The National: Alligator [BEGGARS BANQUET]

Why you'll love it

Alligator is the album where The National found their voice, mixing Matt Berninger's baritone with taut, tense rock, and it put the Brooklyn band on the map.

This edition

• Mastered at Sterling Sound
• Pressed in the USA

About the album

Ask a National fan where it all clicked, and plenty will say Alligator. The Ohio-born, Brooklyn-based band took their quiet, literate songs and wound them tight, letting Matt Berninger's warm baritone swing from wry murmurs to full-throated howls.

"Secret Meeting" opens with nervous energy, "Karen" is tender and woozy, "Abel" and "Mr. November" erupt into shouted, cathartic anthems, and "All the Wine" and "City Middle" show off the Dessner brothers' shimmering guitars.

Critics fell hard for it, and it set the stage for Boxer and the band's rise to festival headliners. It's a record about growing up and getting by, and it still hits hard.

Also at Kops: more The National on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Beggars Banquet (cat# BBQLP 241), the 2005 album.