I chose to highlight The Decemberists this week for a number of reasons, including but not limited to the fact that this is my December pick and it only made sense, even though the name means something totally different. More importantly, this follows my trend of choosing artists I’ve recently discovered – and is a good way of indulging my current need, a sickness resulting from Bonnaroo withdrawal. Not to mention that these guys are just plain interesting.
The Decemberists are Colin Meloy (vocals, etc.), whom you can get to know on Twitter, Chris Funk (guitar, etc.), Jenny Conlee (organ, accordion, piano, etc.), Nate Query (bass) and John Moen (drums, backing vocals, etc.). They tell stories with their songs. Not a bad transition from Justin’s Paul Simon pick, just more current. Ranging from light topics to dark and serious ones, their songs/stories “invoke historical events and themes from around the world” (Wikipedia) in such a manner that I sometimes feel I’m back at Alton High in John Kline’s English Honors class trying to decipher one of the classics he’s assigned. I've even gone so far as to listen along with a dictionary, and actually have increased my vocabulary a bit. (Thanks, guys!)
Before our most recent trip to Cincy, my Decemberists knowledge was based on the song “Engine Driver,” which David put on a “Good Music” CD when we first started dating, and their latest album, a rock opera entitled “Hazards of Love.” Although I liked "Engine Driver" OK, I fell in love with “Hazards of Love.” Part of it was because I discovered it on my own when writing a story for The Telegraph preceding their show in St. Louis, the other part because I realized what great storytellers they were. At its base, “the plot is a love story: a woman named Margaret falls in love with a shape-shifting boreal forest dweller named William. A jealous forest queen and William's mother, the villainous Rake and an ensemble of recurring characters bring conflict to the album's story arc.” (Wikipedia) But it's more than that, which is where my comparison to dissecting classic novels comes into play, and I want to know what you guys think is going on (in addition to what you like and didn't like about this week) when you post at the end.
What I didn't know until David introduced me to their earlier albums is that while the band hadn't done a full fledged "rock opera" until "Hazards of Love," they've been telling stories, and telling them well, since the beginning.
I think there are aspects of this week that each of us is going to like, and aspects that each of us will not, but I, for one, am excited to hear more from a band I've only been pleasantly surprised by over and over.
Here's how you should approach this week:
- Concentrate on the sounds and the musical aspects of it all, but pay closer attention to the storytelling.
- If you can't understand what he's saying, consult the Internet. I found, when listening to "Hazards of Love" that there are not only entire sites dedicated to lyrics, but also those dedicated to deciphering song meanings as well. (I encourage you to try and form your own opinions first, then compare and contrast with these other webbies.)
- Post at the end of the week what you liked and didn't like about this week.
- BONUS: Tell me about your favorite "story" from this week and tell me your take of what's going on in "Hazards of Love" (I'm buying the "movie" online so it'll be interesting to hear the different ideas versus what the band actually meant).
- Castaways and Cutouts (2002)
- Her Majesty the Decemberists (2003)
- Picaresque (2005)
- The Crane Wife (2006)
- The Hazards of Love (2008)
Castaways and Cutouts begins with the haunting - literally - story of "Leslie Ann Levine" and ends with a title track that also serves as an anthem for the misfits of the world.
ReplyDeleteMusically, it is more than sound the whole way through, but as a storyteller, Colin Meloy really shines in the band's debut album (there was an EP released before).
"Leslie Ann Levine," is not only one of my favorite tracks on the album, but one of the most interesting stories to me. It tells the tale of a premature baby who is abandoned by her mother and then dies, taking said mother's innocence along with her. Holding a grudge against her mother and her unfit father, she is unable to move on and "lives" on to haunt the town even after everyone who lived before her has passed. It's a good way to enter this week because most Decemberists songs that I have heard to this point are devoid of happy endings, many about lost or unrequited loves; some even about death, war and rape.
“And Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect” is an interesting recounting of a character’s past relationships, something just about everyone can relate to.
“July, July” takes on storytelling itself. At its most basic, the protagonist in the song is telling stories about an old road in his little neighborhood, where both grisly and beautiful events have taken place. Like we learn about oral history in grade school, details in the storyteller’s tales change a bit (a magenta camisole he describes was actually gray) in the process of relaying them from person to person.
“A Cautionary Song” takes a more serious note, about a poor woman who is forced into prostitution in order to feed her family, but manages to still sound light hearted. I love the line at the end, “And the next time she tries to feed you collard greens, remember what she does when you’re asleep." I think it's a message that we sometimes take for granted what we have and don’t realize that such things don't always come easily.
Continuing on with "Castaways," “Odalisque” gets pretty graphic about a female slave who is raped. While I had nothing against the music, which actually is quite beautiful at points, and praise Meloy for being able to do this, the emotion in the song just creeped me out.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t much get “Cocoon,” so I wasn’t as excited about it as the rest.
“Grace Cathedral Hill” tackles a softer subject, about a man who will do anything to make his love happy. A tribute to San Francisco I’m told, the protagonist is trying to cheer up his green-eyed Irish love, who is having a bad day, and while it doesn’t work, he realizes that there is no end to what he would to in order to make her smile.
“The Legionnaire’s Lament,” which turned out to be one of my favorite tracks, has a lot of historical references regarding the French Foreign Legion and old-time French culture. I can see why David, a history lover, would really be into a band like this. At its base, it’s about a soldier who is fighting in a foreign land, trying to live each day, and dreaming of his home and his one true love (which you’ll find Meloy singing about A LOT).
“Clementine” is a sweet song about a young couple who are in love even though everyone tells them they’re too young to be. The music actually reminds me of the theme from “Brokeback Mountain.” Interesting to note, both stories are about two people in love that aren’t understood by the world around them.
Finally, “California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade” is two different stories in one– the first half being about a drive through the California countryside, and the second being about a call to all the misfits, “Castaways and Cutouts,” if you will, to band together for their own good. I love the sample where the lady whispers, “I’ve heard of ghosts. Good ghosts who wander the battlefields at night, guiding soldiers out of danger. If I was such a ghost I would stay so close to you, you could feel my breath on your cheek.” I don’t know where it fits in but it’s an interesting concept, and very sweet.
Moving on, I didn't get into some of the other albums as much as the first. "Her Majesty," doesn't sound all that different from the first I don't think, I just didn't enjoy it as much as the first.
ReplyDelete"Shanty for the Arethusa" has a bit of a creepy sound to it. You'll notice as you go on that Meloy has a thing for maritime literature.
"Billy Liar," is one of my favorite tracks here. Although it opens with a boy staring in his neighbor's window with his pants down, there is something fun about this song.
"Los Angeles I'm Yours" you would think is a tribute to someone's fave city, but you'd be wrong. From what I could gather about this one, the main character seems to like being there at first, but then starts to realize he likes it less and less until he hates it but feels stuck there.
I read somewhere that "Gymnast" is about a guy who loves a girl from afar, then she goes away to college and he anxiously awaits her return home. It wasn't my favorite track, so I didn't read into it too deep before moving on.
"The Bachelor and the Bride" is a highlight of the album, though. I don't remember hearing any of this band anywhere on the radio, but this sounds radio-friendly to me. Even if the lyrics are once again about dead babies and violence.
I couldn't get into "The Soldiering Life" because that's something I just can't connect with.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed "Red Right Ankle," although I'm not sure what draws me to the song.
"Chimbley Sweep," is fun. A lot of why I like the Decemberists has to do with the way Meloy says certain words or the way he puts emphasis on different sounds. The chimney sweep is a character in a lot of their songs, and I actually find them fascinating, but I like that he is a chimbley sweep this time. I found reference that this might be related to a William Blake poem, as seen here: http://www.online-literature.com/blake/628/
"Picaresque" was the other Decemberists album David introduced me to on the way to Cincinnati, so I was already familiar with some of it.
ReplyDeleteHighlights include: "We Both Go Down Together," "Eli the Barrow Boy, "The Engine Driver" and "The Mariner's Revenge Song" (although it is quite long).
"We Both Go Down Together" is a song about two star-crossed lovers that commit suicide together by jumping off a cliff together. The idea is that if they can't be together in this life, they will be in the next. She "wept" I'm guessing because it was her first time, or possibly because she knew as he did that their love could never work. Like "Romeo and Juliet," this kind of story is timeless, and the song itself I think is brilliant. "The Bagman's Gambit" is yet another interesting take on a story of star crossed lovers.
"Eli" works his butt off each and everyday selling goods in order to buy his love a new dress. When she dies, he's stuck in a sort of limbo where all he can do is keep doing what he's been doing. Even after his own death, he continues to "push his barrow", as if striving to reach that goal that he'll never achieve. For someone who is fascinated with ghosts and the like, this story is also a timeless one of love and unfinished business. Similarly, "From My Own True Love" has a character who waits a seemingly infinite amount of time for a letter that will never come because his/her true love has been lost at sea.
"The Sporting Life" adds something to the album I think, being more lighthearted - the story of a boy who's not very athletic, apparently to his father's and his girlfriend's dismay. I think it adds balance to what could otherwise be a semi-depressing (although still amazing) album.
"16 Military Wives" offers a great perspective on the war that's going on right now. Thomas might like this one for its interesting use of numbers throughout. I like it because it's dead on. America is in a war it shouldn't have gotten involved with in the beginning, and since it's going on overseas, unless you're affected specifically, its easy to view these casualties as numbers without faces, even though it's wrong to do so.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'd like to think the news media doesn't go "la-di-da-di-da-didi-didi-da" but having worked in newspapers, I know that horrifying news stories come up in the Associated Press every single day and that papers and television stations would have absolutely no time to report anything else if the war was all they talked about. Sometimes, and it's hard for people to understand who haven't worked in the "gatekeeper" media, it's about balancing the news and reporting as much balance as you have time and space to. Not all people are equipped to handle what's actually happening over there anyway, that's my take.
"Engine Driver," is about Meloy I'm guessing - a man who comes from a line of engine drivers and line workers who doesn't want to disgrace his family by taking on a profession they don't understand, but who feels he has no other choice because writing is his true calling. The whole idea of struggling to decide what we are supposed to be doing with our lives is one that lots of people our age (many of us included) are dealing with at the moment. I, myself, love what I do currently, but envy anyone strong enough to say this is my true calling, and is the absolute only thing I can see myself doing for the rest of my life.
"The Mariner's Revenge" is another fun song, though about gruesome revenge ("Find him, bind him/Tie him to a pole and break/His fingers to splinters/Drag him to a hole until he/Wakes up naked/Clawing at the ceiling of his grave") it's something about the accordion that gets to me :)
This album, I'd say ties for 2nd or 3rd this week.
"The Crane Wife" in part is built around a Japanese folk tale in which a poor man saves a wounded crane and then a mysterious woman shows up, they fall in love and get married. The woman suggests that she weave clothes they can sell, as long as he doesn't watch her make them. She does so and the two become wealthier, but as her health fails his greed, and curiosity grow. He peeks in on her only to see the crane he once saved plucking its own feathers to weave the fabric. Seeing him, she flies away, never to return.
ReplyDeleteThe album was enjoyable music-wise, but a little tough to figure out. Like 1- why is "Crane Wife 3" the first song, only to have "Crane Wife 1&2" (which are the same song) come near the end of the album? And why is "The Island" really three different songs removed from the main "Crane Wife" theme? I did not find answers to these questions.
The 11-or-so-minute-long "Island" might have seemed long to some of you, but I thought it flew by. Other than thinking the music is beautiful, I don't know much else about it - though others online are saying it's based on William Shakespeare's "The Tempest" which might be interesting to look into for the future.
"O Valencia" is again about two star-crossed lovers who belong to opposing gangs. The director's cut video actually is more telling than I could be - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ad7XFStuB8 - (warning, hilarious throat stabs). But you might want to search YouTube for the Decemberists green screen challenge because the band filmed themselves in front of a green screen and asked fans to digitally fill in the background, which is kind of interesting.
ReplyDelete"When the War Came" is based on the book "Hunger" by Elise Blackwell, apparently about people at this botany institute during the siege of Linengrad in WWII who swore to protect the plants and seeds in their catalog from not only the starving masses outside but also themselves.
"Shankill Butchers" is my favorite song on the album outside of the "Crane Wife 3 and 1&2". Of course, it's about a group of men who used to go around killing Irish Catholics. I think it was on our Halloween playlist in 2008.
Although I like this album, it's got a rougher, less pretty sound to it than their previous works, and I'd have to rate it the lowest of the 5.
I love absolutely everything about "Hazards of Love." Like I mentioned before, I discovered this album on my own, while researching for a story to run in the Accent section of The Telegraph. I got free tickets to their show at the Pageant, but I couldn't get anyone to go so I missed it. Luckily, I got another chance at Bonnaroo 2009 and gladly skipped out on Wilco to see it alone. It was the single most amazing, high energy and emotion show I saw all weekend.
ReplyDeleteIt bodes well that I like all the songs, since they all flow together as one. If you don't like a sound or a certain part of a song, that's unfortunate because it's bound to repeat itself somewhere on the album.
The whole thing flows really well, from a rolling alt-country-ish beat to rich, loud, guitar solos (that sound a little Led Zepplin-esque at times), and the sounds really compliment different characters and different parts of the story.
Highlights for me include "The Rake's Song" (which was the single off this album), "The Queen's Rebuke" and my very favorite - "Annan Water."
The female parts are sung by ladies borrowed from My Brightest Diamond (the Queen, who is a badass character if you ask me) and Lavender Diamond (Margaret). God I love the queen's voice, which I think makes Meloy's voice sound so innocent (which is odd since he's always singing about death and rape).
Anyway, I wasn't sure how you guys would like this because I know David doesn't like it as well as their other stuff but I like it more. I thought Thomas might like some of the harder parts in the music, and Beth might like the story aspect. I can't wait to see what you think for real though. And thanks for wading through all my extensive posting this week (it's what happens when I have a longer time to listen I guess). One more and then I'm done. About the story -
Wikipedia says: "The plot is a love story: a woman named Margaret falls in love with a shape-shifting boreal forest dweller named William (voiced by Meloy). A jealous forest queen and William's mother, the villainous Rake (also voiced by Meloy) and an ensemble of recurring characters bring conflict to the album's story arc."
ReplyDeleteWhen I first heard the album, I had some ideas of my own that were far less literal. To me, it sounded like William falls in love with Margaret and feels trapped when she starts having babies and realizes this is not the life that he wanted. I thought the evil "rake" and William might be the same character, just two different personalities, not only because they are both voiced by Meloy, but because that would make sense in the scenario I just laid out. Not to mention that in the "Rake's Song" he sings about killing HIS children, not someone else's, which leads me to believe he might be William.
I never thought of the Queen as William's mother in a biological sense. I thought of her more as a lover, or someone who "saved him" from this life he was not sure he wanted. When he changes his mind back and forth and decides maybe it is the life he wanted, she gets pissed. You know, one of those "you'd better leave your wife for me or I will ruin what you have" sort of situations. I'm probably way off base here from what I've read but hear me out. So Margaret dies in childbirth and he wants to start over, so he kills all his children to rid himself of the burden, or reminders of his old life. Afterward, he changes his mind and realizes Margaret was his one true love and wants to be with her. In "Annan Water," he is doing all he can, traveling to a far land (killing himself, etc.) to be with her again, where he belongs. There's such a peace at the end they are finally together where they belong, almost like the lovers in "We Both Go Down Together." But I donno.
The other way I've been seeing it is that William falls in love with Margaret, she has his babies, and it infuriates the Queen, who saved his life and essentially owns him (I still don't think she's his biological mother). To make sure that he does not get his perfect life without her, the queen sends the rake to capture Margaret and kill the children, but William will still stop at nothing to be with her again. In this scenario, the Rake could still be William, especially if this "Queen" has any sort of powers over her minions (as a forest creature, he would be one of them), forcing him to do certain things he wouldn't normally do.
This is something that's going to take more thinking and research, as one of their songs is hard enough for me to decipher let along one that is an album long. If any of you have any other ideas, enlighten me. Trying to figure this out is fun.
One more thing I must add before I quit - I love the part where his kids sing back to him from the grave. Extra creepy, kind of like those British kids from "The Wall." Anyway, you've heard about enough from me, now for your opinions.
My exposure to The Decemberists is limited to only their newest album and them providing background music while I ate an overpriced burrito for dinner on Sunday at Bonnaroo ’07. Although they have received much critical acclaim, I have never been compelled to explore their catalog because they were an “indie darling” when they came out. Meaning, they received a ton hype from indie publications and media outlets (Rolling Stone, MTV, Spin) before I had a chance to hear them. I consider Arcade Fire in this group as well, a lot of hype really turns me off from a band, which is why I was late coming around to My Morning Jacket. I guess I’m weird in that way because I like to discover bands on my own, I can be gently nudged in a bands direction, but don’t tell me a band is changing the face of music or the next great thing after they have one EP out. I did enjoy their latest album, while listening to it with David and Laura, so I am not completely lost on these guys. I am choosing to not look at reviews of any of these albums in the fear that they are very biased and wouldn’t help me form an authentic opinion.
ReplyDeleteCastaways and Cutouts gives me the feeling of “seaworthiness”, if that makes sense; the instrumentation, specifically the accordion and bass, on “Leslie Anne Levine” puts me out on the high seas. Colin’s voice is a hybrid of Ben Gibbard of Death Cab and Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel, which at times is good and sometimes meh. I’m a huge fan of the way they use the organ on “Odalisque”, Jimmy Smith or Richard “Groove” Holmes would be proud of the way the Hammond is being represented outside of the jazz format. Forgive me if I’m not commenting on the subject matter, I’m letting the music wash over me on this first go ‘round. “Cocoon” and “Grace Cathedral Hill” are nice but tend to drag with Colin’s wordiness, completely halting the pace they’d built up. I’m not a dullard, but Colin’s mastery of the English language is a little intimidating to those of us who are here for a casual listening experience. I am very impressed at the use of so many instruments; the steel guitar on “Clementine” is gorgeous. The arrangement and execution of so many sounds and instruments are a true testament at how talented this group is. I now understand the hype bestowed upon The Decemberists, it is deserved for an impressive debut.
The guitars on the opening track of Her Majesty build an atmosphere of the old spaghetti westerns that Ennio Morricone used to score. On “Los Angeles” the harmonica seems forced and out of place and the song feels loose and lacking a real direction. “The Bachelor and the Bride” took a couple of listenings to try and decypher but I think a botched abortion left the bride unable to bear children and a the bachelor is going to confront her husband and tell him about said happenings, this is easily the best song on the album. “The Soldiering Life” is a sobering tale of being in battle and how being near to death makes one feel so alive. I was not pulled in by this album as I was with Castaways, this album does not warrant a repeat listening.
Colin is starting to grow on me the way Sufjan Stevens did, his great storytelling and musical arrangements go hand in hand with each other. The music is unique in that it’s not modern sounding but it feels like a well-preserved heirloom handed down from generations. I think my initial problem with the Decemberists, when I first heard a few of
ReplyDeletetheir songs early on was that they are made to be listened to as a whole album and not individual tracks. They don’t translate well out of their LP format. Picaresque has a more heartfelt and personal feel to me, which made it a great listen. “Infanata” plays out like the beginning of a major Broadway musical, very theatrical but immediately pulls me into the album. “Eli” sounds like Colin ripped his story straight out of a small South American village, very sad, but poetic. A huge grin cannot be wiped off my face as I listen to “The Sporting Life” which is a story not wasted on me, as I grew up with many kids who played little league baseball, not so much for themselves but for their fathers. “Engine Driver” is very familiar, as I’m sure it was one of their singles, the snare and high hat give the illusion of an old train engine. “On the Bus Mall” is Colin really painting a picture of runaways and delinquent lifestyles, not your typical subject matter. This album is amazing and I’m going to download it and listen to it many more times.
In recent months I had been to my local library and not knowing anything about the Decemberists picked up one of their albums to give it a try. I am not sure which album I had picked up, but I remember thinking I neither liked nor disliked what I was hearing. Needless to say I took the album back thinking maybe one day down the road I will give this group another try. So when I saw that Laura had chosen them as one of her artists, I was happy to give them another try and see if I was missing out on anything.
ReplyDeleteThomas and I started off our trip home for Christmas listening to “Castaways and Cutouts,” and I was pleasantly surprised by the first track “Leslie Ann Levine.” Everything about this song I thoroughly enjoy. From the accordion to the wonderful storytelling, this song sucked me in. Although the lyrics to the song are quite dark, (as most every song they write is) I still think that the tone the song takes on goes well to tell the story. “A Cautionary Song” reminded me of a pirate singing to his other shipmates. Could be that I have watched way too much Spongebob Squarepants, but the backdrop to this song sounds like something straight out of an episode. Obviously the lyrics to the song are not so kid friendly as he is talking about prostitution. I think the message to the song is good, in the fact that he talks about how some people have no other choice than to do things they may not otherwise do to provide for their family. “Odalisque” I really enjoyed, I liked how the tempo picks up and I am guessing it is a holocaust song of some kind. With the lyrics of “What do we do with ten dirty Jews” and “Lay your belly under mine Naked under me, under me.” Sounds like how the Nazi’s were just throwing bodies on top of one another and burning them. Once again a very dark song, but Colin sure knows how to bring a story to life. “Cocoon” had a very melancholy theme to it, which I usually enjoy, but for some reason I could not get into this song as well. This album was not my favorite, but definitely had some memorable songs on it.
When I first started “Her Majesty the Decemberists” I was kind of worried listening to the first song. “Shanty for Arethusa” began on a slower tempo and it was hard for me to get into. Then going into “Billy Liar” I was a little more hopeful, as this song was a little more upbeat and easier to get into. As I am going along in this album I have to say I am kind of disappointed. I am on the track “The Bachelor and the Bride” and it is so far the only song I have even considered as something I would want to listen to again. Hopefully things will get better from here. “Myla Goldberg” is the next track and it is another step in the right direction for me. “Red Right Ankle” is probably my favorite song on the album. I think the lyrics are very clever, and how Colin can take an ankle and turn it into a story about your uncle you never met. I also really enjoyed the folky vibe of the song as well. All in all I have to say the second half of this album was ten times better than the first half. This album overall is definitely a step backwards for me and I am hoping the next album will be better.
ReplyDelete“Picaresque” is definitely staring off much better for me than “Her Majesty.” Going by what I Tunes is telling me the first song on the album is “ Infanta” and I think they could not have picked a better introductory song. It definitely helps you to establish the tone for the album and I love the fast tempo. “Eli, the barrow boy” is a hauntingly beautiful song. I really like how Jenny joins in singing during the chorus. As if they are singing together in the afterlife. I also really like the medieval feel the song has to it. This is probably attributed to my love for the “Fleet Foxes” and how they can take you to a different world. In “16 Military Wives” I love what this song is saying and that how the media tells us all these horrible things going on in the world, but how we/they turn the other cheek and forget about the people that are really being affected by it all. On to the “Engine Driver” and I can’t really figure out what it is about this song that I like so much, but it definitely gets stuck in my head. There were only a couple songs on this album that really did not do all that much for me, such as “ The Sporting Life” but that could be because I can’t really relate to it. This by far is my favorite album so far, and I am eager to get on to the next two.
“Crane Wife” is a little hard for me to figure out. I am not sure if the Decemberists are trying to take a little more edgy or poppy side. “The Island” started off a little slow for me, as I got further into the song I understood that it was all building up to the big breakdown near the end. While I am not a huge fan of long songs, this one is well worth a listen. “Yankee Bayonet” and “O Valencia” did not do much for me. I then got into “The Perfect Crime #2” and I very much enjoyed this song. It has almost a funk beat to it, and I really enjoy the direction they are taking with this song in particular. “When the War Came” started off sounding like something right up Thomas’s alley. It is very odd to hear this hard, edgy sound coming from the otherwise mellow Decemberists. I actually really liked this song and think it shows how you can’t stereotype this group as just one genre. “The Shankill Butchers” was quite a creepy song. I think if a child were to hear this song they would think twice about disobeying their mothers. When I hear songs like this I wonder if Colin has some sick, twisted delight in creeping out the listeners. Once again there were quite a few songs on here I enjoyed, and am still surprised by all the new sounds I hear off each new album.
ReplyDeleteI start off “Hazards of Love” and I almost thought that I was going deaf since the prelude does not actually start until like 30 seconds into it. “Hazards of Love 1” is thoroughly enjoyable. I really like the guitar in this one and the atmosphere that it creates. “A Bower Scene” takes that more edgy rock feel as we saw in “The Crane Wife.” I very much enjoyed “Who Want for Love” and it may be that it is kind of refreshing to hear a different voice take the lead vocals in a song. Jenny has a very nice melodic voice, and she tells the story very well. “Isn’t it a lovely night” was kind of hard for me to decipher, listening to the both of them sing to each other reminded me of something I would see out of an old musical. I know this is a “rock opera” and this song definitely helps you to get into the story, but it is kind of hard to understand what exactly they are talking about. “The Wanting Comes in Waves” is a song between a mother and her son, and how he wants his freedom, but she wants to keep her control over him. I think the song is done brilliantly with the going back and forth between the two of them. As I continue my journey through this album I think I am coming to the conclusion that rock operas are not for me. By going back and using the same melodies over and over, I guess I am just looking for a little more variety from song to song. An example of this being the similarity in “A Bower Scene” and “The Abduction of Margaret.” While it is telling a different story, it is using the same melody. On the other hand I can tell you that this is definitely something I would be interested in watching, and maybe after watching it be performed I would have a better understanding/desire for hearing the album again. “Annan Water” was a nice transition for me. As it had not been something I had heard previously. “The Hazards of Love 3” was probably my favorite version with all the children singing. It was very well done and I think made an impact for the story. I know Laura is going to think I am crazy and maybe everyone else will too, but this album was my least favorite. This is just my opinion, and I am defiantly not saying that I think that this album is a step backwards for the group. It is however, not in my taste.
I am very glad that we did this 2 weeks on the Decemberists. I believe my favorite album was “Picaresque” and the song/story I enjoyed the most was “Eli the Barrow Boy.” You can’t help but feel sad for the boy and how he was never able to give his true love her gown made of gold and silk. He pushes his cart crying out for her, just getting by day to day until his death. The harmony between Colin and Jenny is beautiful and makes you feel their sadness. Overall I can now officially say that I am a fan and will be listening for albums to come.
I know that I’m listening to the Decemberists, but I swear David Gilmour is laying down some wicked guitar on the very Pink Floyd/YES influenced 12 minute epic that is “The Island”. As with Picaresque, I am finding a quality with The Crane Wife that I don’t get with many albums, complete listenability a.k.a. not skipping over tracks. Besides “The Island”, the first half of the album is pretty tame and safe, which is expected for a major label debut. “When The War Came” got my attention and I actually looked up the lyrics because I didn’t understand what he was talking about with the solanum. Come to find out, it’s based on these botanists in Leningrad protecting their catalog of seeds and plants during a WWII invasion. From there, we get a lighter, breezy tune from Colin with “Summersong” which, for me, is simply about a summer love affair. David will agree with me, that not just the Decemberists, but most of the artists we pick to listen to in this group should be listened to loudly in good headphones or over a nice stereo system. It enhances the experience and delivers the music the way the artist intended us to hear it. With the multi-layered sounds of this group, especially in “Sons and Daughters” the final track, a song about optimism and a new beginning deserves to be blasted with its uplifting message. Solid album.
ReplyDeleteWith most of these albums, I’ve been giving them a twice-over listen; once to get an initial reaction and then second a more thorough dissection of the lyrics and musical choices. Hazards proves to be an intimidating listen with its bombast and length. A rock opera is not something the average band attempts and for the most part pulls off. Upon initial listening, it is a valiant effort but a little far reaching for this group who will never be credited with a lack of effort. The Decemberists are evolving on this album, which is a good thing, but it seems like too big of a step even for the potential they possess. The Wall and Tommy are obvious inspirations as Chris Funk’s heavy guitars continue to impress me on “A Bower Scene”. “Hazards 2” is a well written ballad with William shifting his shape from a fawn earlier, to a man who is ready to get frisky with Margaret. I get a whole Disney vibe the further I get into this album, with characters like: a shape shifting beast, the queen, and the rake I can actually picture the animated film rolling through my head as I listen to each stanza. Mixed into this silly story are great tracks like “The Wanting Comes in Waves”, the sludgy “Queen’s Rebuke”, and “Annan Water”. This is a good album that will probably get better the more I visit it, but for now, it is a little ambitious and not as good as the previous two. I will say that I am sorry I didn’t get into these guys a long time ago, as they are one of the best bands I’ve heard in the last decade.
Castaway and Cutouts was very similar to a Paul Simon album for me. This was a very enjoyable album with a lead singer’s voice that I actually enjoy and as Laura has pointed out, very good storytelling. Colin’s voice sounds is a very good mixture of the harmony of Death Cab’s Ben Gibbard and the unique pitch of Placebo’s Brian Molko. My favorite story of the album was ‘A Cautionary Song.’ This is a very disturbing concept to write a song about, but I think it helps display the lengths that you will go to for your children. I also really liked ‘Here I Dreamt I was an Architect’ and ‘Odalisque’ I actually really only disliked ‘July, July’ on this album. I think what separates the Decemberists from Paul Simon’s work for an adrenaline junky like myself is that this is still a rock album. The music is very heavy at the dramatic points of the story and help take you where Colin wants you to go. There weren’t too many “Fuck Offs” in Paul Simon’s albums.
ReplyDeleteThe bar was set pretty high with Castaway and Cutouts, so I didn’t really notice a growth in the songwriting or the vocals, but there was quite a bit of additional instrumentation. I really liked the violin solo on ‘Los Angeles, I’m Yours.’ There is a slight improvement in quality, probably spawning from the upgrade to the Kill Rock Stars label. Her Majesty starts out with a very dark track in ‘Shanty for the Arethusa’ that reminds me of a Johnny Cash track. This was probably my favorite story as well. Sounds like a woman was captured and taken to Australia where soldiers have been gathered through a draft of some sort to get her back. The whole track has the dark and gloomy feel to it that a soldier would probably have if they pulled up to a shore where several of their colleagues’ bodies were ‘clinging to the shrouds.’ A lot of the themes are actually very dark and disturbing, yet the tone is sometimes relatively pleasant in how they are told. This reminds me of a movie like American Psycho. Sweeney Todd, Last House on the Left, or Silence of the Lambs where they demonstrate the possibility of beauty in killing. I also really liked how ‘The Soldiering Life’ captures the brotherhood that is formed between soldiers and how it really comes down to saving the man next to you. This was the concept that I love about the movie Black Hawk Down. This was another really fun album to listen to. They stayed true to the reputation they formed with Castaway and Cutouts, yet were still able to grow and mature as a band.
Picaresque was another easy album to listen to, but was noticeably more upbeat. There was quite a bit of accordion sprinkled in to this and for me it sounded like something I would either hear at Hofbrahaus or a carnival. I really like the dark lyrics they have and really only found that with ‘Eli, the Barrow Boy.’ I interpreted it as a ghost story at a market of sorts. My favorite story was actually The Bagman’s Gambit. The acoustic guitar gave a real close and personal intimate feel to the lyrics and helped you follow this story that reminds you of many different movies. Michael Clayton, The Reader, Thomas Crown Affair are a few that come to mind. Overall, I am sure this album appeased the long time fans, but it took away some of the elements that I enjoyed the most in the first two albums.
ReplyDeleteI liked the Crane Wife more than the prior three. They got back to the dark lyrics and actually included a few heavy riffs in this one as well. I actually really liked every single track on this album. It was pretty good the first time I listened to it, but then when I listened again on our ride back, I decided that I really liked this album. My favorite tracks were ‘The Perfect Crime no.2’, ‘When the Ware Came’, ‘Shankill Butchers’, and ‘The Crane Wife, pts 1&2.’ ‘Shankill Butchers’ was my favorite story. The feel of this one was similar to ‘A Cautionary Song’ on the first album. I really like how each song is so distinct and that they stay true to their roots. Based on my interpretation of a Rock Opera album, this sounded like a good transition album.
The Hazards of Love was not exactly what I expected. This was probably my least favorite album, but only by default. I liked a lot of the heavy riffs in this album, along with the various female vocals sprinkled in. The story was quite disturbing, which I typically like, however 1 song would have sufficed, not 17. Am I wrong to interpret this as the Hazards of Love are married life and parenthood? ‘The Rake’s Song’ was the one song I would recommend to others if they wanted a summary and thus is my favorite story that was told within this ‘Novel.’ I also liked ‘The Wanting Comes in Waves.’
This was by far my favorite group that has been introduced to me through Music Togetherness thus far. I have already started hunting for their albums at Half Priced books. With most of the artists we have chosen, there is a noticeable change in the lead singer’s voice whether it is through a change of style or just better production. Colin’s voice has been extremely consistent across all five albums. This is extremely unusual for this genre and I find it quite intriguing. Thank you for the introduction and I look forward to adding them to my collection.
Yay! I'm glad everyone liked them :) I liked them before but with all the new albums I'd not heard before, I became practically obsessed these past two weeks, so this is a pleasant surprise. Happy new year everyone!
ReplyDeleteAlright, sorry that this isn't going to be as in depth as my usual posts, but I'm in a great deal of pain at the moment and am having trouble concentrating....but, here goes nothing.
ReplyDeleteHaving gotten into The Decemberists right from the start, I first heard Castaways and Cutouts when it was first released. Due to this, it will always have a special place in my heard as my introduction to this great band. I love the steel guitars that the band used in their early days, and right from the beginning you could tell that not only was there an immensely talented lyricist fronting the band, but the members playing instruments were no slouches themselves. My favorite songs on the album are "Leslie Ann Levine", "The Legionnaire's Lament", and especially "Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect", although the whole disc is brilliant.
As Thomas said, you can tell that the production values were upped quite a bit on 'Her Majesty...', and at times I think it might be a bit to the bands detriment. This is the album where they first begin to experiment with longer song structures, such as on "Shanty for the Arethusa" and "The Gymnast, High Above the Ground", and they would definitely come back to these types of songs again. Overall, Colin's storytelling on the album wasn't at it's peak, but it still had a couple of great songs, namely "Los Angeles, I'm Yours" and "The Bachelor and the Bride", which made it into my top songs of the decade list.
With 'Picaresque', The Decemberists made their real classic. Right from the beginning stampeding drumbeat, you can tell that this album is a force to be reckoned with. Colin's lyricism is definitely at it's highest point on this album, and there are a few songs on this album that still haunt me every time I listen to them. "We Both Go Down Together" is a retelling of the classic Lovers' Leap tale, and the point where they take their leap and he sings that "we fall but our souls are flying" gives me chills every time I hear it. This album also contains my absolute favorite Decemberists song, "The Engine Driver". To me, this song describes Colin's love for the fact that he was meant to be a writer, all the while still expressing a bit of disappointment that he couldn't live up to his family's history of occupations. This is definitely a favorite album of the decade for me, and is probably one that the band can never top.
'The Crane Wife' reintroduces us to the epic prog structures the band had dabbled with, in the songs "The Island" and the multiple "Crane Wife" tracks. I saw the band play live right after this album was released, and it was really neat to see this awkward bunch of indie musicians on stage playing this epically structured rock music, and completely rocking out to it. The band didn't go full out on the rock opera at this point, though, and this album still contains some beautifully concise pop gems. "Yankee Bayonet" and "Summersong" are both wonderful, but it's the bedtime terror fable "Shankill Butchers" that does it for me the most. If I had heard this story before I went to bed as a child, I probably wouldn't be able to heed the warnings to go to sleep because I was so frightened. Overall the album finds the band in a bit of a transition phase, as it was their first major label effort, but it was still a great addition to their catalog.
ReplyDelete'The Hazards of Love' is a difficult album for me to entirely make my mind up on how I feel. I've always loved the band for what I consider to be their collections of short stories, and this album turns the music into novel form. I've never really been huge on concept albums, so the rock opera is something that kind of gets lost on me. At the same time, though, it's impossible for me to not be moved by the fantastic musicianship on this album, and their are some moments of sheer brilliance that stand out to me among the rest. When Shara Worden of the band My Brightest Diamond appears as 'The Queen' on "The Wanting Comes in Waves", she really just dominates everything around her, belting out the lyrics and becoming a perfect counter to Colin Meloy's somewhat nerdy vocals. "The Rakes Song" is terrifying when you realize what the subject matter is, and is definitely a powerful statement. My favorite song on the album, and another of my favorites by the band is "Annan Water". I love the dark sounding guitar strumming, and it just fits the mood of the song perfectly. In all, I still think the band should return to making the "short stories", but this dalliance into the rock opera was a fairly nice success.
In all, I'm really glad that everyone was introduced to this wonderful band, as they've taken the torch from another of my all time favorite bands, Neutral Milk Hotel and have carried it into the 2000s. This was obviously a couple of weeks that I really enjoyed, and I can't wait to hear something new from The Decemberists.