinks, and gets mean
He's gonna start a war
And he hops in his pickup, puts the pedal to the floor
And says, "I've got mine but I want more"
Because Cowboy Dan's a major player in the cowboy scene
He goes to the reservation, drinks, and gets mean
Goes to the desert, fires his rifle in the sky and says
"God, if I have to die, you have to die"

"Cowboy Dan"

I don't really know how to describe The Lonesome Crowded West. I guess the best way would be to say that it's THE Modest Mouse album. Every indie band that surfaced after they hit the scene wishes that they had written it. This is where everything is at it's best. Great lyrics, great guitar work, great vocals, and just great songwriting. The production is a bit better on their "commercial" albums that they put out after The Moon & Antarctica, but it's certainly nothing to complain about here.

When I first heard The Lonesome Crowded West, I was on a hiking trip with my dad. So when I think about the album's sound, I think about autumn trees, leaves, dirt, and rocks. And looking at the songs now, I think that's a very acceptable way to think about them. The instrumentation is gritty, but beautiful. I still get a bit bored with Isaac Brock's repetitive atheistic messages, but the lyrics to these songs are much more tasteful than usual, and I actually really like them most of the time.

I have a hard time trying to explain the sound that Modest Mouse achieves here, so I'm sorry that I can't pitch it to you. Just trust me on this one. Good songs with soul.

Click here to download part 1 (87.01 MB)
Click here to download part 2 (69.66 MB)

Pretty vulgar. Not for sensitive ears.

Buy it!
CD