I had a whole listen through the discography this morning and the two standouts for me were "The Crane Wife" and "Cast-aways and Cutouts."

The rest was pretty lack-luster to be honest.

"Cast Away's and Cut-Outs" is a great album. love this band.

I agree about Castaways and Cutouts, especially The Legionaires Lament. :-)

The Decemberists
 

I've slowly become a fan of these guys and honestly I'm making this thread as a way to find out more songs from them cause honestly Its taken me forever to really get into their more popular work so anyone else like them and can fill me in? other than that just talk about the band, I have to give em lyrical prowess if nothing else

You can't really go wrong with their catalogue. Picaresque and The Crane Wife are their best, Her Majesty and Castaways and Cutouts have some excellent cuts, and the Hazards of Love is a lot of fun (albeit probably their worst album).

(not sure the rules on bumping threads here but)

New song, 'Down By The Water', was released from their new album 'The King Is Dead' due out on January 11, 2011
you can download the song on their site: decemberists.com

and tracklist:
'Don't Carry It All'
'Calamity Song'
'Rise To Me'
'Rox In The Box'
'January Hymn'
'Down By The Water'
'All Arise!'
'June Hymn'
'This Is Why We Fight'
'Dear Avery'



I really love their stuff, I wasn't a huge fan until I saw them live though.

Picaresque is my favourite album by them, I'm really looking forward to their new album. If it's as good as The Hazards Of Love then I'll be really happy. Does anyone know if the new album follow any kind of theme/concept?

I just read a news post today that says this album's not going to be very linear, some kind of throwback to Americana, with Gillian Welch on 7 songs(!).

I'm very excited.

The first single off the album "Down By the Water" is fantastic, it's the best Decemberists song I've heard since "16 Military Wives", it's definitely got a huge Americana influence. (And Gillian Welch sings on their first single!)

Gillian Welch sings on 7 tracks! That is the second most exciting aspect of this album, the first being that it's a Decemberists album.

I am holding off on the single.