So this fall, the Decemberists triumphantly return to the road for the Bridesmaid Revisited tour, dragging along 3 new, limited-edition, 12″ singles.  Each contains a new song that has been played live for a bit now.  The first of these vinyls drops in just over 2 weeks, Oct 14th.  The lead track is “Valerie Plame,” referencing the recent scandal, has just popped up on Youtube.  If you look hard enough, you can also find some other tracks like this live version of one of Meloy’s latest epics, loosely titled “Night/Rake.”  And don’t forget to catch Meloy et al when they drop into Rams Head on Nov 08.

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MP3: The Decemberists (Colin Meloy solo) – Night / Rake (Live)

I am pulling heavy duty over at BYT this week. My review of this past Friday’s Spoon show just went up.

Review of Colin Meloy/Laura Gibson show is here.

Go on over and check em out. Great photos by Joel Didriksen.
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Approach this preview and album review with caution, it is highly-tainted by personal bias. Let me explain.

I have seen the Decemberists (Wiki) at least 6 times that I can count (I have probably only seen the Pietasters (Wiki) more, somewhere around 12 times).

I have played their albums into the grave.

Their concert with the BSO (Wiki) last summer sprinted into my top five concert moments of all time, at #2 right behind Rage Against the Machine/STP in the pouring rain of an HFStival which is in the top spot. Even if Jeff Magnum and Neutral Milk Hotel continued doing their thing, I still think that I would pick Colin Meloy as the better song-writer.

Now that we’re through the disclosure segment, let’s get to the album after the jump.
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