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Vinyl love: The Decemberists “The king is dead”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: The Decemberists
Album Title: The king is dead
Year released: 2011
Details: Gatefold sleeve, 180 gram

The skinny: The Portland-based five-piece’s 5th record is a pretty straightforward album, as far as The Decemberists go. Focusing smartly this time on the American folk tradition, the band received support from Gillian Welch, Laura Veirs, and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck. It’s lovely stuff.

Standout track: “This is why we fight”

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Vinyl love: The Decemberists “What a terrible world, what a beautiful world”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: The Decemberists
Album Title: What a terrible world, what a beautiful world
Year released: 2015
Details: Gatefold sleeve, Double LP, 180 gram, Laser etching on side D

The skinny: Working backwards through my Decemberists collection, their 7th studio album is a lighter and livelier work than their earlier material. I was released after a four year ‘hiatus of sorts’, but it felt more like a decade. “What a terrible world, what a beautiful world” did not disappoint, feeling like a breath of fresh air to combat all the evil pollutants we have to deal with in the daily news.

Standout track: “Make you better”

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Vinyl love: The Decemberists “I’ll be your girl”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: The Decemberists
Album Title: I’ll be your girl
Year released: 2018
Details: Gatefold sleeve, Orange vinyl, Limited edition, Autographed

The skinny: Personally, I think all those people that are listening to The Decemberists’ eighth album and saying that the band completely changed their sound, haven’t really been listening closely to the Portland-based quintet all along. Sure, there are synths and some other experimentation in their use of instruments and song structure but I’ve always though this band has always done a great job of pushing themselves forward. Also, Colin Meloy’s awesome, literate lyrics and one-of-a kind vocals are still here so longtime fans should still be pleased.

Standout track: “Severed”