The Lonesome Crowded West | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | November 18, 1997 | |||
Recorded | May 22 – June 7, 1997 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | Indie rock, slacker rock, post-hardcore, post-punk, midwest emo, emo, [1] alternative rock, alternative country | |||
Length | 73:58(Standard) 78:02 (LP) | |||
Label | Up | |||
Producer |
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Modest Mouse chronology | ||||
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Singles from The Lonesome Crowded West | ||||
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The Lonesome Crowded West is the second studio album by American rock band Modest Mouse, released on November 18, 1997, by Up Records. The two towers pictured on the album's cover are The Westin Seattle. [2]
The Lonesome Crowded West received positive reviews from critics, and appeared on several lists of the best albums of the 1990s. The album was reissued by Isaac Brock's Glacial Pace label in 2014, along with Modest Mouse's 1996 debut This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About .
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Austin Chronicle | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Chicago Tribune | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
NME | 6/10 [6] |
Paste | 9.5/10 [7] |
Pitchfork | 8.9/10 (1997) [8] 10/10 (2014) [9] |
Rolling Stone | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Spin | 8/10 [12] |
The Village Voice | A− [13] |
Blake Butler of AllMusic praised the album's diversity, noting the range of "quiet, brooding acoustics like 'Bankrupt on Selling' and dark and pounding thrashers like 'Cowboy Dan'", and called the album "indie rock at its very best." [3]
Pitchfork ranked The Lonesome Crowded West at number 29 in their list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1990s, [14] and the song "Trailer Trash" reached number 63 in their list of the 200 greatest songs of the decade. [15] Spin ranked the album at number 59 in their list of the 100 greatest albums of 1985–2005, [16] and Entertainment Weekly included the album in their list The Indie Rock 25. [17] The A.V. Club has described The Lonesome Crowded West as the band's breakthrough recording. [18] Sam Hockley-Smith, in a retrospective review for Stereogum , refers to The Lonesome Crowded West as "the album that made Modest Mouse a great band instead of just a good one" and writes that the primary theme of disillusionment in Brock's lyrics is "not pretty, but it's honest, and that honesty makes it beautiful, like Modest Mouse were desperately trying — and failing — to hold onto that last bit of naiveté." [19]
In June 2012, Pitchfork.tv released a forty-five-minute documentary on the album. The documentary included archival footage taken during live performances and original recording/mix sessions. [20]
As of June 2000, according to Nielsen SoundScan, the album had sold over 60,000 copies in the United States. [21]
All tracks are written by Modest Mouse
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Teeth Like God's Shoeshine" | 6:53 |
2. | "Heart Cooks Brain" | 4:03 |
3. | "Convenient Parking" | 4:08 |
4. | "Lounge (Closing Time)" | 7:03 |
5. | "Jesus Christ Was an Only Child" | 2:36 |
6. | "Doin' the Cockroach" | 4:18 |
7. | "Cowboy Dan" | 6:14 |
8. | "Trailer Trash" | 5:49 |
9. | "Out of Gas" | 2:31 |
10. | "Long Distance Drunk" | 3:42 |
11. | "Shit Luck" | 2:22 |
12. | "Truckers Atlas" | 10:57 |
13. | "Polar Opposites" | 3:29 |
14. | "Bankrupt on Selling" | 2:53 |
15. | "Styrofoam Boots/It's All Nice on Ice, Alright" | 6:53 |
The double-vinyl edition released on Up Records includes an extra track; "Baby Blue Sedan", and a slightly re-ordered track listing. Rather than having a gatefold cover to house both records, or putting both records in a single cover, the double-vinyl release was shipped in two different covers. The 2014 vinyl reissue on Glacial Pace contains the same track listing and two-cover configuration.
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Teeth Like God's Shoeshine" | 6:53 |
2. | "Heart Cooks Brain" | 4:03 |
3. | "Convenient Parking" | 4:08 |
4. | "Baby Blue Sedan" | 4:04 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Jesus Christ Was an Only Child" | 2:36 |
2. | "Doin' the Cockroach" | 4:19 |
3. | "Cowboy Dan" | 6:15 |
4. | "Trailer Trash" | 5:50 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Out of Gas" | 2:31 |
2. | "Long Distance Drunk" | 3:43 |
3. | "Shit Luck" | 2:23 |
4. | "Truckers Atlas" | 10:58 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Polar Opposites" | 3:30 |
2. | "Bankrupt on Selling" | 2:54 |
3. | "Lounge (Closing Time)" | 7:04 |
4. | "Styrofoam Boots/It's All Nice on Ice, Alright" | 6:53 |
Modest Mouse is an American rock band formed in 1993 in Issaquah, Washington, and currently based in Portland, Oregon. The founding members were lead singer/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green and bassist Eric Judy. They achieved critical acclaim for their albums The Lonesome Crowded West (1997) and The Moon & Antarctica (2000) and found mainstream success with the release of Good News for People Who Love Bad News (2004) and its singles "Float On" and "Ocean Breathes Salty".
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This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About is the debut studio album by American rock band Modest Mouse. It was released on April 16, 1996, through Up Records.
Isaac Kristofer Brock is an American musician and singer-songwriter. He is the lead vocalist, principal songwriter, guitarist and only constant member of the indie rock band Modest Mouse, as well as his side project band, Ugly Casanova.
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Building Nothing Out of Something is a compilation album released in January 2000 by American indie rock band Modest Mouse, comprising non-album tracks from various points in the band's career. Most of the tracks are A- and B-sides from 7" singles, but it also includes three tracks from the Interstate 8 EP, and "Baby Blue Sedan" from the vinyl version of The Lonesome Crowded West. All songs were originally released from 1996 to 1998. In 2015, Brock's Glacial Pace re-released the album for CD and Vinyl.
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Dann Gallucci is an American songwriter, producer, musician and audio engineer best known for his work with Modest Mouse, The Murder City Devils, and Cold War Kids. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Gallucci met Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock in Seattle, Washington in 1993, playing guitar with the band intermittently before joining full-time to record several singles that would eventually appear on the album Sad Sappy Sucker, released by independent record label K Records in 2001.
Tiny Cities is the second studio album by American indie folk act Sun Kil Moon, released November 1, 2005 on Caldo Verde Records. The album features the same lineup as the band's debut, Ghosts of the Great Highway (2003). This album was chosen as one of Amazon.com's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005.
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764-HERO was an American indie rock band from Seattle, Washington. They were active from 1995 to 2002 and briefly reunited in 2012 and 2016. The group released three albums on Up Records, a fourth on Tiger Style Records, and several other releases, including a collaborative single with their frequent touring partners Modest Mouse.
The discography of Modest Mouse, an American indie rock band, consists of seven studio albums, six extended plays, two compilation albums, four low fidelity cassette releases, one live album, 25 singles, and nine reissues. Three of their releases have been certified at least gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments in excess of 500,000 copies. One release has further been certified double platinum, for shipments in excess of 2,000,000 copies.
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The Hall of Justice is a recording studio in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. The triangular-shaped building, which has changed ownership and purpose throughout its century-old history, has functioned as a studio for rock bands since the 1970s. The windowless, unassuming space has been home to the recordings of albums by seminal indie rock bands, including Nirvana, Soundgarden, Death Cab for Cutie, Fleet Foxes, the Decemberists, Sleater-Kinney, Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, and more.
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