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Avg: 3.5 (13 ratings)
- Date Released: April 7, 2008
- Genre: Alternative/Punk
- Label: Rough Trade
The sheen is dead: Decemberists frontman strips songs to the basics.
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We Say...
Until this album, I hadn’t decided if I really liked the Decemberists or not. Maybe I still haven’t, but consider me a fan of leader Colin Meloy. On Decemberists discs, I hear a gap — one that continues to narrow but nevertheless remains — between Meloy’s grand aesthetic ambitions and the band's inability to achieve the folky intricacies of Fairport Convention or match the Smiths’ sense of propulsion and longing. But on this utterly unadorned album, drawn from several performances on his 2006 solo tour, where there’s nothing but Meloy’s reedy voice and acoustic guitar, it’s clear that this Montana-born, Portland-based songwriter is his own bookish beast and no mere Morrissey wannabe — even when he segues "California One" into the Smiths’ “Ask.”
Out from under his band’s blanketing layers, there’s a force and focus to his solo delivery that heightens his charm — check his personable between-song patter — and sharpens his songs. Compare Picaresque's studio version of “The Engine Driver” with this faster, starker rendition. Although the arrangement is reduced to a simple strum that mirrors the directness of his “If you don’t love me, let me go” sentiments, the result is louder, even catchier because he’s removed every unnecessary element and fills the vacuum with deeper feeling. This rendition sounds like something the Decemberists have never had: a hit. No wonder the audience starts singing.
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| 01. |  |
Devil’s Elbow |
4:19 |
|
| 02. | |
We Both Go Down Together |
3:12 |
|
| 03. | |
Evoking A Campfire Singalong (banter) |
0:50 |
|
| 04. | |
The Gymnast, High Above The Ground |
6:45 |
|
| 05. | |
Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect/Dreams |
4:57 |
|
| 06. | |
Dracula’s Daughter |
2:43 |
|
| 07. | |
Wonder |
3:03 |
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| 08. | |
A Brief Introduction To Shirley Collins |
1:48 |
|
| 09. | |
Barbara Allen |
3:30 |
|
| 10. | |
The Engine Driver |
3:56 |
|
| 11. | |
On The Bus Mall |
6:01 |
|
| 12. | |
A Skull, A Ship, and a Sheep (banter) |
1:56 |
|
| 13. | |
California One/Youth And The Beauty Brigade/Ask |
12:24 |
|
| 14. | |
The Bachelor And The Bride |
4:12 |
|
| 15. | |
A Cautionary Song |
3:45 |
|
| 16. | |
Red Right Ankle |
4:19 |
|
| 17. | |
Bandit Queen |
6:45 |
|
17 Total Tracks, 74:25 Total Length
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