Thankfully, that need is being fulfilled during Week 3 (better late than never), and I’m thinking it’ll be just the accompaniment I need to power me through the papers and quizzes that Week 3 tends to arouse.
Kicking off the Week 3 pick-me-ups are The Decemberists with The King is Dead, and I would just like to say:
YES. YES YES YES. THANK YOU SO MUCH TO THE DECEMBERISTS FOR PULLING THIS ALBUM OFF.
My relationship with The Decemberists over the years has been very love/hate in a Jekyll and Hyde sort of way, to say the least, but this album most definitely earns my love, starting with the stellar opener “Don’t Carry It All.” The album displays a more stripped-down side of the band – one which, in my opinion, is overridden by excessively theatrical instrumentation much too often. Instead of going the big-band-anthem route, The Decemberists have produced a more Southern-fried sound: A satisfactory shift.
I tend to think that the hate part of my relationship with the band stems from my innate abhorrence with whiny, high-pitched, nasal-y vocals, which is very characteristic of frontman Colin Meloy. However, I actually enjoy his vocals in the musical framing that The King is Dead provides.
Another highlight of this week is Low Country Blues, the latest solo album (and first in 14 years – ballin’!) by my favorite Allman brother, Gregg. Low Country Blues is a covers album produced by T Bone Burnett, and it’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect from Gregg Allman.
When rock royalty (especially veteran rock royalty) goes blues, it can almost never disappoint. And disappoint Allman surely does not with track-after-track of his take on hits by BB King, Otis Rush and Skip James, to name a few. My personal favorite? “I Can’t Be Satisfied,” Allman’s cover of the Muddy Waters classic. Takes the cake.
The punk kings of Social Distortion release Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes this week as well. And to be honest, I’m underwhelmed.
It’s not a terrible album, but it just doesn’t do anything for me in that blood-pumping, muscle-tensing way that a good punk album should. I struggle to even refer to Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes as a punk album at all. It’s got a sort of West Coast motorcycle rock vibe to it, which, if you know me at all, you know I don’t mind. It’s just not what I expected out of them.
Unfortunately, it seems that Social Distortion’s relatively old age is really starting to affect the music. Hate all you want – all I’m sayin’ is Ted Leo’s still got it. There’s no excuse.
The last release worth mentioning is Teenage and Torture by Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers. To be honest, I haven’t heard the whole album – just “Heaven in Stereo” and “Venus Shaver” – but the snippets I heard absolutely worked up my anticipation to hear the entire thing.
I mention Shilpa Ray because that band holds a little soft spot in my musical heart. They played at Athens’ very own Blackout Fest at The Union in April 2009, and I had the pleasure of watching/dancing (and subsequently fostering a bit of a girl crush on Ms. Ray) with former Managing Editor Jen Kessler. Ah, the good old days.
Being the Cold War Kids and Iron and Wine fan that I am, I’m realizing now that I’d probably be much better versed on the releases that next week is slated to bring. However, this week’s aforementioned releases are certainly deserving of my excitement and therefore have my full attention until next Tuesday.
--Courtney Baldasare, Editorial Director
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