Best Decade Tournament 2000s: mike wins for realz!

[epilogue]

I'd listen to the Crane Wife. That's what I first heard of them.

I second the Crane Wife.

I'm probably in the minority here but I really enjoyed The King is Dead.

The King is Dead was the right Decemberists album at the time. It was a breath of fresh air coming off two massive concept albums.

[ABNorman]

1. The Crane Wife
2. Her Majesty
3. Hazards of Love
4. Castaways and Cutouts
5. Picaresque
6. The King is Dead

Hmm, I loved The Crane Wife, got Picaresque and didn't like it, and have never bothered checking out any of their other albums. Mayhaps I will.

[Kaius]

I liked KOL's most recent album.

It was better than the previous two, that's for sure.

I think Only By The Night actually gets a bad rap because of the backlash caused by it's popularity. Come Around Sundown was pretty shitty, though.

Agreed with this. I don't love OBTN but it's solid. Not to sound like a pretentious hipster I don't really follow what is popular or not so I was shocked back then when I realized how huge KoL was getting.

I think Cold Desert might be their best song.

Agreed I liked maybe 1-2 songs of CAS.

Yeah, A-Ha Shake Heartbreak is far and away my favorite, but I dont think OBTN is awful it's a good album. People just hate it because it was so popular, people that liked them before it came out resent it for that reason, other people hate on it simply because it was so huge.

Seriously. I don't get it. Some people out of principal just hate on something cuz it's popular. These same people probably love The Dark Side of the Moon, Sgt Pepper, Jagged Little Pill, Nevermind, Led Zeppelin IV, etc. *scratches head*

Born in the USA is a great example. That album gets shit on but it's fantastic. I will totally admit I like Nebraska and Darkness better but Born in the USA has some classic Springsteen songs. If you don't like I'm On Fire? I don't know about you.

Come Around Sundown is the only KoL record I don't like. Only by the Night is above it quite a bit, actually. I just got tired of the excessive reverb that started using in every. single. song. So, it caused me to tire on the record much quicker than the first three. Mechanical Bull incorporated more of their Aha and 'Times sound the I love, so I prefer it over OBTN by a good margin.

[Farmer John]

Well, if this song's still on the board, I'm taking it. It'll fit nicely on my team.

Beck - Lost Cause

[BigRedLedbetter]

Well, if this song's still on the board, I'm taking it. It'll fit nicely on my team.

Beck - Lost Cause

Mmmmmmmmm that whole album

[epilogue]

1. The Crane Wife
2. Her Majesty
3. Hazards of Love
4. Castaways and Cutouts
5. Picaresque
6. The King is Dead

Hmm, I loved The Crane Wife, got Picaresque and didn't like it, and have never bothered checking out any of their other albums. Mayhaps I will.

Their first two albums are very different. They're quirky oddball sketches, collections of strange short stories, many based on literature and all of them bizarre in one way or another. It's all stories of ghosts and pirates and thieves and gay soldiers and Myla Goldberg.

Picaresque broadened their sound and expanded their landscape. Songs became more lush and more epic. The Crane Wife is their first true "concept album". It owes a lot to bands like Jethro Tull and Yes.

Hazards of Love takes the concept album even further. It's a true rock opera. It tells one story from beginning to end. It's their Tommy. Except, you know, a chick has sex with a shape-shifting fawn and a man kills his children because he's bored of being a single parent.

The King is Dead gets away from the concept album structure and goes back to single stories. But it's more straight forward than anything on their first three albums.

[epilogue]

Well, if this song's still on the board, I'm taking it. It'll fit nicely on my team.

Beck - Lost Cause

FUCKING BECK!

Yet another artist I really thought I'd have on my team. God this decade had some fucking WINNERS.

[dsb1218]

*scratches Beck off the list of 5 artists trying to squeeze into my last spot

[William Bloke]

Hazards of Love takes the concept album even further. It's a true rock opera. It tells one story from beginning to end. It's their Tommy. Except, you know, a chick has sex with a shape-shifting fawn and a man kills his children because he's bored of being a single parent.

The Rake's Song was my original Decemberists pick. I love that song.

[epilogue]

Hazards of Love takes the concept album even further. It's a true rock opera. It tells one story from beginning to end. It's their Tommy. Except, you know, a chick has sex with a shape-shifting fawn and a man kills his children because he's bored of being a single parent.

The Rake's Song was my original Decemberists pick. I love that song.

SOOOO good! But fucking twisted.

[William Bloke]

Hazards of Love takes the concept album even further. It's a true rock opera. It tells one story from beginning to end. It's their Tommy. Except, you know, a chick has sex with a shape-shifting fawn and a man kills his children because he's bored of being a single parent.

The Rake's Song was my original Decemberists pick. I love that song.

SOOOO good! But fucking twisted.

Oh God yes. Excellently so.

Where did bigbedwetter go?

[Jorge]

I like the Decemberists less for their grand concepts & storytelling and more for their remarkable gift for melody. I wouldn't mind an album full of "Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect"s and "June" and "January" hymns.

[William Bloke]

I've got my pick typed out and ready to unleash on y'all's asses.

Coooooo-EEEEEEEEEEE!

[epilogue]

I like the Decemberists less for their grand concepts & storytelling and more for their remarkable gift for melody. I wouldn't mind an album full of "Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect"s and "June" and "January" hymns.

I would love an album like that. It's part of the reason I love Her Majesty so much.

[epilogue]

Hazards of Love takes the concept album even further. It's a true rock opera. It tells one story from beginning to end. It's their Tommy. Except, you know, a chick has sex with a shape-shifting fawn and a man kills his children because he's bored of being a single parent.

The Rake's Song was my original Decemberists pick. I love that song.

SOOOO good! But fucking twisted.

Oh God yes. Excellently so.

Have you heard Culling of the Fold? It was recorded during The Crane Wife sessions but they left it off the album because Jenny hated it. She was really bothered by how violent and disturbing it is.

Then later when Colin wrote Rake Song, he brought it everyone else in the band before showing it to Jenny. When they showed it to her, they told her to sit down and brace herself.

[William Bloke]

I haven't heard that, but I'll be checking it out.

[epilogue]

I haven't heard that, but I'll be checking it out.

Just posted it in the Decemberists thread.

[William Bloke]

And now I've checked it out. Cool. I love the melodies that these guys come up with.

[Heathen]

I found what my last pick is going to be. For the 5th time today.

[William Bloke]

I found what my last pick is going to be. For the 5th time today.

I was having mega drama with my 9th pick. I'm solid on this one though.

Come on, come on.