What is the best Mountain Goats album before the 4AD ones?

cause i'm not familiar with this period (except from Texas, which i like)

All Hail West Texas

oh coroner's gambit is 2nd best i'd say, if you want a recommendation then

thanks, thats more or less how the rating in RYM goes, so i guess thats the general opinion.

all have winners but i'll go All Hail West Texas

fall of the high school running back is my fav mountain goats song ever. there's not enough songs abt football.

Sweden by a very large margin.

good idea for a thread, but i'm afraid that the results will be skewed by obscurity.

All Hail West Texas is the one only I've heard, but yeah, it's awesome.

puppies?

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Of the above, I definitely listen to "Zopilote Machine" the most, but somehow, criminally, I've never heard "Sweden" (or, if you like, "Sweden Shrimper").

sweden is great & a must-listen, but i voted FFG

toss up between FFG and sweden for me. FFG has really grown on me over the last couple of years. But since Sweden was the first I heard, and the one that made me need to get everything he's released, I'll swing a vote out to Sweden Shrimper.

if you're gonna include Bitter Melon Farm and Protein Source, then why not Ghana? I was under the impression all three are compilations of impossible-to-find early material.

anyway, I'm gonna say The Coroner's Gambit, and that's having heard Nine Black Poppies, All Hail West Texas, Bitter Melon Farm and Ghana in addition to that one.

ive never heard of new asian cinema & never heard nothing for juice, bitter melon farm, or protein source but imo ffg & sweden both trump coroner's gambit & all hail west texas (which are great)

Sweden's my fave, but I like all the others on this list that I've heard.

All Hail West Texas is pretty great, but i might have to go with Zopilote Machine because "Going to Georgia" is just that good. Then again, so are "Color in Your Cheeks" & "The Mess Inside". Tough call.

Toss up between Sweden and The Coroner's Gambit, maybe just because they're the first Mountain Goats I ever heard (after reading about them/him for years). But then plus also Full Force Galesburg, too.

It's Coroner's Gambit. The stretch of songs from "Baboon" to "Family Happiness" is so good.

the one w/ "Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton"

my album ranking:

Sweden
Zopolite Machine
Full Force Galesburg

my song ranking:

"Going To Georgia"
"sept 19 triple x love! love!"
"prana ferox"

'The stretch of songs from "Baboon" to "Family Happiness" is so good.'

this is very true. and jaipur is probably my fave tmg song of all time. tons of great songs on that album, i think its at least #2 for me on second thought.

i get the impression sept19xxxlovelove is often overlooked, incredible song

I would probably pick a different one every time you asked me. Today it's All Hail West Texas because sometimes "Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton" and "Source Decay" just can't be denied.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

So the most recent album (in the poll) wins in a landslide... surprised? no.

i recently discoverd The Extra Glenss record, and it's up there with Texas as the best Darnielle record of the period - sort of a bridge between Texas and Tallhassee in time and in sound