“The Crane Wife” (the album) is The Decemberists fourth studio album, their 4th in 4 years, and brings to a close their initial burst of creativity. It manages to mix longer, literary influenced pieces (the title track(s)) and another mini opera, “The Island”, with some great Indie-Pop (“Yankee Bayonet”, “O Valencia” and “Summersong”) and doesn’t ignore those folky roots (“Shankill Butchers”). 

“The Crane Wife” (the songs) is a Japanese folk tale of a man who marries a woman who is in fact a Crane (a large long-legged and necked bird not a piece of industrial equipment) disguised as a human. She plucks her feathers to make silk which she gives to her husband to sell to support them. This makes her increasingly ill and when her husband discovers what she is and what she is doing he tells her to stop. She says she did it for love, he counters that love should exist without sacrifices but his wife responds that he who lives without sacrifices for someone else does not deserve to be with a Crane. 

Colin Meloy sets this story to music brilliantly across three songs on this album, “The Crane Wife 3” and “The Crane Wife 1 And 2” (that being the order in which they appear on the album). Originally the album was to begin with “The Island” and end with “The Crane Wife 1, 2 & 3” but it was decided that was too too cumbersome so “The Crane Wife 3” was separated from it’s partners to start things off. I usually add a link to a track from the album in question to these pieces but in this case I’m adding a clip of Colin performing parts 1, 2 & 3 solo, cos it’s ace. Please have a listen.

I’ve mentioned previously that in among the English Folk and Smiths influences The Decemberists definitely have a penchant for Prog Rock and that is ably demonstrated on “The Island: Come and See/The Landlord's Daughter/You'll Not Feel The Drowning”, a 12 and a half minute Prog epic of which Rick Wakeman would be proud . It is split into 3 sections as you can hopefully tell from the title (it was originally written as three separate songs) and the story basically concerns a traveller who sets out to explore a hidden island. While exploring, he meets a/the landlord's daughter who offers him her riches in exchange for release from the island, but he simply “takes” her instead. Once he is done he dreams of laying her in her grave which fills with water while she drowns. Part 1 is set among big, Proggy guitar riffs, Part 2 marked by an intricate keyboard arpeggio which bursts into life part way through before receding back to the keyboard and bursting forth again, and the final section is a gentle folky lament. The whole song feels like a test run for the ideas that will eventually become “The Hazards Of Love”, which we’ll get to soon.

As a side note, all the info I’ve come across RE: “The Island” claim it is loosely based on Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”. True it does contain a reference to Sycorax, an unseen character in “The Tempest”, but after reading Colin Meloy’s latest annotated lyrics on his Substack newsletter “The Machine Shop” it contains just as many references to works by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Dylan Thomas, Bruce Chatwin and various UK Folky types. So the claim about “The Tempest” is tenuous at best, hope that’s settled it for you.

“Shankill Butchers” is an interesting one. When I hear it, it always conjures the atmosphere of gangs like those portrayed in Scorsese’s “Gangs Of New York”, all stove-pipe hats, handlebar moustaches and butchers aprons. It is in reality about a loyalist gang allied to the UVF in Northern Ireland in the 1970’s who were notorious for kidnapping, torturing and murdering civilians. It’s every bit as menacing as it sounds. 

“O Valencia” is yer classic Romeo and Juliet type story but set in a quite bouncy and cheery musical setting…yeah, yeah, yeah I hear you mumble, this is all very well but what about dictionary corner ? OK how about arabesque or parallax ? Asteraceae, fontanel and dirigible all make an appearance in the lyrics. Reach for your own dictionary this time.

"The Crane Wife" was also made available as an instrumental album for Promotional purposes, just the backing tracks, and yes I'm that obsessed of course I have a copy of it ! If you are intrigued and need a place to begin with The Decemberists then “The Crane Wife” is quite dense in places but is a great one to start with.

The Crane Wife Parts 1, 2 & 3 - https://youtu.be/aPOMHM6waxk?si=CMytCJ7VjAjaJxOf

All of The Decemberists records we’ve visited thus far I absolutely love, but…“Picaresque” is probably The Decemberists first great album and starts a run of studio records of incredible quality that is ongoing today as we await their next release. Before we get to the music I must tell you about my copy which is quite the beauty. A 2015 Record Stay Day re-issue on luscious Red vinyl in a thick board gatefold sleeve with a 20+ page book of lyrics and pictures fixed inside. You get the whole album across 3 sides with side 4 being the “Picaresqueties EP” of outtakes and alternate versions (these post album outtakes EP’s have become a regular treat). There is a set of postcards depicting scenes from songs and a download voucher that gets you a complete live show…phew…

As for the music, well, two songs really stick out for me. Firstly “Eli The Barrow Boy” which upon first hearing I had to learn how to play, did so and have since done my own little bit in spreading the gospel of Decemberism at open mic nights here and there. It’s a doleful lament concerning Eli, his lost love and ultimate demise (he drowned, whether by accident or suicide isn’t specified but we’re at drowning again), it’s as Decemberists AF !

The other gem on “Picaresque” is the frankly preposterous “Mariners Revenge Song”. It’s a 9 minute mini opera-come-sea shanty telling of calamity, exploitation and revenge all ending in the belly of a giant whale ! It also contains one of my favourite Colin Meloy lyrics in “One night I overheard, The prior exchanging words, With a penitent whaler from the sea”, cracks me up every time. I was lucky enough to see this performed live a couple of years ago, including a huge inflatable blow-up whale being passed around the audience.

It doesn’t end there though, “The Sporting life” continues where “The Soldiering Life” left off but being concerned with athletic incompetence; “16 Military Wives” is a scathing rebuke of President Bush’s America (in as much as The Decemberists could ever be scathing); “On The Bus Mall” sees two young (rent ?) boys recounting their adventures; “The Bagmans Gambit” is a cinematic noir espionage story; opening song “The Infanta” is a tumbling and rolling stream of gorgeous words which seem to be about royalty of some sort while bringing visions of Blackadder along with it (it was also something of an influence on another songwriter I know quite well); “We Both Go Down Together” sees two lovers from oppposite sides of the tracks, whose parents “will never consent to this love”, commit suicide together (we are back there again), it’s a big fan favourite; “Engine Driver” always reminds me of Chigley (for those old enough to remember) and “Ivor The Engine”, it lies somewhere between both and The Who’s “A Quick One” without being either. 

All these wonderful stories are dressed up with, of course, Meloy’s outlandish delving into the darkest, forgotten corners of the English language (dictionary moments (this could become a whole series of its own) include palanquin (a covered litter for one passenger) and tamarack (a North American larch) plus pachyderm where most of us would settle for elephant) and guitarist Chris Funk being set loose on his Hurdy Gurdy, bouzouki and dulcimer to frame these songs. You’re just gonna have to get used to the fact that I bloody love The Decemberists.

The Mariners Revenge Song - https://youtu.be/iPAr7kL-mmg

“5 Songs” was The Decemberists first release, a CD EP in 2001. “The Tain” was an EP released around the time of “Her Majesty” and this coupling of the two was issued on vinyl as a MiniLP in 2004.

“The Tain” is actually a single 18 minute long track split in to 5 parts. It’s based on the Irish mythical epic “Táin Bó Cúailnge”, often shortened to “The Táin”., it was also recorded in musical form by famed Irish band Horslips in 1973. It tells the story of a war against Ulster by Queen Medb of Connacht  and her husband King Ailill who intend to steal the stud bull Donn Cuailnge. Because of a curse upon the king and warriors of Ulster, the invaders are opposed only by the young demigod Cú Chulainn (although I gotta admit the lyrics don’t seem to directly address such a story!). A bit Prog Rock? You betcha it is! From its ominous opening section, head banging part 2, a mournful third bit, lullaby like part four and ending with a suitably rousing climax featuring guitar riffs that refer you back to part 1, Genesis or the Tull woulda been proud. It’s something I’ve had to get used to with The Decemberists (Prog is most definitely a dirty word in my world) but they do it with such a twinkle in their eye I can forgive them their proclivities.

“5 Songs” in actuality contains 6 songs, the final “Apology Song” (originally sung into his friends answering machine after Colin Meloy had lost his pals bicycle) was added after the artwork had been finalised. The first song “Oceanside” still features occasionally in their live sets; “Shiny” contains a lyric about a “dull and witless boy”, the handle Meloy still uses online; “My Mother Was A Chinese Trapeze Artist" was recorded by Meloy’s previous band Tarkio; following the bouncy jangle-pop of "Angel Won't You Call Me", “I Don’t Mind” is the first Decemberists released song concerned with a common theme in their music, death and suicide (cheery huh ?), we will meet these subjects often.

Here we have a band starting out and then starting on a long form of storytelling, an idea they will further develop a few years later on “The Hazards Of Love”. Not essential but I find it all very listenable.

The Tain - https://youtu.be/i44Gc6N80mc