3 keepers
keeper avg .300
The fourth album is introduced by the (counter-intuitively named) mostly acoustic "The Crane Wife 3"**** (and I will hang my head low), which builds powerfully over its course. So this is the earliest Decembrists album I've heard but it's clear on this one the early 70's prog was already becoming a part of the mix. Sure, the 12-minute suite "The Island: Come and See/The Landlord's Daughter/You'll Not Feel the Drowning"**** is excessive and pretentious as hell, but between the stomping introduction, the early Gabriel Genesis "The Landlord's Daughter," and the tender "You'll Not Feel the Drowning" finale it's never boring, and the best Jethro Tull since "Minstrel In The Gallery."
That's really all for the prog on this album, and elsewhere R.E.M's influence is undeniable, from Life's Rich Pageant, the energetic "O Valencia!", from Out Of Time (or via Soul Asylum) "Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)", and from Automatic For The People (or via John Mellencamp) "Summersong." The middle of the album is a clear left-turn from the predominant folk/alt-country flavor, with the Talking Heads new-wavy "The Perfect Crime #2" (why??) and the jarringly heavy but monotonous "When The War Came," but the end of the album returns to rustic dad-rock form with The National-like (fast but low-key) "The Crane Wife 1 & 2" and the triumphant, folk-y "Sons And Daughters"**** ("We'll we build our walls of aluminum, We'll fill our mouths with cinnamon" is one of the more goofily colorful lines).
Comments