Okay I've been listening to Hazards of Love, and I have one word to describe it. Weird. I mean listen to Queen's Rebuke! Wow. Do I need to atte- Actually, you know, fuck it. I don't have only one word to describe it, I have several: weird, awkward, inconsistent, WHYY??? Why are you doing this to me???? What's with all the 80s guitars on some of the tracks? It sounds like Axl Rose and Bon Jovi happened to pop up at the recording studio and took over the instruments. And where are the haunting melodies that only The Decemberists know how to produce? And what about that totally irrelevant P.J. Harveyish voice? It's not that it's a bad voice, but in combination with Meloy's? Dear Lord!! I'm all for bands evolving, but evolving in the right direction. And this is not it, for me. This feeling of disappointment is exacerbated by the fact that I am a HUGE Decemberists fan. I really really love this band and feel so let down. First Connor Oberst, now Colin Meloy too??? And I've never even had the chance to see them live yet! Oookay this post is not making me feel any better so it will have to meet an early end. But you know Colin, maybe predictability is not such a bad thing after all. And there are some songs - or parts of songs - on the album where, if you really pay attention, the good ol' Decemberists formula is still recognizable. So I will choose to have faith and hope it's not all downhill from now on. Is this just wishful thinking?
The actually quite good, though not mind-blowing or anything:
Isn't It a Lovely Night?
The mediocre:
The Rake's Song
The awkward:
The Queen's Rebuke/The Crossing
Isn't It a Lovely Night?
The mediocre:
The Rake's Song
The awkward:
The Queen's Rebuke/The Crossing
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8 comments:
I got this feeling already with "The Crane Wife". I was the biggest Decemberists fan in in the world, but I just didn't get this record. I feel the same with "The Hazards Of Love". Oh well. Sigh.
At least I had the chance to see them a few awesome times before it started to get down. Double sigh.
I'm so jealous! I've never seen them live...they don't really tour Europe that much, do they? Of course, I wouldn't mind seeing them now either, but if they were to play a million songs from the new album it would totally ruin it for me. Like when I saw Death Cab last year and they played half the songs from Narrow Stairs (eurgh) and all these random songs that nobody wanted to hear. (e.g. The New Year??) Thank God they saved three good songs for the finale.
I've seen them in Hamburg and in Munich, they've been to Europe quite often I think (well, not in comparison to the US, where they're touring all the time).
The Decemberists are a wonderful live band, the "Mariner's Revenge Song" live is legendary. But I just never wanted to see them performing stadium rock.
I always tried to like this band, and even bought their albums. but not once, did i ever manage to get through a whole record without skipping songs or putting on something else. However, Hazards of love fleww by, they sound way more compelling and fluid. It's got much bigger highs and lower lows. They just gained a new fan with this record.
Are you telling me Castaways & Cutouts or Picaresque BORED you?? (this blog is gonna drive me crazy) :P
I love every Decemberists album like it was a favourite niece/nephew, including 'The Crane Wife'. If I liked that, will I like this? As The Decemberists is, VERY sadly, the only release so far this year (aside from Slow Club) that has generated any anticipation in me whatsoever, I'm crossing my fingers/toes/eyes that it'll be good.
PS Oh, and they're A.MAZ.ING. live. Saw them on their '07 UK jaunt, and it blew my mind.
Sarah, I liked The Crane Wife too (though it's by no means my favorite). IMHO, the new one doesn't sound at all like that. There's no Crane Wife 3 on there, to be sure. I guess what I'm trying to say it, there are many things on the album that annoy me - like the instrumentation for example - but what pisses me off most is that there aren't any great melodies. That's the worst of it. Because we know they're capable of writing great tunes! So what happened? On the other hand, you never know, every person reacts differently to a certain type of sound and with an album so highly anticipated as this one, there are bound to be many different reactions from fans.
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