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King Decemberist Colin Meloy's love for the heydays of British folk-rock has always served as the foundation on which he builds his crafty, idiosyncratic chamber pop, but on Hazards of Love he's taken that bedrock and built his own version of Stonehenge. A 17-song suite (think one continuous song with track ID's peppered throughout for sanity's sake) about a girl named Margaret, shapeshifters, forest queens, and fairytale treachery, Hazards of Love is ambitious, pretentious, obtuse, often impenetrable, and altogether pretty great. Harking back to the late-60s/early-70s offerings from bands like Pentangle, Horslips, ELP, Steeleye Span, and the Incredible String Band, it makes no apologies for its nerdy, prog rock musicality, and convoluted narrative. Meloy, who often cites Shirley Collins, Nic Jones, and Anne Briggs as influences -- Hazards is named after a Briggs' EP which featured no such song -- must have had a vast hard rock/power metal collection to draw from as well, as one can glean melodic cues and structures from Iron Maiden and Rush as easily as they can Fairport Convention and Jethro Tull. On a record with no obvious single (the first instance of the title track comes the closest), it's the album as a whole that needs to engage, and for the most part, the Decemberists have succeeded. The inclusion of guest vocalists Becky Stark (Lavender Diamond) and Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond), who bring some Little Queen-era Heart to the table, as well as bit parts from Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Rebecca Gates (Spinanes), and Robyn Hitchcock help keep the focus off Meloy's affected vocals, but its the music that drives this beast into the forest.
Condition:Brand new factory sealed.
TRACK LISTING
1 Prelude 3:04
2 The Hazards of Love 1 (The Prettiest Whistles Won't Wrestle the Thistles Un 4:18
3 A Bower Scene 2:08
4 Won't Want for Love (Margaret in the Taiga) 4:06
5 The Hazards of Love 2 (Wager All) 4:25
6 The Queen's Approach 0:29
7 Isn't It a Lovely Night? 3:38
8 The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid 6:26
9 An Interlude 1:40
10 The Rake's Song 3:15
11 The Abduction of Margaret 2:06
12 The Queen's Rebuke/The Crossing 3:56
13 Annan Water 5:11
14 Margaret in Captivity 3:07
15 The Hazards of Love 3 (Revenge!) 3:21
16 The Wanting Comes in Waves (Reprise) 1:30
17 The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned) 5:57
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