All Hail West Texas

Sometimes you end up discovering an Artist's oldest material is incredibly good. Take for example today, me and Mr Darnielle of the Mountaing Goats fame. The album called "All Hail West Texas" is so incredibly good, it makes me feel lost as if in west texas and not from there. For those not familiar with his old works where he sang into a casette recorder, this album is a good introduction. John Darnielle makes every song incredibly poetic and sad, and every little witty comment is inserted into the songs. Take the song "Jenny, for example, where i think the CD really starts:

so the big orange sun
positioned at your back
lit up your magnificent silhouhette
how much better, how much better could my life get?
nine hundred cubic centimeters of raw whining power
no outstanding warrants for my arrests
whoa, the pirate's life for me

He continues the incredible imagery in "Jenny" sprinkled with beautiful quotes like "we were the only one thing in the galaxy that god didn't have his eyes on" which shows how this man (who is very familiar with the bible) is as god-fearing and as life-fearing as the rest of us. He is earnest in his singing, I find that one of the best qualities for a singer these days. The bitterness of the couple (the famous Alpha-Omega couple of his songs) is present in ridiculous concentrations in "Fault Lines":

I got a cracked engine block
both of us do
got a house, the jewels, the italian racecar
they don't make us feel better about who we are
I got termites in the framework
so do you

and also the love melancholia, missing a relationship, in "The Mess Inside":

we went to new york city in september.
took the train out of manhattan to the grand army stop.
found that bench we'd sat together on a thousand years ago
when i felt such love for you i thought my heart was gonna pop.
i wanted you to love me like you used to do.

but i cannot run.
and i can't hide.
from the wreck we've made of our house.
from the mess inside.

All in all,I recommend checking it out. A wonderful CD with one of the most original voices in songwriting of the past 10 years...

Yours,

the UG'ster