It’s funny, Picaresque is the album that got me into them but along with The King Is Dead it’s probably the one I come back to the least.
I wish Colin’s voice wasn’t buried under the filters or whatever that is. Only aspect of the song that I don’t like.
Indeed. Unfortunately none of the other non-singles did much for me so far. Edit: everything is awful is amazing
I’m a little disappointed overall. The first half really needs work. “Once In My Life” could have been great if it had verses and wasn’t so long and repetitive r. Cutting stone and star watcher are b-side material. But the rest ranges from good to great. So...7/10?
I usually love The Decemberists’ openers, but this one did nothing for me at all and was ready for the next track after like a minute. The second song was alright, but that’s really all I’ve had a chance to listen to.
This is fine. Doesn’t really break their streak of increasingly bland material but there’s a few good songs on here
I like the opener a lot, I don't mind the repetitiveness, it's just a real jam. I like "Sucker's Prayer" and the title track a lot, too.
Really love everything they did up through The King is Dead, but the last two have been exceedingly bland to me.
I’m liking this more on subsequent listens but it still doesn’t hold a candle to Picaresque or The Crane Wife
Recording quality on this sounds not very good, but I like enough of the songs that I’ll at least come back to those
I like The Decemberists a lot – especially their last few albums – and I love this style of synth/keyboard sounds. On paper, this album should be a homerun for me. After my first few listens it’s a ‘less than the sum of its parts’ type thing for me. The melodies are top-notch and very ‘them’ for lack of a better word. I think the new direction / style was an inspired choice, and I actually find it pretty refreshing overall, but I think it definitely hurts a few of these songs. The worst offender for me is We All Die Young. The version on here sounds very tossed-off. I read a quote where Colin said they all got bored with the song so they changed it up and, unfortunately, I feel like that comes through loud and clear when you listen to the song. The beginning of the song sounds to me like it was lifted directly from a song off Jock Jams and I just can’t figure out which song exactly. I am curious to hear the tracks that are exclusive to the Exploded Edition to see if there are any that execute the ideas they were going for more successfully. In general though I do find a lot to like about this album and I am hoping it grows on me after spending some more time with it. As of right now though it reminds me a lot of what Dawes did with “We’re All Gonna Die” only I feel like Dawes was a lot more successful.