Album Info

Bitter Melon Farm

Alternative - 2002

This is the second of a three-volume set that pulls together singles, cassette releases, and compilation tracks that never made... more

Tracklist

1

Noche del Guajolote

2:03 min
2

Going to Bangor

1:36 min
3

Against Agamemnon

2:10 min
4

Going to Cleveland

3:07 min
5

Early Spring

2:20 min
6

Historiography

2:53 min
7

No, I Can't

3:25 min
8

Alpha Desperation March

2:51 min
9

Going to Monaco

2:40 min
10

Star Dusting

2:15 min
11

Teenage World

2:27 min
12

Going to Santiago

2:27 min
13

Sail On

2:57 min
14

Black Molly

2:24 min
15

Rain Song

1:54 min
16

The Bad Doctor

3:39 min
17

Alpha Double Negative: Going to Catalina

2:43 min
18

Pure Intentions

2:14 min
19

The Lady from Shanghai

2:10 min
20

Pure Love

2:19 min
21

Song for an Old Friend

2:25 min
22

Snow Song

2:04 min
23

Faithless Bacchant Song

1:59 min
24

Short Song About the 10 Freeway

1:47 min
25

No, I Can't. (Alternate Version)

3:36 min
26

Song for Dana Plato

1:54 min
27

The Sign

2:28 min

About Bitter Melon Farm

This is the second of a three-volume set that pulls together singles, cassette releases, and compilation tracks that never made it to a proper Mountain Goats album. (The other two sets are Protein Source of the Future…Now! and Ghana.) These collections represent some of John Darnielle's most unusual work alongside some lost gems. Many songs here are from the cassette-only release Transmissions to Horace and the vinyl EPs Songs for Petronius and Songs for Peter Hughes. Included are covers of "The Sign" by Ace of Base and "Sail On" by The Commodores, as well as several tracks from Darnielle's continuous "Going To" series, with Bangor, Cleveland, Monaco, and Santiago touched on here. "Early Spring" is an excellent example of the magic Darnielle can create with just his voice and a hastily strummed guitar. He gets up early for a 9:34 a.m. recording of "No, I Can't" (which also appears in a full-band version later in the collection) just before the touching "Song for Dana Plato," about the Diff'rent Strokes teen actress who later died from a prescription-drug overdose.