SOUNDTRACK: THE DECEMBERISTS-“The King is Dead Live from Portland” on OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting) (2011).
NPR loves The Decemberists, and so do I. Not only did NPR stream their new album before it came out, they are also showing the audio and the video of this hour-long concert of the band playing The King is Dead start to finish.
I haven’t really had time to digest the whole album yet, but I am quite fond of it. I’ve listened a few times and it’s very different from their previous releases, it has a much more folk/country feel (with harmonicas!). And from what I can tell this live set is quite faithful to the recording.
Interestingly, when they played the entirety of The Hazards of Love live (also available from NPR), they played that entire epic album straight through with no chatter in between. This live set is much more cordial and relaxed (like the disc itself), with some amusing delays and chatter between tracks. (There’s an amusing reference to the lyrics of the new IFC show Portlandia). There are tuning and tech malfunctions, and everyone plays along very nicely. It really shows the difference between the two albums and how adaptable the band is.
Much has been made of the fact that Peter Buck plays on the album, and I have to say that the live mixing of “Down By the Water” makes it sound even more like R.E.M.’s “The One I Love” (that guitar, wow). But it’s the country and bluegrass really comes out in this setting. Sara Watkins’ violin really stands out. They also mention the band’s side project, which I’d not heard of before now. The band is Black Prairie and features Chris Funk, Jenny Conlee and Nate Query (I guess Colin Meloy is real taskmaster that they needed to escape?).
The middle of the set is an interview with the OPB DJ (unnamed as far as I can tell) and Colin Meloy. They talk about Hazards and the new one. And at the end of the set there’s a Q&A from the audience (hear of Jenny’s wardrobe malfunction!).
But stay until the end because they also play “We Both Go Down Together.” It’s a great, fun, loose set.
[READ: January 23, 2010] “The Hare’s Mask”
One of the fun things about vacations for me is that I bring all the magazines that have been idling around my house and I read them during down time. So, I grabbed all of the magazines that were unread or half-read and put them in my suitcase. After long days at Disney, when the family crashed, I took the time to finish those final pages.
I often find myself falling very far behind on my magazine reading, but I was delighted that after this vacation I was totally caught up (except for the 4 that awaited me when I got home). This Harper’s story (and the next post) were the only stragglers from the trip.
And I find that I have much more to say about my trip and my magazines than about this story. I feel like it was meant to be profound, and it certainly had the ingredients for profundity, but it failed to move me.
Perhaps it was the metaphor of tying fishing lures, which I don’t care about. Perhaps it was the rabbit killing, which was heart-string tugging, but was more distasteful than anything else. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 