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From the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

The Lonesome Crowded West

Modest Mouse

1997

The Lonesome Crowded West
Album Summary

This album has been submitted by a user and is not included in any edition of the book.

The Lonesome Crowded West is the second studio album by American rock band Modest Mouse, released on November 18, 1997, by Up Records. The two towers pictured on the album's cover are The Westin Seattle. Described as having a "white trash" aesthetic, "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'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. Blake Butler of AllMusic praised the album's innovation and stylistic diversity, saying "there's something here for everyone" and called the album "indie rock at its very best." Pitchfork 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 included the album in their list The Indie Rock 25. The A.V. Club 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 2024, Paste Magazine ranked The Lonesome Crowded West number 300 on its list of the 300 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Wikipedia

Rating

2.5

Votes

6

Genres

  • Rock

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Reviews

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Mar 18 2025
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3

Nice indie rock album by Modest Mouse. Some of the songs are a bit too long and a 45 minute selection would have created a better album.

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Mar 17 2025
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3

This eariler stuff feels more adjacent to bands of a similar vein and era (Pavement etc.) though with a harder rock sound and a wierd edge (reminding me of more out there acts like Residents) that seems more pronounced in later albums I've listened to. I like this, I'm not sure that material here needs two album's worth.

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Mar 18 2025
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2

Not really a Modest Mouse fan. 2 stars.

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