Customer Rating: 
Summary: the best of three
Comment: in my opinion, this here is the best of the ajax/3 beads of sweat compilations. the most consistent by far, it also contains more "instant-classic-type" tracks. there's this one song, "the last day of jimi hendrix's life" which is soooo beautiful and heartbreaking...granted, there's nothing that quite equals "no i can't" or "historiograph" from (is it?) bitter melon farm, but all in all, it's a stronger collection.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Intriguing and entertaining collection
Comment: This is a CD for someone who is already a Mountain Goats fan. More casual listeners would be better served by getting Sweden, 9 Black Poppies, or Full Force Galesburg. As a compilation of rarities, it is obviously rough and doesn't hang together like a typical Mountain Goats CD. That said, there are some great songs on this CD, from the opening song, "Golden Boy," which are about peanuts, to "Going to Port Washington," "The Anglo-Saxons", and "Noticifer Birmingham." Many of these songs are just Darnielle having a lot of fun. Sometimes, like on "Golden Boy", the results are amazing. Sometimes it only reminds you of how good he can be when he gets more serious. Overall, a good CD and a must-have for Mountain Goats fans.
Customer Rating:
Summary: As Mountain Goats albums go, this one's pretty darn good.
Comment: This is the long-awaited final singles/rarities compilation from the Mountain Goats camp, released at long last by the label Three Beads of Sweat (along with reissues of the first two comps. released on Ajax).Like the other two singles comps. this album has low and (incredibly) high points. Some of the best Mountain Goats songs ever recorded were on tapes or 7"s so these collections are a joy. Naturally though, when you have 31 songs on an album some of them are bound to be less than remarkable. Overall, it's a fantastic CD thanks in part to songs like "Golden Boy", "The Anglo-Saxons", and "Stars Around Her".
Any devoted fan will love this CD, however if you're just hearing Mountain Goats for the first time then I'd suggest picking up "Full Force Galesburg" (my favorite Mountain Goats release), "The Coroner's Gambit", or "Isopanisad Radio Hour".
My only real complaint is that the boys at Ajax didn't even distribute the songs between the 3 comps. 31 songs is quite a lot, even for me... so some of them probably could've been added to the first comp (a mere 23 tracks).
God Bless You, Mr. Darnielle.
