The Lonesome Crowded West

The Lonesome Crowded West is the second studio album by American alternative rock band Modest Mouse. The album was released on Up Records on November 18, 1997, on both compact disc and vinyl LP. The two towers pictured on the album's cover are The Westin Seattle.^[2]

The Lonesome Crowded West has been cited as the band's breakthrough album and featured in several publications' lists of the best albums of the 1990s. The album was reissued on CD and vinyl by Isaac Brock's Glacial Pace record label in 2014, along with Modest Mouse's debut album This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[3]
The Austin Chronicle	^[4]
Chicago Tribune	^[5]
NME	6/10^[6]
Paste	9.5/10^[7]
Pitchfork Media	10/10^[8]
Rolling Stone	^[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	^[10]
Spin	8/10^[11]
The Village Voice	A−^[12]

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 Media ranked The Lonesome Crowded West at number 29 in their list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1990s,^[13] and the song "Trailer Trash" reached number 63 in their list of the 200 greatest songs of the decade.^[14] Spin ranked the album at number 59 in their list of the 100 greatest albums of 1985–2005,^[15] and Entertainment Weekly included the album in their list The Indie Rock 25.^[16] The A.V. Club has described The Lonesome Crowded West as the band's breakthrough recording.^[17] 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."^[18]

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.^[19]

Track listing

All tracks 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

Vinyl edition

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.

Side one
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

Side two
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

Side three
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

Side four
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

Personnel

Modest Mouse

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

Production credits

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

References

↑ "The 50 Best Indie Rock Albums of the Pacific Northwest". Pitchfork. Condé Nast. September 6, 2016. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
↑ Sadler, Denham (November 18, 2012). "15 Years On: Modest Mouse – The Lonesome Crowded West". Tone Deaf. Melbourne. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
1 2 Butler, Blake. "The Lonesome Crowded West – Modest Mouse". AllMusic. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
↑ Hess, Christopher (April 3, 1998). "Modest Mouse: The Lonesome Crowded West (Up)". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
↑ Roth, Jason (January 23, 1998). "Modest Mouse: The Lonesome Crowded West (Up)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
↑ Alexander, Jim (January 4, 1999). "Modest Mouse – The Lonesome Crowded West". NME. Archived from the original on October 8, 2000. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
↑ Spinelli, Adrian (November 11, 2014). "Modest Mouse: The Lonesome Crowded West Reissue Review". Paste. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
↑ Howe, Brian (November 5, 2014). "Modest Mouse: This Is a Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About/The Lonesome Crowded West". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
↑ Fine, Jason (February 5, 1998). "The Lonesome Crowded West". Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
↑ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. p. 198. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
↑ Cox, Ana Marie (February 1998). "Modest Mouse: The Lonesome Crowded West". Spin. 14 (2): 108. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
↑ Christgau, Robert (January 27, 1998). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
↑ "Pitchfork Media Top 100 Albums of the 1990s: 30–21". Pitchfork Media. November 17, 2003. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
↑ "The Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s: 20–1". Pitchfork Media. September 1, 2010. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
↑ "Spin's 100 Greatest Albums, 1985–2005". Spin. June 20, 2005. Retrieved October 21, 2010.
↑ "The Indie Rock 25". Entertainment Weekly. March 19, 2008. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
↑ "It Was 10 Years Ago Today: 18 Reasons 1997 Might Be The Next 1967". The A.V. Club. September 17, 2007. Retrieved October 21, 2010.
↑ Hockley-Smith, Sam (August 21, 2013). "Backtrack: Modest Mouse, The Lonesome Crowded West". Stereogum. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
↑ "Pitchfork.tv Presents Documentary on Modest Mouse's The Lonesome Crowded West". Pitchfork Media. June 18, 2010. Retrieved February 19, 2013.

Modest Mouse
Isaac Brock Jeremiah Green Tom Peloso Jim Fairchild Russell Higbee Lisa Molinaro Dann Gallucci Eric Judy Joe Plummer Johnny Marr Benjamin Weikel John Wickhart
Studio albums	This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About The Lonesome Crowded West The Moon & Antarctica Good News for People Who Love Bad News We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank Strangers to Ourselves
EPs	Blue Cadet-3, Do You Connect? Interstate 8 The Fruit That Ate Itself Night on the Sun Everywhere and His Nasty Parlour Tricks No One's First, and You're Next
Other albums	Building Nothing Out of Something Sad Sappy Sucker Baron von Bullshit Rides Again
Singles	"A Life of Arctic Sounds" "Other People's Lives" "Never Ending Math Equation" "Float On" "Ocean Breathes Salty" "The World at Large" "Dashboard" "King Rat" "Missed the Boat" "We've Got Everything" "Satellite Skin" "Lampshades on Fire" "The Ground Walks, with Time in a Box"
Labels	Epic Records K Records Sub Pop Suicide Squeeze Records Up Records
Related	Discography Dirty Dozen Brass Band Seasick Steve Ugly Casanova

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