This is not The Decemberists -- this is the Colin Meloy Musical Revue. Featuring live material recorded on his 2006 solo tour, Colin Meloy Sings Live! contains many trials and tribulations from pre-Crane Wife Decemberists, a track from the band's Picaresqueties EP, one from his own Colin Meloy Sings Shirley Collins EP, a Tarkio track, a couple of unreleased rarities, and a few seconds-long cover surprises. Some will search for the “point” of venturing out to perform with nothing but a guitar and a sack of songs for protection, but hell, Billy Bragg has been doing the same thing since time eternal, with as idiosyncratic a voice as it gets and with better-than-great results. Whereas Meloy's ...Sings Shirley Collins and ...Sings Morrissey EPs were enjoyable one-offs, the “less is more” rule fails on Colin Meloy Sings Live!. Meloy has a deep catalog of florid tunes, but presented in this naked form, many suffer from sheer straightforwardness.
Starting with a past glance to his pre-Decemberists band Tarkio, “Devil’s Elbow” sets the mood and foreshadows what to expect during the course of Sings Live!: mellow and agreeable. The selection culled from his Shirley Collins “covers” EP, “Barbara Allen,” is less raucous than its first appearance, but being a traditional arrangement, it lends itself more to this intimate stage set and is closer in spirit to Collins' renditions (or to Meg Baird's “The Cruelty of Barbary Allen,” based on the same “Child Ballad” found on her 2007 album Dear Companion). All of the tracks are warmly received by the audience; Picaresque faves like “We Both Go Down Together,” “On the Bus Mall,” and “The Engine Driver” get extra love for recognition and, on the latte, vocal accompaniment from the crowd. But for those of you looking for something off-center, the parts of this collection that are the most interesting are his song pilfering choices, his two previously unreleased numbers (for very different reasons), and his stage patter.
As he does in his regular band setup, Meloy plays playful. Besides the banter, there are opportunities to unleash his inner Stevie Nicks and Morrissey during the endings of “Here I Dreamt I was an Architect” and “California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade” with some freestyle Fleetwood Mac (“Dreams”) and The Smiths (“Ask”). When the charming wiseacre prefaces “Dracula’s Daughter” as the worst song he has ever written, he is not exaggerating. The jaunty number is quickly castrated by the cringe-worthy “Dracula’s Daughter’s got it bad/ You think you’ve got it bad?/ Try having Dracula for your a dad/ See how it looks on you” before Meloy smartly stops the song short. I have heard worse, but not much. That is part of Meloy’s charm though; he pulls you quickly to his side with a twin attack of quick wit and self-deprecation.
From this self-admitted songwriting low point there, is only one direction to turn and Meloy looks miles up from his worst song to one of his best: the previously unreleased “Wonder.” “I wonder what wonder have we wrought here? It’s weird and wonderful, dear/ An ankle, an earlobe, and elbow bone. It’s weird how it wonderful grows/ And it was only me and you, that made this three come out of two.” I admit that the relatively new father status I share with Meloy may have hit home harder than it normally would or should, but regardless of song subject, it is all absolutely beautiful stuff.
The in-between song “banter” pieces get their own titles. “Evoking a Campfire Singalong” is a noble attempt by Meloy, but creating such an environment is easier said than done. While the crowd may have enthusiastically lapped up Meloy’s cute track pre-and-postludes like gravy added to kibble during the shows themselves, the partygoers on record here are content to listen to the troubadour with really quiet awe instead of choosing to participate (with a couple of exceptions, when urged on by our hero). Rapt attention is given to Meloy, who has carved out an eccentric niche for himself as a beacon of light and hope to indie rock orphans everywhere, and the reverence afforded to him by his followers is perfectly fine, but some reciprocal give-and-take might have added a spark to a rather dull recorded affair.
A bare release by one of our most charismatic artists is not something that would normally offend anyone. Unfortunately, it never really excites either. If anything, The Decemberists sound is the sound of dignified grandeur, so these unaccompanied, unadorned versions all pale to the originals. This album is a must for Decemberists’ fans and even a fairly pleasant diversion for casuals, but Colin Meloy Sings Live! is exactly that and nothing more: a few interesting veers among a bunch of Decemberists songs stripped of their playful pretentiousness. Meloy has a number of skills that should benefit him in this type of concert (vivid story-in-song lyrics, distinctive and well-liked voice, an innate ease in front of a microphone and audience), but I doubt anyone left these solo shows giddily pondering the “wonder” of the night.
1. Devil’s Elbow
2. We Both Go Down Together
3. Evoking a Campfire Singalong
4. The Gymnast, High Above the Ground
5. Here I Dreamt I Was Architect/Dreams
6. Dracula’s Daughter
7. Wonder
8. A Brief Introduction to Shirley Collins
9. Barbara Allen
10. The Engine Driver
11. On the Bus Mall
12. A Skull, a Ship, and a Sheep
13. California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade/Ask
14. The Bachelor and the Bride
15. A Cautionary Song
16. Red Right Ankle
17. Bandit Queen