I'll Be Your Girl (studio album) by The Decemberists

From luigybetis 07/12/2022 01:05

Their worst album by a mile.

This album is mostly missing the poetic lyrics and wonderful storytelling that I love so much with the Decemberists. However they experiment musically with a lot of new sounds here and although it was hit and miss for me, overall it was a pretty good listening experience.

The first three songs were strong, and I think my favorite track here is Rusalka. As others have noted, that song would not be out of place at all on Hazards of Love. Has a prog folk feel to it.

From Brad1770 01/21/2019 11:31

Lets be honest , 'I'll Be Your Girl' is pretty disappointing and probably their worst release and so it was with some hesitation I checked out a new EP 'Travelling On' from The Decemberists which came out towards the end of 2018 and is a sharp twenty-one minutes of songs that were recorded during the I’ll Be Your Girl sessions but never quite found a home on the album those sessions produced.

There are some okay moments on this EP and it gives an opportunity fix 'I'll Be Your Girl' and make it a better album

Out: the simply terrible 3 some that come consecutively late in the album starting with the awful "Everything Is Awful" , followed by "Suckers Punch" and the excruciating "We All Die Young"

In from 'Travelling On' EP: the rather good "Down On The Knuckle" , the ok "I Will Not Say Your Name" and the not necessarily good "Travelling On" but included as ANYTHING is better than "We All Die Young"

Note: EP track 4 "Midlist Author" is poor

Leaving the following improved tracks and re-ordered "I'll Be Your Girl" Mark II

(1) Down On The Knuckle
(2) Severed
(3) Starwatcher
(4) Cutting Stone
(5) Once In My Life
(6) I Will Not Say Your Name
(7) Tripping Along
(8) Your Ghost
(9) Rusalka, Rusalka/Wild Rushes
(10) I'll Be Your Girl
(11) Travelling On

Better ?

Yep

This is - Much to my surprise - turning into becoming my favourite Decemberists LP! i liked them all the way but they were turning into R.E.M. and now this: so much fun.

From JulianR 10/04/2018 05:29

I like this album quite a bit. it's certainly not very standard for the Decemberists. In fact, if you told me that this was an unearthed Colin Meloy synth-pop project from 1985 I wouldn't be all that surprised. "Once In My Life" in fact reminds me of Talk Talk's 1984 hit "It's My Life" (partly because of titular similarity, but mostly because of a vaguely similar sounding synth lead and groove). There is a lot of variety here though; Severed, Sucker's Prayer, and Everything is Awful are my other favorites on the album, and all seem to present a distinctly different sound.

85/100 (Very Good)

Really underwhelming. I like the Decemberists but this seems half done. Some of the songs and lyrics are almost childish.

From Brad1770 04/03/2018 06:18

I've listened to this album 4 times wire to wire and have a good grip on its contents

Firstly declaration time , I am a huge Decemberist fan and have been looking forward to this release for some time

Secondly its a huge disappointment and doesn't work as a whole

The Good ? The opening 6 tracks are pretty good with the single 'Severed' and 'Starwatcher' shining bright , along with 'Your Ghost ' . Whilst 2nd to last track 'Rusalka, Rusalka / Wild Rushes' evokes memories of "Hazards Of Love " in the most positive of ways

The Bad ? Closer 'I'll Be Your Girl' is a tame end to the album unfortunately , which brings us to ...

The Ugly ? Oh boy these tracks really blow - 'Everything Is Awful' truly is awful , as is 'Suckers Prayer ' and the completely irritating ' We All Die Young'

So what does that leave us with ? 7 tracks that are better than good , 1 average track and 3 tracks that 100% suck . Based on that the album gets a pass but with a huge sad face of disappointment . I'll be compiling this album into a 7 track playlist minus the 4 offending tracks

7 out of 11 is 63% and that is my score

63 Disappointments Out Of 100

Easily one of my favorite bands. Easily their weakest album. I thought their last one was their weakest, but this one was far worse. It feels like they didn't even try.

After 4 listens, this is one of my least favorite Decemberists albums. However, there are excellent tracks on here such as Once in my Life, Everything Is Awful, Suckers Prayer, and Rusalka. I also quite enjoy the title track. The other tracks I can do without. It’s not awful but it’s not up there with albums such as The Crane Wife.