16 MILITARY WIVES

2 tracks on this release. The first is "16 Military Wives", from The Decemberists PICARESQUE cd. While I really enjoy much of that release, including "Mariner's Revenge Song" and "Eli, The Barrow Boy" both great folk tunes, this song I find to be more middle-of-the-road pop/rock. It is not a bad song, and has some interesting political comments to make, but it is just average in the pantheon of Decemberist material. The second song here is "The Kingdom of Spain", which is a great and heartfelt rendering of what I think is a song that fits in well with another song called "The Infanta" from PICARESQUE, also dealing with Spain and their lost empire. I think, anyways, that is the meaning here. Could be wrong, I often am. "The Kingdom of Spain" is from an EP that went along with the album which I do not have, so this is my first exposure and I enjoyed it immensely! 3 stars overall for these 2 songs. 2 for the first and 4 for the last.