i think their 2nd album is their worst. the latest album has a lot less of the pirate stuff for all you naysayers. it does have a lot of stories about characters, but many are more modern.

Pillowfight and doilies.


I caught the Decemberists live and they bored the living b'jeezus outta me.

I like this album, but somewhere along the line it was knocked out of my top 10. Probably Sufjan's fault. Still, great album, though I'm not sure if it's as good as Castaways (certainly not as dreamy).

Top 10 for me...perhaps top 5.

Speaking of them, is anyone going to see Colin on his solo dates? Any MD/NoVa/DC peeps want to hit up the Birchmere show with me?

where is the birchmere?

3701 Mt. Vernon Ave
Alexandria, VA

The Drama knob could be turned down for them, and his voice warbling gets outta control. But possibly my favorite album of the year, owing largely to having seen them live before I bought it. Album sound is nowhere near as good as live. Hopefully a budget will fix that.

Is that a Georgia Bulldogs sticker on that guitar?

no, it's a red packer's symbol. he's from wisconsin, silly!

#1 for me. i like intelligent lyrics, even with a continual seafaring bend. (plus, as i said, they kicked arse live.)

as of today, it's #25 on my top 20.

i do need to re-visit it though...it has been months since i listened to it.

I know! I was trying to be a smartass with all the Georgians around here.

Goddam right it is. Somebody's gotta reprasent up here.

Remember that old David Bowie lyric from The Candidate, "When it's good, it's really good, and when it's bad I go to pieces"? Not really in context, but that's kind of the way it is with me and the Decemberists. One of the most intriguing bands around now, but sometimes one of the most frustrating as well.

I do like the latest a lot and think it's their best overall, probably an easy top 10 this year, even though there really isn't anything on it that matches the beauty of "Grace Cathedral Hill" for me. On the first couple listens I actually found this new one a little irritating. Has kind of a "phasey" quality about it that makes it hard to egt a good image of the music. Really wish they would have gone with a different producer this time, and next time on the majors as well. Walla is good with the instrumentation and all those normal production jobs, but some of the engineering leaves me cold. The huge amount of compression he uses tends to harden the sound and gives it kind of a clinical sound at times, especially on Meloy's voice. Can get real strident. Wish they would tone it down and make it a little more musical. Move Meloy down in the mix instead of so loud and out front. Use less compression so the music has some room to breath. More nuance and texture. Sometimes it just comes off so in your face and I don't think it fits the music. It works on something like NMH "In the Aeroplane Over The Sea" where Mangum is ripping stories from somewhere down deep inside, but Meloy tells stories from a more detached vantage. More like Morrissey and Robyn Hitchcock. Should be a softer sound to compliment that view, at least in my opinion.

Anyway, where did the pirate music tag originate? Do they even have any pirate songs? I can't think of one but seems like that word always comes up in the reviews at places like Pitchfork. I guess if you do a song about a ship on the seas then it's called pirate rock today

Dang, Davey dat good posting.

The D-ists are technically more victorian music hall sea shanty than "pirate'' but pirate's close enough.

no, i'm being a smartass. squirrg went to UGA.

I had that on my guitar for the last 6 months of a 2.5-yr weekly gig, and just about everyone that noticed it asked where I found a red/black packers sticker. Well, one guy remembered the Outback bowls.

I resent that.

<-------Openly left my UGA license plate on the front of my truck even though you're supposed to have Wisconsin plates on both the back and front. They can make me take it off.

FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS!!!!

am Ithe onylone who can't stand the sound of this guy's voice? and I like bad voices.

Well yeah, of course you too. I pulled that same stunt with my truck (plus the bolts holding the plate on were rusted solid, forcing my hand anyway). I just meant somebody up here has to stand up for good, honest-to-god SEC football. And not the shitty Florida kind.

All is forgiven fellow DAWG!

I figured it was for Grambling.

Or Cardinal Gibbons.