''The Lonesome Crowded West'' is the second studio album by American rock band Modest Mouse, released on November 18, 1997 by

Up Records Up Records was a Seattle based independent record label founded in 1994 by Chris Takino and Rich Jensen. Some of the label's best known artists were 764-Hero, Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, Quasi and Tad. Chris Takino died of leukemia in 200 ...

. The two towers pictured on the album's cover are The Westin Seattle. ''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 Major-General Sir Isaac Brock KB (6 October 1769 – 13 October 1812) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Guernsey. Brock was assigned to Lower Canada in 1802. Despite facing desertions and near-mutinies, he c ...

'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 ''This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About'' is the debut studio album by American rock band Modest Mouse, released on April 16, 1996 by Up Records. Many of the album's tracks focus on traveling by automobile and the loneli ...

''.

Critical reception

Blake Butler of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

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." ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' ranked ''The Lonesome Crowded West'' at number 29 in their list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1990s, and the song "Trailer Trash" reached number 63 in their list of the 200 greatest songs of the decade. '' Spin'' ranked the album at number 59 in their list of the 100 greatest albums of 1985–2005, and ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' included the album in their list The Indie Rock 25. ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' has described ''The Lonesome Crowded West'' as the band's breakthrough recording. 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." 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. As of June 2000, according to Nielsen SoundScan, the album had sold over 60,000 copies in the United States.

Track listing

Vinyl edition

The double-vinyl edition released on

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.

Personnel

;Modest Mouse *

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

s, vocals * Jeremiah Green – drums * Eric Judy – bass ;Additional personnel *DJ K.O. – phonogram player, k-ep 63 on "Heart Cooks Brain" *Dann Gallucci – guitar on "Trailer Trash" and "Bankrupt on Selling" *Tyler Reilly – fiddle on "Jesus Christ Was an Only Child" *Scott Swayze – guitar on "Convenient Parking" and "Lounge (Closing Time)" *Nicole Johnson – vocals *Chris Setton – vocals on "Lounge (Closing Time)" *Brian Weber –

bartender A bartender (also known as a barkeep, barman, barmaid, or a mixologist) is a person who formulates and serves alcoholic or soft drink beverages behind the bar, usually in a licensed establishment as well as in restaurants and nightclubs, but ...

;Production credits *Produced by

Calvin Johnson Calvin Johnson Jr., (born September 29, 1985) is an American former football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons with the Detroit Lions. He played college football at Georgia Tech, where he twice ...

, with Isaac Brock and Scott Swayze *Engineered by Scott Swayze *Recorded at Moon Music, except "Teeth Like God's Shoeshine," "Doin' the Cockroach," and "Cowboy Dan", recorded by

Phil Ek Phil Ek is an American record producer, engineer and mixer. Ek began his career in Seattle, Washington in the early 1990s recording live sound in clubs. He then moved into studio recording, recording small projects and demos for local bands. Aroun ...

at Avast and Jon & Stu's *Snow photos by Pat Graham *Other photos by I. Brock *Cover design by Pat Castaldo

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lonesome Crowded West, The Modest Mouse albums 1997 albums