Mastodon – Medium Rarities

On top of everything else, I’ve been playing catch-up on albums I got (or meant to get) in 2020. Most of them made it onto my Best Of The Year post at the end of December. This blurb is to acknowledge that I still haven’t covered them here in these pages and I know I need to! So this isn’t really a series, just me trying to get caught up on stuff I meant to do. Give ‘er!

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I’ve been listening to this while I do my heavy bag workout every day, and it’s brilliant. Of course it is, it’s Mastodon! It’s a compilation of rare stuff, covers, instrumentals (of older tunes), and live recordings. However, interestingly, this band is so consistent(-ly awesome) in their sound, one could pretty much be forgiven for thinking it was an album proper, not a compliation.

There’s one new (previously unreleased) song, which I’ve already covered in these pages, Fallen Torches. It’s so goddamn good. There are covers of Feist, Flaming Lips, and Metallica, and even Gibby Haynes makes an appearance. It’s also cool to have the White Walker track from Game Of Thrones on CD (I have the RSD picture disc LP). 

It is missing The Bit (from the Melvins tribute), Deathbound (from Adult Swim Singles Program 2011), and their cover of Thin Lizzy’s Emerald. Also missing is a bonus track from The Hunter called The Ruiner, and surely a bunch of other stuff besides. Can we get a Medium Rarities: Volume 2? Please, Mastodon?

Here are the tracks:

01 Fallen Torches – previously unreleased

02 A Commotion – Feist cover (from Feistodon RSD single)

03 Asleep In The Deep – instrumental (b-side from Asleep in The Deep single)

04 Capillarian Crest – live 

05 A Spoonful Weighs A Ton – Flaming Lips cover

06 Toe To Toes – instrumental

07 Circle Of Cysquatch – live

08 Atlanta (f. Gibby Haynes) – from Adult Swim singles collection

09 Jaguar God – instrumental

10 Cut You Up With A Linoleum Knife – original song from Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters soundtrack

11 Blood & Thunder – live

12 White Walker – original song from Game of Thrones

13 Halloween – instrumental

14 Crystal Skull – live

15 Orion – Metallica cover

16 Iron Tusk – live