Great review of 'Liars' by Bob Renstrom in 4th of July's The Wichita Eagle.(also carried by The Hartford Courant) He describes the album as a 'an album of creamy melodiousness that clinches his status as a genius singer-song writer of the Wilson/Wonder/McCartney level.', and 'The results are a stunning achievement of, as Nick Lowe once said, pure pop for now people...The greater embarrassment is that we live in a bland corporate media wasteland where this grand magnum opus will not get the least smidgen of the air time it richly deserves'
Whilst the Decemberists have been around for a number of years, and a friend of mine is a big fan, I have to confess - a few tunes aside - they have never really made much of a splash with me. With their fifth album - 'The Hazards of Love' - a 17-track concept album that sort of tells a story about a fair maiden ravished by a shape-shifting demon (no, really) - however, I am suddenly find myself surprisingly won over. On some levels - like most concept albums - it is utter tosh, but with its repeating musical motifs and reprises, making you quickly think that actually there are only about five actual songs on the album - a clever trick. Like with all good concept albums this makes listening on shuffle not the ideal way to digest this album - especially as their are short 'interlude' pieces joining all the songs too. Added to all this the fact that the band seem to have a love for early 70's British folk/prog/heavy metal and this walks right up my street - and will ...
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