I have iTunes shuffle to thank for reintroducing me to my dense Mountain Goats collection. One of my favorite live recordings of John Darnielle was when he did an in studio session with freeform, listener-supported WFMU in 2000. Just two days after the release of one of my favorite Goats album The Coroner’s Gambit, the live session has tracks from that LP sprinkled throughout.
Recorded with a Panasonic RX-FT500 (or otherwise known as a 90s boombox), the WFMU tapes keep true to Darnielle’s patented style of recording he used for all LPs prior to Tallahassee. The vocals on the live tape are a little less clear, but surprisingly there is little presence of static that is typical of such lo-fi recording. Anyways, if you were like me and had forgotten the shear awesome of Darnielle and his songwriting, the tapes will reignite that flame. The following are a couple of tracks – you can download the complete session here.
The Mountain Goats // Going to Alaska
And I would be remiss to not include one of my favorite cover songs of all time:
