I'm gonna buy me some.

I only have one album and a smattering of singles.

'We Shall All Be Healed' is patchy. There are some really great tracks, some OK and some not so good. Personally I think it's worth picking up for the good ones like 'Cotton', 'Your Belgian Things' or 'Mole' but as where it ranks in the general scheme of things, I couldn't really tell you.

yeah, i've got that one and All Hail West Texas, and it's the same way but hoo-boy, those high points are mighty high.

i voted for the only one i have

I have some scattered isolated tracks, along with Tallahassee and We Shall All be Healed. I agree that the latter is a bit spotty, with flashes of brilliance. Tallahassee is the full boat for me- a finely crafted exploration of the deconstruction of a relationship into boozy shadow-filled closets populated by desperate snippets of forgotten happiness. A very strong album that I never get tired of.

"And I handed you a drink of the lovely little thing
On which our survival depends
People say friends don't destroy one another
What do they know about friends?"

Does anyone else see a poll and just want to pick one, even if you've never heard any of the albums in question?

I'll probably use the results of this poll myself.

other. You didn't even list their best album.

there's a limit to how many poll options you can post, so i kind of truncated at random. please try to be less helpful, i almost guessed which one you meant this time.

what album has the song w/ the lyrics "i thought of you up in canada, as the lightning storm lit up, all of down town Reading" or something like that ?

I'm surprised no one has chimed in yet to comment on how "Bitter Melon Farm" and "Protein Source Of The Future....Now!" (and the unlisted "Ghana") are not really albums, they are singles/comp tracks collections. i love em all though

other than the occasional casio noodling, anything he put out in the 1990s is great. i suppose i should make my own greatest hits mix of MG songs, but i've got to set aside some spare time for such an endeavor.

bort
np: meat beat manifesto

That's his first EP, "Beautiful Rat Sunset"....and that song made my listmania ("New Star Song")

Chase, I wasn't trying to be a dick. The album I was talking about was "Zopilote Machine"

thanks. i really did just go to amg and list as many as i could, and the ones that i'd never heard of got lost. i'll check that one out.

These are the most unhelpful poll results ever. Exact opposite of Jen's Joseph Arthur poll.

Haq, I can tell you what to AVOID, certainly.

Sweden is definitely one of his weakest albums (although it contains a pretty fucking stellar cover of "FM" by Steely Dan).

Nine Black Poppies is a fairly weak EP, although it has "Cubs in Five" which is a great homage to the Cubs (even though I'm not a Cubs fan myself).

I think his last two albums have definitely been a step down from his earlier efforts.... but I know some would disagree.

Certainly The Coroner's Gambit and All Hail West Texas are regarded by most as his best albums, but most people have never heard his early to mid 90s stuff. Most people simply didn't really listen to the Mountain Goats until the late 90s.

And despite the fact that Protein Source and Bitter Melon Farm are compilations, they contain some of his very best songs from the mid 90s, especially Protein Source.

I think Zopilote is a great entry point though, there's only one or two truly weak songs on the album and it certainly stands the test of time.

All Hail West Texas is the only album besides Zopilote that I don't like. Someone I know that now loves the Mountain Goats stopped caring about him/them for a while because they got AHWT first. I think Coroner's Gambit is the best.

Just ordered that one.

I agree on "Nine Black Poppies", but I disagree on your interpretation of "Sweden" which, in my opinion, is more solid than "Coroner's". I mean, "FM" is good, but so are "Tahitian Ambrosia Maker" and "Snow Crush Killing Song"....

And, for the record, I don't think I've ever heard an album by John Darnielle I haven't loved. "We Shall All Be Healed", though remarkably different (for him) and not quite the MGoats I know and love, will sit astride my top ten list for this year - probably at #1...If you're one of the many JVanderslice fans on this board, "We Shall All" would probably be a good starting point; If not, I'd probably go with "All Hail", as that's the album I've turned a lot of my friends onto him through....

P.S. If anyone was wondering, The Mountain Goats just finished recording a new album @ Tiny Telephone w/ JV and Scott Solter yesterday. Results to be mixed in another six, and hopefully to my waiting ears soon after that. I can smell the "Possible Best Album of 2005" already..

picked up the coroner's gambit, haven't really absorbed it yet. i guess that i'll get tallahasse next and then take a break from him.

NO NO NO NO NO

Well... maybe.

But I'd say get Protein Source or Ghana next. His really early stuff is his best, IMO. There are so many great songs on those collections. I'd recommend them to anyone looking for a place to start with the Mountain Goats.

Tallahassee is good though, and it might actually be better for you if you're not really liking Coroner's Gambit.

I approve of Tallahasse, probably my second favorite.

I bought All Hail West Texas for the Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton & still love it. Hit & miss, yes, but there are songs on that album that never grow old for me & stories that make me want to sit friends down & say "listen to the words. don't talk" which is really an annoying thing to do to someone. but there you go.