Merge Records last week reissued a pivotal album by lo-fi folk outfit the Mountain Goats with a bevy of bonus tracks. The group's 2002 effort, All Hail West Texas, remains one of the group's most treasured recordings.
the Mountain Goats, initially the nom de folk of singer/songwriter/guitarist John Darnielle but now a fluid ensemble built around him, have existed since the early 1990s, in the form of largely low-fidelity, quickly-assembled, urgent records. All Hail West Texas, released on the small Emperor Jones label, remains one of the most beloved albums in the Mountain Goats' canon. At once, it treads familiar ground (it's the last in the band's discography to have been recorded solely onto a Panasonic boombox) while approaching new territory (Darnielle began to spin conceptual character sketches on record). From West Texas, the Mountain Goats would enjoy success on the 4AD and Merge labels, where they continue to reside (their most recent album being 2012's Transcendental Youth).
The reissued All Hail West Texas features seven extra tracks from the original "sessions" that birthed the album, sourced from surviving cassettes and transferred to analog tape like the original album. Darnielle also contributes a 1,800-word essay on the history of the album. The reissue is available on CD (packaged in a digipak) or LP (the original album, packaged in a new gatefold design, with the expanded presentation available as a packed-in digital download), and can be purchased now, after the jump.
All Hail West Texas: Expanded Edition (originally released as Emperor Jones EJ41-CD, 2002 - reissued Merge MRG-481, 2013)
- The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton
- Fall of the Star High School Running Back
- Color in Your Cheeks
- Jenny
- Fault Lines
- Balance
- Pink and Blue
- Riches and Wonders
- The Mess Inside
- Jeff Davis County Blues
- Distant Stations
- Blues in Dallas
- Source Decay
- Absolute Lithops Effect
- Hardpan Song *
- Answering the Phone *
- Indonesia *
- Midland *
- Jenny (Alternate) *
- Tape Travel is Lonely *
- Waco *
* previously unreleased bonus track
This is one of my favorite albums, and I'm tempted to pick up the reissue, but the remastering has me concerned--Merge has a penchant for brickwalling their CDs to oblivion.