Love Rant (Part II)

The Decemberists
This goes back about a week. Okay, maybe a little more than that. What happened was I have been listening to The Decemberists' Picaresque since the day it came out, just a little bit. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I put the CD back in my car. Since then, it hasn't stayed out of the little player for more than a couple days. I am obsessed with it. Then, I went out to eat with a few of my co-workers, and well, they thought I listened to "weird music."

In their defense, I was listening to "The Mariner's Revenge Song," which doesn't have quite the pop hook that say "16 Military Wives" or "July, July" has. Still, I was hurt.

My rant today isn't so much about how great The Decemberists are as a band, because my words could never do theirs justice. Some days I fantasize about singer Colin Meloy, only to realize that I probably couldn't even hold a conversation with him. They're almost too smart for their own good. Almost.

Anyway, my rant today is about how albums can grow on you. It's as random as love, to be all melodramatic and stuff. There are some albums I have had for years that I try to pick up again (i.e. The Beta Band's 3EPs) and find I still can't make it past the song that originally made me bought the album. There are some (i.e. Mojave 3, whose album I have I don't even remember what it's called) that I never got into at all and thus never think about putting in. Then, there's one's like Picaresque. I literally forced myself to listen to this album a few times. Thanks in no small part to Casey Schreiner, who knows better than most that like a good bottle of wine, music to can get better with age, and who told me not to give up on it yet. And here seven to eight months later, I think it's pure brilliance. From "The Engine Driver" to "The Sporting Life" there isn't one that hasn't got me singing along to it in my car. So, how does one know what's worth holding onto and which ones are worth putting in time and time again, knowing that it'll eventually click?

And, if another Decemberists album comes out, will I do the same thing? Will the next one be the one where I decide it never grows on me? Or will they all grow on me, if I give myself enough time?

My life is just filled with questions, which for a journalist, probably isn't a bad thing.

Before I conclude, I have to say how happy I am to see Schreiner hop on the blogger bandwagon around the same time as me, and it's only because of his influence that I may one day cave and hop on the MySpace bandwagon as well. Yay for Casey!