Castaways & Cutouts

Castaways & Cutouts Artist: Decemberists
Label: Hush Records
Category: Music


Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1


UPC: 723724409729
EAN: 0723724409729
ASIN: B000065C63


Release Date: 2002-05-21

Castaways & Cutouts


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Tracks:

  1. Leslie Anne Levine
  2. Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect
  3. July, July!
  4. A Cautionary Song
  5. Odalisque
  6. Cocoon
  7. Grace Cathedral Hill
  8. The Legionnaire's Lament
  9. Clementine
  10. California One
  11. Youth And Beauty Brigade

Similar Items:

  1. Picaresque
  2. Her Majesty
  3. The Crane Wife

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Buy the KRS reissue, not this.......2005-04-12

This is one of the best albums of 2002, but there's no point in spending $39.99 for a used copy of the original HUSH release when it was rereleased by Kill Rock Stars and it's still very much in print. They're identical.

5 out of 5 stars Come Join the Youth and Beauty Brigade.......2003-05-24

Listening to this disk makes me wonder just how much good music I will never discover in my lifetime. I stumbled upon this disk from a review at cokemachineglow.com. I just happened to stumble upon this random website and read a random review submitted by a random guy. So I not so randomly bought this disk as a result. From the first listen I was hooked. Songs of soldiers, unfortunate souls, whores, highways, and many things I don't quite understand grace this album. Refreshing. Lovely. Wonderful choruses, excellent musicianship, extremely unique vocal and lyrics. This album is definitely something 'new' in a world of tired 'old' bulls#$t. Thanks Colin et al.

5 out of 5 stars fantastic.......2003-03-27

This album is one of my new favorites. I just found out the Decemberists are touring the west coast. I can't wait to see them.

5 out of 5 stars My favorite new release in 20 years!.......2002-11-13

Thanks to Irene Trudel of WFMU for playing a track from this album while I was listening in my car! I rarely pick up on a great group while they're still new.

Hard to describe the Decemberists' sound, but Castaways and Cutouts is a collection of excellent songs and lyrics, with lush harmony. When I lent this disc to my buddy at work, his first reaction was to call Colin Meloy a "brilliant poet". I agree. And the instrumentation is superb...with a beautiful variety of timbres. Great use is made of the organ, the cello, accordian, various guitars in various tunings, and understated (perfectly) drums. Colin Meloy has a very distinct, slightly nasal voice that's perfect in this setting. I guess it's accurate to say this music blends some pop and some folk influences, perhaps with some kind of Celtic touch at times. I'm sure a good writer could articulate this better.

I actually grew up on Prog and heavy Rock, with folk-influenced music being a newer addition to my catalog. So, I don't know if the Decemberists sound a lot like anyone else...certainly nobody I've ever heard.

This disc is strong from beginning to end, with no throw-aways, or should I have said "castaways"? I think the disc finishes at it's musical climax with the combined song California One / Youth and Beauty Brigade. It leaves me almost breathless.

I thought people stopped playing real musical instruments in the 1980's sometime. Seems like that lost art is trying to come back. Bring it on!

5 out of 5 stars decemberists are ace!.......2002-07-12

My new favorite band and soon to be yours, The DECEMBERISTS', (featuring erstwhile Missoulian and former Lead Singer/Songwriter of Tarkio- the finest voice and lyricist in the Northwest- Colin Meloy), Brand Spanking New LP "Castaways and Cutouts" has Music, spinning tales of of Sailors and Whores, Chimney Sweeps and Phantom Babies, Nose Pickers and Gypsies, Lost Loves and New Found Ones, with Standup Bass, Pedal Steel Guitar, Accordian, Theremin, Rhodes, Guitars and Percussion and THAT EXQUISITE VOICE, and is reminiscent of Belle & Sebastian, Rufus Wainwright and Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians. It's Kinda folk, kinda country, kinda rock, kinda pop, kinda amazing. Not To Be Missed! (mine)

"The Decemberists soothe and lull with stellar songwriting that unfolds in stories--an idea rooted in folk, but pulled from the archaic by atmospheric guitars, soft drumming, and the occasional stringed instrument. Of course, there is the voice of Colin Meloy, scratching and knitting tales and legends like soft blankets for you to wear. There is doubtful a songwriter with a
clearer vision in Portland. Prepare to melt." (not mine, from some paper's review- but accurate)

"I really like pop songs," Meloy says, "but lately I've really been into creating things with a little more story than boy-meets-girl. I got fed up with writing about your angsty love life, your typical sad, sentimental twentysomething existence. There's too much of that already. So I figured, you might as well write from the perspective of a 19th-century chimney
sweep. At least that's not being done." (colin on his songwriting from a newspaper article)

Music Album:

  1. Live + 1 ~ Crowbar
  2. Feel It! Very Best of Question Mark & The Mysterians ~ Question Mark & The Mysterians
  3. Clap Clap Clap ~ Ambershades
  4. Still Payin My Dues to the Blues ~ John Lawton
  5. Bavarian Fruit Bread ~ Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
  6. Ovo: Millennium +1 (Ltd Edition) ~ Peter Gabriel
  7. Grass and Wild Strawberries ~ The Collectors
  8. Almost A Jubilee: 25 Years At The BBC (with Gaps) ~ Wreckless Eric
  9. Thoroughbred ~ Carole King
  10. Aint' No Easy Way ~ B.R.M.C.

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

Give It One ~ Dan McMillion

Complete, Vol. 18: 1949-50 I'll Never Be the Same ~ Django Reinhardt

Body & Soul ~ Johnny Quartet Griffin

String Thing ~ Richard Carr & Bucky Pizzarelli

Soul of Grace ~ Paul Nash

Beach to Beach ~ Jacques Loussier

April Pool ~ Nose

Air Mail Music: Mongolia ~ Mandukhai Ensemble

V.1 10th Anniversary Live 1971-72 ~ Pfm

Veil of Gossamer ~ Dave Bainbridge