The Crane Wife

It's between "The Island," "O Valencia!" and "When the War Came" for me. I'm leaning towards "When the War Came" for the dirgey rock and noise but "Island" is epic and "O Valencia!" is the immediate pop choice.

BTW does this guy put on a British accent? People say he does and I can maybe hear it in the way he says "belong" in "O Valencia!" but most of the time, I just think he pronounces things the same way I do. If anything, his enunciation might be slightly lazy.

Is the older stuff any good? I heard some on CBC that was good but I've heard that the prog tendencies aren't as prominent.

Et tu Sundar?

haha, I actually thought the Decemberists might be up your alley.

When the War Came is terrible! Ok, maybe not terrible, but nowhere near the top of the list. And I'd call Yankee Bayonet the immediate pop choice.

Anyway, I have to go with The Island, mostly for Landlord's Daughter, although I like Come and See as well. I don't think You'll Not Feel the Drowning is that great, but it works well enough.

And pre-emptively, Sons and Daughters is crap.

I can see your point. Maybe "O Valencia" is the immediate Smithsy choice?

OTM

Oh, also:

Is the older stuff any good? I heard some on CBC that was good but I've heard that the prog tendencies aren't as prominent.

If you like The Crane Wife I'm sure you'll like the older ones. 5 songs has some decent stuff, but doesn't really stand on its own. Castaways and Cutouts is great, kind of lo-fi, a lot dreamier and more abstract and fantastical, less hung up on anachronisms. Her Majesty is the best in my opinion. Crisp production and some nice arrangements, but it doesn't go over the top. You'll dig The Tain if you like The Island. That might be the proggiest, but otherwise they haven't done much that sounds like The Island or When the War Came. I really don't care for Picaresque except for a couple of tracks -- gimmicky songs and crappy overcrowded production.

And I've never really heard the British accent thing. But people have said that about me and I don't think I sing like a Brit either.

And pre-emptively, Sons and Daughters is crap.

-- St3ve Go1db3rg, Thursday, January 10, 2008 6:24 AM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

I will admit that it's cheesy, but... I was listening to this album during one really shitty late night/early morning, and for some reason, when that song started, I just began to crumble. the line "Hear all the bombs fade away" actually made me burst into tears. just one of the moments.

er, "one of those moments", rather.

I probably think it's crap because it has something good about it that gets ruined by 3 or 4 too many repetitions.

thank you Sundar - you have reminded me I really need to put this on my ipod.

I went for O, Valencia! in the end. As a Brit, I don't think the Decembrists' singer sounds British, but I think the fact that ppl are saying that he does is an interesting e.g. of how the mind can play tricks, in the sense that the song structure and subject matter seems British, e.g. whichever song on Picaresque which mentions "Eli the barrow boy"; how can you sing those words and not sound British which might lead the mind on a "there's something British sounding about this" trail to an incorrect "must be the singer's voice" conclusion.

Unfortuanately, I never got to see these guys as the second half of the British tour was cancelled. I think they caught something nasty in Wolverhampton.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

EL OH EL

Shankhill butchers = more offensive than the entire ouevre of whitehouse!

Shankhill butchers = more offensive than the entire ouevre of whitehouse!

OTMFM for so many reasons

It's a lame, borderline-self-parody song, too.

Too bad about the poll. ILM doesn't like to talk about The Decemberists.

Their worst album. I missed the poll but would've voted for "When the War Came" or "Yankee Bayonet".

Surely it's better than Picaresque.

Nope. It accentuates that album's worst tendencies and doesn't have any songs to match, say, "The Engine Driver" or "The Sporting Life" or even "16 Military Wives". It does the story-driven epic both better ("Bagman's Gambit") and, uh, admittedly worse ("Mariner's Revenge Song"). Plus, The Tain made and subsequent attempts at proggy shit on Crane Wife completely redundant.

Also, "Summersong", "Shankhill Butchers", "Sons and Daughters", and most of "Crane Wife 1+2" are garbage. One of the best tracks, "O Valencia", is a lyrical retread of "We Both Go Down Together".

Best album: the first.

made all subsequent attempts

Well, I think The Engine Driver is a boring retread of Here I Dreamt I was an Architect, We Both Go Down Together is a superficial REM knockoff and a little too Leslie Anne Levine, and 16 Military Wives is just ok. I do really like Bagman's Gambit and Busmall, but as you say, Mariner's Revenge is awful, and that alone nearly ruins the album for me. Mostly it's the production of Picaresque that I hate -- Crane Wife sounds a lot better.

As I mentioned above, I think Her Majesty is best, but I can't fault you for saying Castaways, either.

i still love their first 2 albums but it seems they are very much a "diminishing returns" band as they continue to release more stuff

i would have voted for "the island" here since it's a bit less of a retread than the others