Day 60: Colin Meloy

I'm gonna have to start doing some older artists to spotlight. I appear to have a theme going with newer artists. But, I guess you write about what you know.

This week's artist spotlight is Colin Meloy, frontman of The Decemberists and Tarkio and well-documented logophile. His songs are wordy and often times head-shakingly obscure, but somehow they manage to resonate on a deeper level than the surface story. Part of that has to do with his vocals, which really emote the emotional depth to the yarns he spins.

I've assembled a list of songs he's done from Tarkio to The Decemberists. I was debating whether or not to include his cover series (Morrissey, Sam Cooke and Shirley Collins) but decided against it. With so many good songs that he wrote, why pick ones he didn't?

YouTube:
(All songs by The Decemberists unless otherwise noted)
01. July, July!
02. Tarkio - Keeping Me Awake
03. Valerie Plame
04. California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade
05. Sons and Daughters
06. On the Bus Mall
07. Tarkio - Tristan and Iseult
08. Red Right Ankle
09. Won't Want for Love (Margaret in the Taiga)
10. O Valencia
11. The Bagman's Gambit
12. The Rake's Song
13. Raincoat Song
14. The Crane Wife 1 and 2
15. Song for Myla Goldberg
16. Apology Song
17. Tarkio - Caroline Avenue (N/A on imeem, "I Know Very Well How I Got My Name" instead)
18. Margaret in Captivity
19. The Sporting Life
20. Tarkio - Better Half

imeem: External:

Day 60: Colin Meloy

Fondly,
Erik

Bonus Vids!


And I know I said no covers, but:


(Image by Matthew Hickey, Licensed Under Creative Commons)