Being a weeklie podcaste from Madison, Wisconsin featuring several remarkable curiosities therein occurring being a compendium of live music from divers artistes
Show #188: The Hazards of Love in Madison
August 10th, 2009
The Decemberists were here in Madison a few days ago playing in support of their latest effort, The Hazards of Love. When it was released, I was not particularly familiar with their work. There were a handful of songs that I enjoyed but I didn’t qualify as a fan. But reviews of Hazards kept mentioning that they had created a rock opera, of sorts, and that the album was a step away from the folky – almost twee – sound for which they had become known. While there was more rock to be had, leader Colin Meloy’s penchant for the anachronistic still held sway. Indeed, the word was that it was in full bloom with a storyline involving a heroine named Margaret who loves a male dryad, a villain named Rake, and an evil queen. Reviews mentioned that the story itself is quite muddled but what concept album isn’t?
The band earned further points with me by introducing fans to the new opus live at the SXSW Festival on 18 March, nearly a week before the CD was on store shelves. (Although I believe it was made available on iTunes the day before.) This reminded me of when Yes began playing all four songs(!) on the double concept album Tales From Topographic Oceans almost a full month before the album’s release. Many a Yes fan was befuddled by the 90 minutes of new and completely unfamiliar material. No doubt there were some Decemberists fans who felt the same way back in March. If all this weren’t enough, I learned that the band’s keyboardist, Jenny Conlee, is a huge Jethro Tull fan.
Various people were brought into the studio to sing the parts of some of the characters. Among them were Becky Stark and Shara Worden who have joined the band’s tour. I’ve not yet heard the album (it’s on my to-buy list) – only bits from a couple different shows so I’m not sure who is who, at this point, but one of them will most certainly remind some folks of Sandy Denny. From what I’ve heard, Hazards is more like The Who’s Tommy than it is, say, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis or Jethro Tull’s A Passion Play. Still, there’s plenty of dynamics and drama sitting next to some catchy hooks which should appeal to prog heads as well as indie rock fans as they listen to Rake’s progress.
(Photos by Eileen Joyce.)
This week’s podcast is an audience recording of The Decemberists performing The Hazards of Love. (If anyone wants me to post the rest of the show, please let me know.) Not the greatest of sonic fidelity but certainly not bad. It was recorded a few days ago on 5 August at the Overture Center here in Madison.
Someone also grabbed video from this concert and so here is “Rocks in the Box”, a brand new song. (More vids can be found at Mixtapes|Heartbreaks.)
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