Artist: The Decemberists
Release: The Crane Wife
Label: Capitol
Rating: +3.3
There was a land a long time ago filled with marigolds, sabers, dirigibles, palanquins, silk Arabian threads, keening bells, papery skin, and things of that lot. It was a happy land where one could run, play, and sew freely in the fields without worry of dragon or troll. We were all fond this land with its hot summers and cold winters. The Decemberists haven’t left this land. This is their land and hopefully will always be their land. The Crane Wife is nothing short of this land, and delivers exactly what you’d except from them. This era of The Decemberists finds us smack dab in the 1700’s, with weevils and all, well at least in the artwork. But hey there is a story from the 70’s…so there’s that.
The Crane Wife opens up with The Crane Wife part 3, with The Crane Wife parts 1 and 2 near the end, which is an interesting choice. They did a nice job with this old Japanese folk tale, changing the story a little to give it a little more color. They also filled the gaps nicely with stories of murderers, soldiers dying on the battle field with babies on the way, fleeing due to war, family fueds…ya’ know, things of that happy nature.
I feel with a band like The Decemberists it’s important to get the music fitting the stories, and for the most part they do a good job of it. However, The Crane Wife part 3 doesn’t quite complete the story for me musically, but that’s completely an artists choice and I can respect their decision on it. It feels it should almost be heavier on that part of the story. There are a few other songs that for me don’t hold up quite as much, but aren’t bad by any means. The Perfect Crime #2 for example has a tiny bit more of a novelty feel to it, yet still fun to listen to (I’m convinced they traveled back in time, stole The Doors’ sound, and put it on this song). When The War Came feels like a bit of a filler, but again by no means bad. We then have songs like Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then), which is really well put together (accompanied by Laura Veirs, who does a great duet with Meloy) and Sons and Daughters (one of my favorites on the record) closing with a booming chant of: “Hear all the bombs fade away!”, ending the whole thing leaving you with a good feeling.
Colin Meloy is great at telling stories. He is still wordy and still has a huge vocabulary, as any current fan would know. If you like any old Decemberists I’d recommend this album. It has a Picaresque merged with Her Majesty feel about it and it all works nicely, yet branching out with some new things I haven’t heard them do until now. Kudos to Chris Walla and Tucker Martin for the production. I loved what Chris did with Picaresque and I’m glad he was able to work on The Crane Wife as well.
End Scene,
Dan Tana
2 comments
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October 20th, 2006 at 12:59 pm
Acorn Eater
Sounds like what I’d expect from The Decemberists….pretentious wordy poop. Tell Colin Meloy to write a book, for goodness sakes - except this time, DON’T put it to music. Please. I beg you.
October 20th, 2006 at 1:02 pm
Acorn Eater
In the great (and, what a NOTION…SIMPLE!) words of Chris Martin - Colin Meloy, “give me real, don’t give me fake”. Or, should I say “give me real, don’t give me thesaurus”.