Customer Reviews

Full Force Galesburg

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When it comes to taking independent recordings to a limit, Darnielle manages to do so. Armed with just his acoustic guitar and a panasonic boombox, Darnielle's lyrical honesty and folk-driven guitar playing is immediately catchy and one that you have to listen to over and over again.

Even with such a basic combination (man and a guitar), Darnielle's voice and style of music is instantly recognizable. With his nasal voice and stark observations on life, he manages to show the beauty in every day things and an apperciation of nature.

To talk about this CD as a whole, it's one that you wouldn't normally pick up but when and if you did, it would be an instant classic to your collection. Full Force Galesburg is a CD that will constantly impress and demand repeated listenings.

The 16 songs on Full Force Galesburg make up John Darnielle's most mature, produced, and beautiful release to date. Each song is a story, a painting, of simple pleasures and revelations we've all experienced, yet they are moments forgotten or buried, brought back to life by Darnielle with such pure emotion that one can't help but get lost in revery. He sings of hot winds on midwestern afternoons, losing yourself on the local roads of yesteryear, of a television in the background suddenly catching your attention. "The black and white image of the young Cassious Clay. My god. My god. My god. He was something. Fists flashing as he comes toward the screen, sailing headlong into nothing..." With sharp imagery and humble depth, Full Force Galesburg brings the Mountain Goats to the next level of greatness.

If the world were a better place, this, and music like this
(IS there anything like this) would be the soundtrack of life, would trickle from the speakers of restaurants and dribble over the cracks of car windows. And everytime someone discussed John Darnielle's music, or the music of Vic Chesnutt, or Camper Van Beethoven, or for that matter David Byrne, they wouldn't spend so much verbiage on how "weird" or "otherworldly" or "bizarre" the music is, as though it came to us via flying saucer. Intelligence and true artism would be and should be not treated as an oddity.

This record is as good as any of the Goats'--true, actual emotion, with legitimite conveyance of emotion. Darnielle knows how to use the quiet enunciation, the shout, all of his intonations matter, emotionally.
In "Weekend in Southern Illinois"
he sings "The dandelions spread themselves neatly/
upon the fields/which are evendently endless"
The song refers to dogs which "seem to know something nobody else knows," which is apparently that "We are burning up/
all of our choices/out here where the tall grass grows." It's a great moment, a great meditation, easy to understand or not. Emotions are FELT not UNDERSTOOD. Forgive John Darnielle his nasal voice: he's a good guitar player and composes very well for the instrument, but it's the lyrics that win the day here. I can't say enough about this important, exquisite work.

Full Force Galesburg is a great album. Darnielle's song writing abilities were in overdrive during this metaphor fulland beautiful collection of songs ranging from love and hate to heaven and hell. My three (hard to pick only 3)favorites are snow owl, masher, and weekend in western illinois.

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS ARE AMAZING! I FOUND THEM LAST YEAR AND HAVE BEEN SPREADING HE WORD EVER SINCE! WHAT A SONG WRITER! Flark DYLAN! Flark um'!

most of john darnielle's recorded output falls somewhere between good and brilliant. personally, i'd have to cite either the coroner's gambit or tallahassee as my favorite, but this album is almost as consistently inspired as those two. most of the songs get by (actually, they do a lot more than just getting by) on nothing but frantically strummed acoustic guitars and literate but accessible wordplay, but there are also some very successful songs that employ higher-fidelity recording and additional instrumentation. all in all, full force galesburg is a cohesive, compelling album that offers greater rewards with each listen.

the mountain goats are incredible, and this album is a clear demonstration of that. the songs managage to rock, even with such sparse instrumentation, such as West Country Dream which finds Darnielle doing what he does best, strumming furiously on his acoustic guitar.

The Mountain Goats' John Darnielle is the pinnacle of guy-and-a-guitar rock. This album is his crowning glory. One of the greatest records ever. Period.