Red Mosquito

this is all various sorts of meh

hey guys let's write a song about how we're going to suck from now on

but let's pick the most typically decemberists-y sounding songs for singles because money from these idiots who got the same haircut as our drummer is still money

Maybe you're reading that song a little too literally.

No, not maybe. You are.

Fits & Starts - the RSD b-side - is ridiculous. What a fucking monster of a track. Wish it was on the album proper. The Decemberists have never recorded (and released, at least) ANYTHING like it. Fucking balls out. Wow.

Kevin Davis, if you want growth and evolution, you've got it on this one, bub.

time to rank songs!

top tier:
a beginning song

a little bit below top tier:
cavalry captain
philomena
make you better
lake song

very good tier:
the singer adresses his audience
till the water's all gone
the wrong year

good tier:
carolina low
anti-summersong
mistral
12/17/12

ehhh tier:
better not wake the baby
easy come, easy go
(at least they don't totally annoy me anymore)


i'm also beginning to love 'her majesty the decemberists' more and more every time i listen to it. i kind of
ignored that album for a time and now it's growing on me so much that it might end up being my favorite.

Mike wrote:i'm also beginning to love 'her majesty the decemberists' more and more every time i listen to it. i kind of
ignored that album for a time and now it's growing on me so much that it might end up being my favorite.

Her Majesty was the first thing I ever heard by them. It was my absolute favorite until The Crane Wife. Some days I still go back and forth between the two. They're both so, so great but so, so different. It really comes down to mood more often than not.

I think I still consider TCW their best because it's so complete and fully realized and subtle. It's less of a sketch. Which maybe shouldn't make it "better." But, yeah, you can't go wrong with either. I also wonder, for myself, when the dust finally settles, now that I've lived with both for a long time, if Her Majesty won't end up in the prime spot.

durdencommatyler wrote:

Mike wrote:i'm also beginning to love 'her majesty the decemberists' more and more every time i listen to it. i kind of
ignored that album for a time and now it's growing on me so much that it might end up being my favorite.

Her Majesty was the first thing I ever heard by them. It was my absolute favorite until The Crane Wife. Some days I still go back and forth between the two. They're both so, so great but so, so different. It really comes down to mood more often than not.

I think I still consider TCW their best because it's so complete and fully realized and subtle. It's less of a sketch. Which maybe shouldn't make it "better." But, yeah, you can't go wrong with either. I also wonder, for myself, when the dust finally settles, now that I've lived with both for a long time, if Her Majesty won't end up in the prime spot.

i agree with you about the crane wife. that album proficiently displays both their tendency toward sprawling gimmickry and their capacity for concise poppiness. it's like the midpoint between hazards of love and the king is dead.

on a related note, i really dislike the hazards of love.

caveat: i haven't heard the new one yet

Having only lived with the new one for a very little while now, I go:

1. The Crane Wife
2. Her Majesty

3. Castaways
4. Terrible World, Beautiful World
5. Hazards of Love

6. Picaresque
7. King is Dead

durdencommatyler wrote:

Mike wrote:i'm also beginning to love 'her majesty the decemberists' more and more every time i listen to it. i kind of
ignored that album for a time and now it's growing on me so much that it might end up being my favorite.

Her Majesty was the first thing I ever heard by them. It was my absolute favorite until The Crane Wife. Some days I still go back and forth between the two. They're both so, so great but so, so different. It really comes down to mood more often than not.

I think I still consider TCW their best because it's so complete and fully realized and subtle. It's less of a sketch. Which maybe shouldn't make it "better." But, yeah, you can't go wrong with either. I also wonder, for myself, when the dust finally settles, now that I've lived with both for a long time, if Her Majesty won't end up in the prime spot.

i've begun listening to the decemberists with TCW and considered (or still consider) it their best for a while. the highs on TCW are very high which always makes an album especially memorable to me compared to albums that are just constantly very good. the standouts on TCW would be the first 4 tracks (especially the crane wife 3) and the crane wife 1 & 2. listening to HMTC quite a bit over the last few weeks made me realize that i might like it a bit more on the whole but i'm talking about a marginal difference here.

my ranking would be something like this:
TCW/HMTC
Picaresque
TKID/WATW, WABW
THOL

i don't want to rank C&C yet, because i haven't spent enough time with it yet. (shame on me, i'm listening to the decemberists for a very long time now.)

Castaways is a beautiful record.

i bet it will go into heavy rotation here soon.

The Hazards of Love has probably aged the worst for me. I loved it when it dropped. And I still think some of their best work is on that record. But I find myself reaching for it less and less. Still, I loved the unabashed theatricality of it all. A lot of bands have made ROCK operas. The Decemerists made a rock OPERA.

even though THOL is ranking last for me i like it quite a bit. the idea/concept of it is pretty cool but at some points i feel the concept got in the way of writing strong songs. at points the concept is supported by really good songs (the wanting comes in waves, the rake's song for example) it's pretty great.

Mike wrote:but at some points i feel the concept got in the way of writing strong songs.

I would agree with that, yeah.

Shara

She. Is. Everything.

I still think The Wanting Comes in Waves is one of the best songs in their catalog. I can't handle that fucking song.