The Decemberists – “Sixteen Military Wives” 7”
Rough Trade, 2005
Acquired: Half Price Books, Used, 2013
Price: $1.50
“Sixteen Military Wives” is the high water mark of the
Decemberists fun factor. They were always fun, with Colin Meloy’s yarns about
chimbley sweeps and their penchant for sea shanties and the more morbid aspects
of the grimy past, but “Sixteen Military Wives” is just a hoot. And a holler!
It’s jaunty and clever and a distillation of everything the Decemberists did
best in their prime before Meloy got obsessed with making grandiose concept
albums. Where The Crane Wife seems to
be considered their masterpiece (is it?), the songs were never as good as they
were on Picaresque. It’s not as
interconnected as any of their albums, but it works out for the best. The
B-side delivers a demo of “From My Own True Love” which along with “Eli, the
Barrow Boy” shored up the gloomy sad side of that album and helped tracks like
“Sixteen Military Wives” and “The Sporting Life” really pop by contrast. The
Decemberists’ most recent LP—The King is Dead—found the group returning to a more song-oriented approach, which was
great, but the whimsy had clearly dried up. Which is fine. Bands get older and
get tired of doing the same shit album in and album out and while The King is Dead is a fine record, it
really pales in comparison to Picaresque.
Plus, that video for “Sixteen Military Wives” was just fantastic, wasn’t
it?
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