Pitchfork

Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy has released tour-only EPs where he Sings Morrissey and Sings Shirley Collins, but what we really want is for him to sing himself-- to remember his spirit, as Oprah would say. He does it all the time in the Decemberists, and he's done it all by his lonesome on his solo acoustic tours. Meloy's self-singing on his 2006 solo acoustic tour is documented on Colin Meloy Sings Live!, which Kill Rock Stars will release April 8 on CD and gatefold double LP.

Included on Sings Live! are songs from Meloy's first band, Tarkio, as well as cuts from every Decemberists full-length pre-The Crane Wife. There is also a tune from the 2006 EP Picaresqueties, two previously unreleased originals ("Dracula's Daughter" and "Wonder"), bits of covers of songs by the Smiths, R.E.M., Pink Floyd, and Fleetwood Mac, and a traditional folk song in debt to Shirley Collins' arrangement.

Squished in between all these goodies are stage banter interludes.

Meloy will head out on another solo acoustic tour this spring, and before then, the Decemberists have those four previously reported dates in their native Pacific Northwest.

Colin Meloy Sings Live!:

01 Devil's Elbow
02 We Both Go Down Together
03 Evoking a Campfire Singalong [banter]
04 The Gymnast, High Above the Ground
05 Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect / Dreams
06 Dracula's Daughter [previously unreleased]
07 Wonder [previously unreleased]
08 A Brief Introduction to Shirley Collins [banter]
09 Barbara Allen
10 The Engine Driver
11 On the Bus Mall
12 A Skull, a Ship, and a Sheep [banter]
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

The Decemberists:

01-22 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
01-23 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
01-30 Seattle, WA - Moore Theatre
01-31 Seattle, WA - Moore Theatre