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The Decemberists - Always The Bridesmaid: Vol 1 CD (album) cover

ALWAYS THE BRIDESMAID: VOL 1

The Decemberists

 

Prog Folk

2.68 | 6 ratings

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ClemofNazareth
Special Collaborator
Prog Folk Researcher
3 stars Some time in 2008 the Decemberists realized that the combination of canceling the last half of their world tour (illness in the band) and not having a proper studio release since 2006’s ‘The Crane Wife’ were resulting in a slight downtick of their public exposure. Not a good thing for a group that had just ‘made it’ in terms of commercial success; a major label contract, headlining tour and appearances on the David Letterman and the Colbert Report, and overall generally positive fawning-over by the more chic media outlets.

In response the group set about to put together a series of singles while they recovered from the road and toiled in the studio on their new studio project. The result is ‘Always the Bridesmaid’, a 3-disc series released in the latter half of 2008 and mostly available from on-line outlets like Amazon and iTunes (although Jealous Butcher offers all three as 12” vinyl singles through their website). None of these songs are progressive; in fact, there seems to be a conscious attempt to craft catchy, pop hooks and light, unburdened themes as opposed to some of the work the band has been known for in their studio work that requires rapt attention on the part of the listener, not to mention a yeoman’s working knowledge of obscure literary and historical references.

This first volume is comprised of two songs, “Valerie Plame” and “O New England”. The first came into being as a result of band leader Colin Meloy’s awareness of Ms. Plame’s public exposure in the Bush administration’s CIA spy-leak debacle of 2007. the song isn’t really about her per se, Meloy has just said in interviews that he felt her name rolled off the tongue in a way that it belonged in a song. For the most part I agree, and the toe-tapping tempo and simple rhythm put Plame’s name in the listener’s head where it will stay for several hours after the song is done. Lyrically this one is sort of an extension of “The Bagman's Gambit” from ‘Picaresque’, a convoluted love story involving spies and government agents in secret-keeping and secret-sharing trysts. Not a timeless masterpiece, but I’ll admit the song achieves the band’s goal of keeping me interested in them.

The other half of the record features “O New England”, an easy-to-embrace song despite several geographically-incorrect references to New York, which is not in New England despite confusion to the contrary. Meloy puts out his most convincing Michael Stipe vibe here, which along with a simple and seductive beat and Meloy’s languid acoustic guitar strumming will make anyone but the most dour person tap their toe and smile just a little.

There would be two more of these ‘bridesmaid’ singles to come, and none of them will be remembered ten years from now. But in the context of why they were created I have to say the band did a good job putting them together, and they undoubtedly achieved their goal. This one is the best of the three though, and the only one I will give three stars to. Recommended if you are looking for a mild mood- lift on a dreary day; come to think of it, that’s pretty much what Decemberists music is all about anyway.

peace

ClemofNazareth | 3/5 |

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