The Crane Wife | 
 enlarge | Artist: The Decemberists
Label: Capitol
Category: Music
List Price: $18.98
Buy New: $8.22
You Save: $10.76 (57%)
New (36) Used (22) Collectible (1) from $4.97
Rating:  131 reviews
Sales Rank: 1079
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 53984
UPC: 946353984270
EAN: 0094635398427
ASIN: B000HKDEEW
Release Date: October 3, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Tracks:
| • | The Crane Wife 3 | | • | The Island-Come & See/The Landlord s Daughter/You ll Not Feel The Drowning | | • | Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then) | | • | O Valencia! | | • | The Perfect Crime #2 | | • | When The War Came | | • | Shankhill Butchers | | • | Summersong | | • | The Crane Wife 1 and 2 | | • | Sons and Daughters |
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Capitol raised a few eyebrows when they signed indie stalwarts the Decemberists. There's nothing blatantly commercial about the Portland quintet, from Colin Meloy's quavery voice and hyper-literate lyrics to the band's wide-ranging music, which encompasses baroque pop, prog rock, and dozens of other styles. Then again, he did once sing, "I was made for the stage," and those who've seen the group live know this to be true. Sure, they're storytellers, but they're entertainers, too--just not in the Top 40 sense. Never ones to play it safe, their major label debut takes its inspiration from a Japanese folk tale. It travels from the Replacements-style balladry of "The Crane Wife 3"--which joins words like "Each feather it fell from skin/'Til threadbare while she grew thin" to the melody from "Here Comes a Regular"--to the ELP hoedown of three-part epic "The Island" to the haunting duet between Meloy and Laura Veirs on "Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)." It's an impressively eclectic effort that somehow manages to avoid sounding scattered. Co-produced by Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie) and Tucker Martine (the Long Winters), the Decemberists' fourth full-length is richer, less immediately catchy than its predecessor (there's nothing as bouncy here as Picaresque's "Sixteen Military Wives"). It's also a deeper work that resists snap judgments. Some records hit you over the head with their brilliance, others need time to percolate. Time will tell if The Crane Wife is the Decemberists' best album--it's certainly their most ambitious so far. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Pretty good December 10, 2008
Hannah Drew (Queen Creek, AZ USA)
This is a good little story telling indie album. I gotta admit though, that my favorites are the radio ready O, Valencia and Summersong. Would probably recommend just downloading your favorites.
 Inspired December 5, 2008
T. Ortiz (Chicago, IL United States)
When a song is more than a song, it is The Decemberists. Unbelievably well orchestrated, carefully mixed, and clever beyond belief, The Crane Wife made me a lifelong fan of The Decemberists.
The Decemberists Spread Their Wings Even Wider (* * * * 1/2) September 17, 2008
Blake Maddux (Arlington, MA United States)
Following on the heels of three great albums, each one better than the previous, fans of The Decemberists could easily have wondered if the band could pull of the same feat with The Crane Wife. These concerns might have been deepened by the fact that the band had signed to a major label, which has been known to tame a band's signature sound for the sake of pulling aboard a greater bounty.
Fortunately, like the husband of the titular character of the Japanese story upon which this album is based, Capitol Records was apparently not allowed to observe the band as it weaved its fourth album. Granted, the songs might be a bit sweeter, even borderline precious at times. But still, the aesthetic that has made The Decemberists arguably the most unique new band of the 2000s has not been compromised a single iota. In fact, Colin Meloy and company push the envelope even further. The epics that were once between seven and nine minutes long now run for eleven and twelve minutes. Moreover, the progressive rock leanings that always lurked, Jaws-like, beneath the surface of their music now come crashing through like the giant whale from a song on their previous album.
The deafening silence of cash registers not ringing is probably disappointing to the label. But to those who expected nothing less than another masterpiece from The Decemberists, it is golden. And the two three-part songs notwithstanding, The Crane Wife is not a concept album. Meloy uses his longer pieces for the same purpose that he has before: to tell stories. The other songs stand alone perfectly as individual tracks. Like each previous Decemberists release, this is a song-based album pillared by a couple of magnum opuses.
"The Crane Wife 3" is a sparkling pop song, with a wonderfully singable refrain and a bubbly bass line that tickles the listener's ears. As indicated by its attached numeral, this song tells the end of The Crane Wife story. Here, like in so many archetypal stories of any culture, the protagonist's greed and curiosity overcome him and he loses what is most dear to him. "The Crane Wife 1 & 2", which appears nine songs later as the requisite next-to-last-track epic, tells of how the narrator first came upon a crane that has been shot down by a bow and arrow. After rescuing it, he finds himself rewarded when it appears to him one evening in the form of a beautiful woman.
"The Island" makes literary references to Shakespeare's The Tempest and Alfred Noyes' poem "The Highwayman". "Come and See" is surprisingly hard-rocking, thanks to Black Sabbath-like power chords, which at the end segue into the 100% Jethro Tull Hammond organ that open and fortify "The Landlord's Daughter". The bombastic, impeccably-timed instrumental breaks in this section are straight off the 1972 Jethro Tull album Thick As A Brick. (Bit of trivia: Although he never appeared on record with them, Sabbath's Tony Iommi briefly served as Tull's guitarist before being replaced permanently by Martin Barre.) This section's delicious lyrics, especially the opening ones, are reminiscent of the traditional Irish song "Whiskey in the Jar", which was re-done in more popular form by Thin Lizzy. The chill-inducing Part III of the song is adorned by a gently-picked classical guitar and deep strings. This is another tour de force by a band that isn't ashamed of its instrumental prowess.
In between the album's two long songs comes an interesting mix of genres. Four of the songs are highly-catchy pop numbers. "Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)" is a sweet duet between a Civil War soldier and his wife, whose part is sung by singer/songwriter Laura Veirs. While her voice and lyrics such as "though our skin may not touch skin" are wee bit precious, this song shows that The Decemberists, like their semi-kindred spirits Belle & Sebastian, benefit greatly from the use of female vocals. "O Valencia!" is, like "We Both Go Down Together" from Picaresque, a tragic story of star-crossed lovers that is driven forward by a foot-stomping rhythm similar to something from an early R.E.M. record. "Summersong" brings back the band's trademark accordion, as well as the oft-used nautical imagery, including "watery graves", "dead sailors", and summer getting "swallowed by a wave". Typically, a Decemberists album would end with a very short, less-showy number. While "Sons & Daughters" is good song and an effective closer, it might have benefited by being about half as long as its five minutes.
Meanwhile, the band grows some funk of its own on "The Perfect Crime #2", which features cool images like "It was like a ticker-tape parade/when the plastic on the safe was blown away". "When the War Came" brings back the 70s hard-rock riffs that appeared in "The Island". The lyrics "Our trust put in the government/They told their lies as heaven-sent" make it sound like a pretty standard protest song. However, the last verse seems to be a botany lesson, with references to Vavlilov, solanumm, and asteraceae. (Yes, I had to look up those three things!) "Shankill Butchers", which follows in the wake of its hard-rocking predecessor, ominously recasts a group of terrorists from Northern Ireland as bad guys who are out to get recalcitrant children in their beds at night.
As surprising as it might be, the wildly ambitious Decemberists still haven't released an album that pales by comparison to what came before it. The amazing thing about The Crane Wife isn't that it is indisputably every bit as good Picaresque. It is that it is arguably better. At this point, each album is like a new chapter in a book that one cannot put down and can't wait to pick up again once one does. Unlike a book, however, one can start with any inclusion in The Decemberists' catalog and appreciate it every bit as much. In fact, I am tempted to take back what I said about their debut album, Castaways and Cutouts. Perhaps it is just as good of a place to start not because it includes their best songs (it doesn't), but because it is where the band itself started.
Major (Label) Success August 5, 2008
Andrew Craft (Chicago, IL USA)
While more polished (think produced) than previous offerings, The Crane Wife still delights with Colin Meloy's signature voice and storytelling.
circuitous journey June 25, 2008
Matthew Ballou
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
i've had this music for a while - recently picked it up again to give to a friend. his excitement with "the crane wife" reflected my own: that the total piece is a journey of moods and situations, exclamations and saturnine musings. it works on you. when i think about the music i've really liked over the last 10 years, it's been those recordings that worked on me over time, cropping up and getting tied to certain events, certain feelings. "the crane wife" has become one of those recordings for me. it's well worth the listen, and i think it's a great intro to the rest of the decembertists catalog of work.
|
|
|
