The Decemberists - Florasongs

This was a thoroughly non-essential purchase, but I can't turn down a bargain. It also seems that I'm a big Decemberist fan, despite only really considering myself to be a casual Decemberists fan; my record collection certainly suggests the former. I remember when this 10" was announced sometime after their seventh album, What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World (an album I bought a week after it came out - maybe I am a big fan?). I remember thinking I wasn't going to buy it because I wasn't that big a fan, but here we are.

In March 2016, about six months after it came out, this copy of Florasongs found its way into the Norman Records sale and got added to my basket along with five other records. Despite my apathy towards buying it, I do quite like it. The opener, Why Would I Now?, is just one of those great Decemberist songs - moves along at a good pace and very memorable (the next song, Riverswim, fails on both those counts). Fits and Starts is basically a punk song and The Harrowed and the Haunted is a good example of a slower song that works (the hook is infectious), but Stateside is probably the highlight of the record for me. If the song isn't a direct reference to The Replacement's Answering Machine then I'd be amazed - the gentle strumming of a melancholy electric guitar and the fact the drums never kick in no matter how much you're expecting them to puts it right alongside Answering Machine. Another clue is that Colin Meloy literally wrote the book on Let It Be (albeit more of an autobiography of a very particular time in his life - as 33 1/3 books go, it's probably more interesting for a Decemberists fan than a Replacements fan, but luckily I'm both). That song alone justifies the £5 I spent on this 10" - thoroughly recommended.

Format: 10", insert
Tracks: 5
Cost: £5.24 new
Bought: Norman Records
When: 29/03/16
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Offa Rex - Queen of Hearts

I love end-of-year list time. I love seeing where the records I've enjoyed appear in other people's lists, what records they loved that I didn't and seeing who agrees and disagrees with each other. But most importantly, I love seeing what records people loved that passed me by entirely. I spend most of December catching up on these records and routinely find at least one great thing.

In 2017, Truck Store put Offa Rex's debut album, The Queen of Hearts, at the very top of their list, quite the accolade. Now 2017 was a strange year musically - looking back at my top ten albums of the year I can see that there'd be little overlap with most institutions, let alone with Truck Store, a shop that tailors to a fairly specific part of my collection. But I was still impressed that they'd gone so high with an album that I don't think I saw in any other lists. I have a lot of respect for their musical tastes in Truck, so figured it was worth a punt.

Of course, a certain proportion of the album wasn't entirely unknown - Offa Rex are a collaboration between singer Olivia Chaney and The Decemberists; the former not someone I know, but the latter a band I know well. I'd heard about the project but hadn't bothered to check it out straight away. I like The Decemberists, and Karl mentioned that Colin sang a few songs, so it ticks some boxes for Decemberists fans. I was feeling rich that day I guess, so figured I'd pick up a copy based on their recommendation.

The Queen of Hearts is an ok album, but it's not remotely one that I love. Olivia has an incredible voice - just listen to The Gardener and you'll hear that. There are moments where the music is appropriately haunting and everything works. But the overwhelming theme is that of a fairly straight-forward homage to old English folk songs, a genre I really don't have any interest in. Colin Meloy clearly loves it, as mentioned on his Colin Meloy Sings Live album. Frank Turner went through a (prolonged) phase of trying his hand at traditional English folk songs too. In both cases I was far from into it - I'm sure it's a rich and fascinating area of history, but I don't get anything from it and have no interest in seeing it revived - at best these modern covers sound like an average tribute, at worst they just sound cheesy. I didn't know most of these songs were traditional songs going into the album; if I had, I might not have bought it.

You'll see in the pictures that there are two white stickers in the top right corner - this was the description that Truck stuck on the sleeve which I've left on mainly because I never got round to peeling it off. What I read when I saw this sticker was "majestic folk rock" and "Black Sabbath", all words which are included and enough to draw me in. However, the words before Black Sabbath are "even at times early". Using plural "times" is a stretch, because there is precisely one song where you could try to compare it to Black Sabbath, and that song is Sheepcrock and Black Dog, which is so far from the rest of the album it stands out like a sore thumb, despite basically being the same but with a heavy guitar.

In fact, that's probably my main criticism with the album as a whole, it's ultimately very same-y. Olivia has an incredible voice, but both times Colin takes over on lead vocal I'm more than ready for a change. I think I hoped that the two would share vocal duties more on the same songs, but the simple structures don't really allow for that.

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 11
Cost: £20 new
Bought: Truck Store, Oxford
When: 07/12/17
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts

I'm a moderate fan of The Decemberists - I have all their albums either on cd or vinyl. Getting into them was a fun experience, starting with The Tain EP and the excellent Picaresque, bought on the same day in Cardiff based on a seemingly endless list of people telling me I should get into them (I bought The Tain on my first ever trip to Spillers Records, the same day I bought All of a Sudden, I Miss Everyone by Explosions in the Sky - a good start to a long relationship with that shop).

A few months after moving to Cardiff I finally had enough disposable income to start buying records again (it had been tough few months) and decided to start the Tuesday-Record-From-Spillers year, a year where every Tuesday I'd go to Spillers and buy an LP. As mentioned many times before, it was a very good year. The very first record I bought was this one, The Decemberists' first album. It was a fitting start, since the shop had helped me get into the band in the first place.

Castaways and Cutouts is a very strong debut - it sets up everything we've come to expect from the band so well - deep, interesting characters (Leslie Anne Levine, A Cautionary Tale), slow melodic songs (Cocoon, Clementine) and huge indie-pop songs (July, July!, The Legionaire's Lament, California One / Youth and Beauty Brigade). A lot of people would argue that The Crane Wife was the high-point, but for me it was always Picaresque - of course Castaways and Cutouts has long had to live in its shadow, but it does a good job. These days I play it rarely, but enjoy it more than I remember each time I do (although I rank July, July! amongst the band's best songs, so I look forward to that appropriately).

I've found I get less out of the band as I've aged - I've often wished for them to be more serious, but some of the moments I love the most are the exact opposite - but I still think highly of them. Maybe it's not an age thing and one day they'll be a favourite again, you never can tell. They certainly have potential and I'll continue to buy every album until I have a strong desire to stop.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 10
Cost: £10 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 08/01/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

The Decemberists - The King is Dead

I quite like this record. It got a lot of attention when it came out because it wasn't a concept album, like their last few had been. That didn't bother me much at all. I enjoyed their last album, The Hazards of Love, too. It's not necessarily what you'd expect from The Decemberists, but I thought it worked ok. I saw them live for the first time when they toured The King is Dead and I think all the songs stood their own ground pretty well; the riffs of the last album and the chilled folk of the new one.

I guess this album is quite refreshing when compared The Hazards of Love. I like that it's just 10 songs, simple, no concept. And the songs are really good too. Down By the Water and This is Why We Fight are my highlights, but the others all have their moments too. It feels a lot more like their first couple of albums.

I got the album a few days after it came out in Banquet. I remember the guy behind the counter that day (possibly Ollie) being very excited for the new album and chatting to him about it for a bit.

Nothing very exciting to say about this record, sorry. It's nice. Check it out.


Format: 12", gatefold sleeve, picture sleeve
Tracks: 10
Cost: £12 new
Bought: Banquet
When: 17/01/11
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no