User:Amleplat/sandbox

This is my lead section

Notes

All Hail West Texas is a concept album following the lives of seven people living in West Texas. John Darnielle explores the choices, whether they are mistakes or good ideas, and sings about the lives of average people. Throughout the album he follows them through the happy and sad times of each of their lives and everything in between. In "The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton" he sings about the lives of Cyrus and Jeff as they create a death metal band in their garage and putting pentagrams on their guitars. This leads to Cyrus going to a boarding school and plotting their comeback. While "Fall of the Star High School Running Back" follows the life of William Standaforth Donahue, who at the beginning of the song is doing well and respected then he blows out his knee and his life spirals downward. He ends the song going to jail after selling acid to a police officer and lamenting about his bad choices. Later he goes on to sing about a motorcycle in "Jenny" and people down on their luck in "Color in Your Cheeks". It is shown through just the first few songs that the album is about many people down on their luck and how they deal with it.

Reception

All Hail West Texas is widely excepted by critics compared to other albums created by John Darnielle. Critics point out the use of the Panasonic RX-FT500 and the tape recorder and how the album was released on an audio cassette tape leading to a more raw sound than a studio recording. It is also mentioned that the tape recorder itself is heard throughout the album leading to a hiss and crackle that is typical for a Mountain Goats album. Some of the albums critics discuss that the general direction of the album is hard to follow, while others say that the stories of each of the people is well followed.

Notes

Slow West Vultures

Makes use of a rapid beat on the guitar along with the use of weak laughter and sounds like the shattering of glass creating a pace and mood for the album. He uses phrases like, “We are what we are, get in the goddamn car” to create the image of an unapologetic character and builds on it.

Palmcorder Yajna

"Palmcorder Yajna" has John Darnielle using imagery to get his point across and building up the song with intense use of his voice and guitar.

Linda Blair Was Born Innocent

In this song the rythme and tone is softer while it penetrates the motivation behind the characters in the album and how they move about their lives.

Letter from Belgium

"Letter from Belgium" brings the globalization that The Mountain Goats are known for and brings it into this album.

The Young Thousands

The acoustic guitar is used to create a simple rythme as John Darnielle sings one of the more rousing songs in the album.

Your Belgian Things

A song about a girl who overdosed, which is sang in a sad slow beat that uses an acoustic guitar and a piano.

Mole

"Mole" focuses in on the character as he goes to intensive care to get information.

Home Again Garden Grove

Strong use of hyper-harmonizing and frantic chords. At this point the characters have lost hope and now are doing meth because it is all they know.

All Up the Seething Coast

"All Up the Seething Coast" uses mostly lyrics to get its point across, the acoustic guitar usually used is barely used at all.

Quito

The acoustic guitar is used to create a simple rhythmic beat which is backed up by the violin to add to John Darnielle's vocals.

Cotton

A song about people who have a hard time being sorry but are willing to try. The song comes of as sad as

Against Pollution

Follows the thoughts of a character as he remembers his past and the effect it had on him. He repeats through the song that when he worked at a liquor store he had to shoot a man, and that he would do it again.

Pigs That Ran Straightaway into the Water, Triumph Of

The album ends up with the character going to jail. As he goes he resigns himself to his fate but the last few lines show his ego is still holding on."And you send your dark messengers to tempt me. I come from Chino so all your threats are empty"

Reception

We Shall all be healed was generally liked by critics. The critics look at this album song by song leading to a difference of opinion on the different direction The Mountain Goats have taken in the albums creation. With a new production style and a band playing alongside John Darnielle comes the criticism on how this changes the heart of the music. Some of the critics see this as less authentic to the sound of The Mountain Goats used in earlier albums and states that the band is not used that effectively in the first place. While other critics say that the change leads to a clearer and more simple sound that adds to John Darnielle's voice creating a more in depth album. Another criticism of the album is that the album offers nothing new in the growth of the Mountain Goats, that many of the songs have the same rythmic and lyrical feeling as past albums. The critics argues that because of this lack of innovation within the work that the overall album falls short of expectations but is still enjoyable. This leads to the analysis of the songs themselves where "The Young Thousands" and "Cotton" are singled out as being some of the stronger compositions. "The Young Thousands" is singled out because of its uplifting and powerful tone throughout the song while "Cotton" is discussed because of the beat used and the lyrics.

Track list

"Slow West Vultures" – 2:41 "Palmcorder Yajna" – 4:08 "Linda Blair Was Born Innocent" – 2:46 "Letter from Belgium" – 3:11 "The Young Thousands" – 4:34 "Your Belgian Things" – 3:49 "Mole" – 4:32 "Home Again Garden Grove" – 3:15 "All Up the Seething Coast" – 3:45 "Quito" – 2:03 "Cotton" – 3:25 "Against Pollution" – 3:43 "Pigs That Ran Straightaway into the Water, Triumph Of" – 2:52

Personnel

John Darnielle - vocals, guitar John Vanderslice-production Franklin Bruno-piano Peter Hughes-base Nora Danielson-violin Christopher McGuire-drums

Notes

• dispite the name, its not about sweden
• makes reference to the "sweden conspiracy"
• all titles have a swedish version
• Seoul, Korea, California, Queens, New York City, Bolivia and Denmark are all mentioned but not sweden
• The Alpha couple are not used in this album

Reception

• positive
• not that many reviews

Track List

"The Recognition Scene" "Vi var på väg hem före regnet" 2:50 2. "Downtown Seoul" "Han är yngre än jag" 2:53 3. "Some Swedish Trees" "De flyende var oskyldiga" 2:05 4. "I Wonder Where Our Love Has Gone" (Buddy Johnson) "Inga gröna löv" 2:35 5. "Deianara Crush" "Är du inte min vän?" 1:53 6. "Whole Wide World" "Fast han hade förändrats så mycket kände jag genast igen honom" 2:13 7. "Flashing Lights" "Den kallaste vintern" 2:30 8. "Sept 19 Triple X Love! Love!" "Vi gör vad vi kan" 2:24 9. "Going to Queens" "Vi visste inte vad som skulle hända" 2:26 10. "Tahitian Ambrosia Maker" "Han har känt igen dig" 1:47 11. "Going to Bolivia" "Huset var vackert beläget, vilket gjorde mig väldigt glad" 1:37 12. "Tollund Man" "Han sov tydligen" 2:34 13. "California Song" "Flickan som var hans vän sa adjö" 1:55 14. "Snow Crush Killing Song" "Huset brändes ner utav den unga mannen" 2:46 15. "Send Me an Angel" "Han är lika trött som jag" 1:47 16. "Neon Orange Glimmer Song" "Vi träffas på gatan i morgon" 3:08 17. "FM" (Steely Dan) "En vit klänning" 1:45 18. "Prana Ferox" "De gjorde det själva" 4:05 19. "Cold Milk Bottle" "Jag skall tala i kväll" 2:06

Personnel

John Darnielle - vocals, guitar Peter Hughes - bass, backing vocals Jon Wurster - drums Rachel Ware - bass, vocals