Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By The Decemberists, Capitol Records/Bandcamp 2021.
The pandemic has forced many musicians to re-evaluate their usual working practices if they are to maintain a living.
Many have turned to social media as a performance platform, others have buried themselves in the studio to produce new albums, mixed tapes, EPs, etc.
The Decemberists have taken the opportunity to delve into their back catalogue of recorded material and I’m really pleased that they’ve done so.
The Decemberists are an indie rock band from Portland, Oregon USA consisting of Colin Meloy (vocals, guitar), Chris Funk (lead guitar and multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (piano, keyboards), Nate Query (bass) as well as John Moen (drums), and they’ve been around for some time.
They announced themselves with their debut EP, Five Songs, back in 2001 and they’ve gone on to release ten full length studio albums since then, the last being I’ll Be Your Girl in 2018.
My introduction to the band was via their The Hazards of Love album, released in 2009, and it is this particular album that is the subject of the band’s latest release, Live From The Home Library Vol 1.
Initially The Hazards of Love was meant to be a staged musical but they found that it was just too unwieldy to produce in that format, so instead they played the entire album live at each concert on their spring tour in 2009 and Live From The Home Library Vol 1 is the recorded performance at the Royal Oak Music Theatre in their hometown of Portland.
Lead singer and main songwriter of The Decemberists, Colin Meloy, came up with the idea for the studio album after hearing English folk singer, Anne Briggs’ 1966 EP of the same title.
It was at a point where Meloy was fascinated by the Folk revival that swept England in the ‘60s and as Briggs’ EP didn’t have a song named The Hazards of Love Meloy set out to write one.
However, as he immersed himself in the process the characters he devised took control and the project veered off course and took on a life of its own.
A similar thing happened to me when I set out to write a stage play based on the writings of Irish satirist Flan O’Brien.
By the time the play was finished it bore only a passing resemblance to the original source material.
The Hazards of Love was a wonderful studio album and the live performance is equally outstanding.
If you haven’t heard this album I suggest that you give it a listen, it really is remarkably good.
