Tallahassee

Rating

Album: Tallahassee
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Tallahassee	More Info...	0:04
2)	First Few Desperate Hours	More Info...	0:03
3)	Southwood Plantation	More Info...	0:02
4)	Game Shows Touch Our Lives	More Info...	0:03
5)	The House That Dripped Blood	More Info...	0:03
6)	Idylls of the King	More Info...	0:03
7)	No Children	More Info...	0:02
8)	See America Right	More Info...	0:02
9)	Peacocks	More Info...	0:03
10)	International Small Arms Traffic Blues	More Info...	0:03
11)	Have to Explode	More Info...	0:03
12)	Old College Try	More Info...	0:03
13)	Oceanographer's Choice	More Info...	0:04
14)	Alpha Rats Nest	More Info...	0:02

Album: Tallahassee
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Tallahassee	More Info...	0:04
2)	First Few Desperate Hours	More Info...	0:03
3)	Southwood Plantation	More Info...	0:02
4)	Game Shows Touch Our Lives	More Info...	0:03
5)	The House That Dripped Blood	More Info...	0:03
6)	Idylls of the King	More Info...	0:03
7)	No Children	More Info...	0:02
8)	See America Right	More Info...	0:02
9)	Peacocks	More Info...	0:03
10)	International Small Arms Traffic Blues	More Info...	0:03
11)	Have to Explode	More Info...	0:03
12)	Old College Try	More Info...	0:03
13)	Oceanographer's Choice	More Info...	0:04
14)	Alpha Rats Nest	More Info...	0:02

Performer Notes

Mountain Goats: John Darnielle (vocals, guitar, harmonica, keyboards, xylophone, bells); Peter Hughes (guitar, keyboards, bass, drums, shaker, background vocals).
Additional personnel includes: Franklin Bruno (guitar, piano).
Recorded at Tarbox Road Studios, Cassadaga, New York.
The very first album by the Mountain Goats, 1995's ZOPILOTE MACHINE, started with a song called "Alpha Incipiens." Throughout leader John Darnielle's prolific career, numerous songs with the word "Alpha" cropped up on Mountain Goat releases, along with hints that the songs could be pieced together to form a story. But it was not until 2002's TALLAHASSEE, the Mountain Goats' first album for 4AD Records, that Darnielle spelled out the narrative in full: TALLAHASSEE is the culmination of the story of what he calls "the Alpha couple," a nameless man and woman locked in a dysfunctional tailspin. By the album's end, the couple finally drink themselves to death as their house burns down around them. A lyrically devastating work married to the most fully realized and tuneful melodies of the Mountain Goats' career, TALLAHASSEE is the stunning culmination of the band's early run.

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone (3/6/03, p.71) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Darnielle's emotional cues remain sharp and witty; he holds it together by getting slightly unhinged..."

Uncut (2/03, p.78) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Bitterness never sounded so sweet..."

Magnet (1/03, p.99) - "...Darnielle invests each line with devastating gravity....Gripping - and so incredibly real..."

CMJ (11/11/01, p.7) - "...An eerily beautiful set of howling numbers..."

Mojo (Publisher) (3/03, p.110) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...[The songs] are luminous, gently witty, full of surprising and indelible images....Much of TALLAHASSEE is remarkable for its lightness of touch..."