by The Decemberists List Price:$16.00 Our Price:$13.00 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Product Details
Media: Audio CD
Release Date: Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Label: Kill Rock Stars
Average Customer Review: 4.5 Based on 37 reviews.
Sales Rank: 101
Tracks
1.
Sporting Life
2.
We Both Go Down Together
3.
Sixteen Military Wives
4.
On the Bus Mall
5.
Of Angels and Angles
6.
Mariner's Revenge Song
7.
Infanta
8.
From My Own True Love (Lost at Sea)
9.
Engine Driver
10.
Eli, the Barrow Boy
11.
Bagman's Gambit
Editorial Review
Picaresque is yet more proof that the Decemberists' Colin Meloy is the songwriter who loves love—especially when it ends in death, ("We Both Go Down Together," "Of Angels and Angles"), disease ("The Mariner's Revenge Song") or in some other tragic way. This CD spends some time in the band's familiar old Europe setting, although Meloy also touches on politics, espionage, and even soccer. (Proving he knows his fan base, Meloy's "The Sporting Life," is the perfect shout-out to the kids who preferred the library to the gym.) Long-time fans will know what to expect from this album, which compares favorably to the other LPs on their catalog, and with Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla on board as producer, the band seems poised to reach the greater audience they deserve. If you're not already a listener, don't wait another second to become one. With their remarkable vocabulary and bawdy-yet-literary imagery, the Decemberists are guaranteed to make you smarter even as they make you weep. Pop this in your CD player, grab a dictionary, rock and learn.--Leah Weathersby
Top Customer Reviews
Rating:
1 The Emperor's New Album
When did everyone start liking girly fiction prose put to song? There is a reason this genre has not been tapped since the days of the bard, and the guitar strumming bird in the disney version of robin hood. that's because no one wants to hear it, no one with their own taste in music at least. i love R.E.M., and i am sick of hearing these R.E.M. comparisons. this album comes out and immediately takes us back to the days that we wished we were like geoffrey chaucer, wait, no one ever wanted to be geoffrey chaucer. here's what happens. a magazine gives this a good review for its originality and freshness and its "indie cred." so all of the indie rock kids gobble it up, making themselves think that they actually like pretending they are riding a horse in the eighteenth century while wearing their thrift store clothes. this same phenomenon, minus the horse riding, has happened with other actually good bands and is equally unfortunate, because then i have to be tossed in the same lot as them. fortunately, this band has served a particularly useful function in separating me from them, a sort of moat if you're into fantasy novels in music. buy this album if you're trying to impress your indie rock superiors, it'll do wonders for you.
Rating:
4 A Literary Journey in Classic Decemberists Style
In an age where the storyteller has all but been lost Colin Meloy of The Decemberists continues to write beautiful and haunting epics that hearken back to a time of sequined, laced concubines and shipmates lost at sea.Picaresque, the latest Decemberists release, is an appropriately named group of stories centering on odd heroes and the endless pursuit of love. Meloy continues to do what he has done so well on previous offerings. Rather than writing simple, happy love songs he writes pieces about death, revenge, espionage, and sports, of all things. Amidst these varying themes is the constant Decembrists style of literary imagery conjuring up rich pictures of ships sailing and lasses crying on shorelines.What's truly wonderful about this album is that Meloy has chosen some new topics for his writing. Rather than just writing about pirates and prostitutes he writes about spies ("The Bagman's Gambit") and sports failures ("The Sporting Life"). He even tackles modern day issues in "16 Military Wives," a song about American Imperialism and Celebrity involvement."The Sporting Life" is one of my personal favorites. It's an upbeat song about falling down during a soccer game. The song talks about the speaker's father having high hopes for his athletic ability, his girlfriend being arm in arm with the captain of the other team, and his coach acting disappointed about putting him in the game in the first place. I wonder if this song is a little autobiographical. I'm guessing that a large portion of The Decemberists fan base can relate to such traumatizing experiences.I was pleased to see a song like "16 Military Wives" on this CD, or anywhere for that matter. Rather than just attacking the military and America's overseas involvement Meloy attacks self-righteous celebrities and general American apathy as well. I'm glad somebody involved in such a liberal business had the guts to denounce others in that area and actually realize that being famous and complaining about something is completely useless. My favorite lines are "15 celebrity minds, leading their 15 sordid, wretched, checkered lives/Will they find the solution in time using their 15 pristine moderate liberal minds?" How deliciously sarcastic and biting that is; I just love it. Every line in this song is gold and the use of numbers is so elegantly done that they weave together and flow off Meloy's ever-acrobatic tounge; Meloy continues to find ways to impress me. I consider his lyrics to be amongst the most eloquently conceived today."We Both Go Down Together" is another gem. It is a song about love in a class divided time. The speaker is a son of "wealth and beauty" and his love is "a dirty daughter from a labor camp." At the end of the song the lovers fall together from a vast veranda, ending their lives in love so their souls can fly together. The song is gorgeous, the lyrics are cryptic, but vividly clear; this is classic Decemberists.The climax of the album is the epic "The Mariner's Revenge Song." The song takes place in the belly of a whale between the two surviving members of the whale's attack. The speaker is a young mariner; he's recalling the events of his life that led him to be where he is and how the captain he is trapped with shaped all of those events. At nearly nine minutes it is easily the longest track on the album. I won't ruin the story for you as it's much better told through song. I read somewhere that this track was recorded live capturing all of the raw energy of it. The vocal combination of Meloy and guest singer Petra Haden makes this song the most emotionally-charged and spine-chilling on the album.The music on this album represents a step forward for both Meloy and the rest of the band. The band took all of their old musical nuances and expanded them into a new realm of musical variety. The band chose to include some horn arrangements on this album which gave the music a new and exciting sound. While the horn parts themselves aren't particularly inspired, they also aren't in any way overpowering. They merely provide an addition to the work the band is already doing, ensuring that the band will be able to perform these songs without horns later without any trouble at all.Everything that seasoned fans have come to expect from the band is still here. If you came expecting the sound of an accordion on a ship's deck or the quiet sound of Meloy singing along to an acoustic guitar you won't be disappointed. This album mixes the cryptic, haunting verses, melodic choruses, and vivid lyrical passages that have brought The Decemberists a devoted fan base and a place in the hearts of music critics across the nation.A little sidenote to all you trivia buffs: Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie produced and mixed this album. Also, don't miss the "Made In Canada" sticker on the back!
Rating:
5 Not Just for the Ladies--Colin Meloy: Everyman (with Talent)
Brainy Colin Meloy undoubtedly has beaucoups fan clubs comprised primarily of women--intelligence is one sexy commodity. Let it just be said, without resorting to track-by-track praise (most of the other reviews here are top-notch), that here sits one grouchy, aging, 51-year-old guy, unfashionably heterosexual, who considers this one of the best--Top Ten, we're talking--releases since he was age, oh, 36 or so. Meloy's voice and his lyrics match perfectly. The first and third cuts are nonpareil; I can't think of a band with which to compare these Decemberists. Truly a dream aggregation. Thus: hey, the rest of you boring old f*rts out there in Listen-Up Villa, take it from one of your own. Here be monsters, songs which'll swallow ya whole and spit you back onto land, queueing up for another spin of eleven supreme cuts.Hey! No frontsies! I was here first!
