User Score
Universal acclaim- based on 98 Ratings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 84 out of 98
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Mixed: 9 out of 98
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Negative: 5 out of 98
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SteveS.Apr 6, 2009Not quite a rock opera, this is basically a regular Decemberists album without any good songs. Listen to Castaways and Cutouts and Jesus Christ Superstar instead.
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GregCouncilMar 26, 2009Better than the subpar Crane Wife, but still really removed from Castaways and Cutouts.
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Awards & Rankings
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His plot is so preposterous and unempathetic it's more the appearance of a plot, or an elaborate joke about a plot.
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The narrative doesn't get in the way of the tunes, and the choruses are pretty versatile as anthems go.
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The result is both classic Decemberists--all folk pop whimsy wrapped up in darker lyrics than their surface suggests--and a new direction, using the '60s/early '70s folk foundations to follow their logical path into that odd corner of the English genre that somehow crossed over with Heavy Metal.