Interesting. One of my mates who mainly listens to black metal, drone, noise, industrial etc. absolutely loves Songs: Ohia and I never quite got why he reached for them in particular.
I think Fading Trails is a good entry point because you get the full range of Molinaās output. You have the full band trad-rock songs (albeit Molinaās take on trad-rock) like Fade On Me and Montgomery, the sparser, Songs: Ohia-esque songs (A Little At A Time, Memphis Moon), the solo acoustic stuff (Spanish Moon Fall And Rise, Steady Now) and something that defies categorisation but is one of my favourite Molina tracks (The Old Horizon). Plus @jordan_229ās favourite Talk To Me Devil, Again
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I believe thereās a dedicated thread on the social board for that
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TBF Iāve always been a sucker for that slight ābehind the curtainā thing with artists. I love Beatles Anthology III because you get that stuff of them chatting between the songs also things like Bowie going on about āHolesā¦ā before Andy Warhol or Bob Dylanās 115th Dream with the mistake at the start and so forth, so that may be why I enjoyed Eight Gates so much.
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Oh yeah donāt get me wrong, itās still a great record : Shadow answers the Wall is right up there with his best songs, his personality comes across in the chat etc and thereās plenty of great moments on the rest but I wouldnāt recommend it as a starting point cos I still think a lot of the songs are basically unfinished and it might give a newcomer a false impression about his songcraft being a bit āslightā.
Heās one of the very very few artists where Iād actually recommend a live record actually. Trials and errors is brilliant showcase for his full band /rockier sound.
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I probably wouldnāt recommend it as a starting point either but I should add that both Jason and the label considered the record finished rather than a collection of sketches (the studio snippets were added after the fact once they decided to release it, but the songs were all finished and it was deliberately slight!).
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Ah yes now that I think about it, I remember reading something to that effect in some top publication last year! 
Haha, glad it stuck with you 
It surprised me to learn that, but I think it adds even more intrigue to the record. I really love it.
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Long Desert Train is pure perfection.
Didnāt It Rain is the tennest of tens. Great seeing all the support the record is getting in this thread, it has always been a very personal and important record to me, didnāt quite know it had this level of love.
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Just finished reading the book about him a week ago so this was good timing. This has been on my to try list for a few years after discovering the Magnolia Electric Company album but never got around to it. Really wanted to give it a proper deep dive this week but didnāt get a chance unfortunately, but a few listens in I already love it and can tell itās going to grow into a classic. Just beautiful, rolling doom. Really wish I had been aware of him earlier, feel like this would have been a huge album for me.
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Loved that book so much!
Iāve wondered this but havenāt ever seen an explanation for it. Maybe he just really want Albini to produce, sorry, record his next album and did this in an attempt to get his attention
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Iāve been considering buying that book for ages but keep putting it off. It sounds like the last few years of his life were pretty traumatic and Iām not sure I can take reading about it
Oh, and itās a 10, obviously
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Yeah, it was so good. Wish I had been familiar with all of his albums before reading it. Love the whole Songs: Iāll Fire Ya thing and how he was basically running multiple bands at once without their knowing about each other.
Yeah, most of the book is fine, but near the end everything gets really, really bad suddenly, Iād always assumed alcohol was a lifelong struggle for him, but the way the book depicts it he never drank and then one day he went from 0 to 100 instantly. Genetics can be terrifying.
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45 votes for this vs 122 for Skinny Fists
Quality not quantity
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Was thinking more of how to judge whoās 2nd and whoās 3rd. Godspeed surely take 2nd for a high average from many more people?
Isnāt there a 50 vote minimum to get a ranking in the How Goodā¦ threads?
This should go 2nd because it will make the fans happy