Now this is fun. And I feel the need to write to an anonymous nobody about....well whatever I want to say really.
The Decemberists have a new album out, The Hazards of Love, and one place you can get it is here: 
. It's taken me a little while to fully get to the point of not only writing anything about it, but really even being able to like it. And now I do, a lot. But be warned that it takes a little time. Maybe we're a bit spoiled by being able to hit that "next" button when listening to music. When we read books we don't just skip to chapter 4 all of the sudden because chapter 2 is boring us to tears. This is very parallel; sit down with the intention of listening to the entire thing from start to finish. I'd argue that the fact that The Decemberists are intending to perform in concert where they play the album in its entirety, then play older things, only further argues for the fact that it is intended to be a whole.
The cool thing here is that they have made a "rock opera" of sorts. We are used to going to the movies and seeing musicals, as well as going to see plays, but this is essentially, to me, just like that, minus all the visuals. Or, perhaps like reading a book to an audible soundtrack. The album is, as a whole, a story, and each song plays out a scene of sorts. Naturally, there are gaps left to be filled in by our imaginations, but even the better, I say.
The story consists of several main characters:
1. Margaret, the beautiful girl who ventures forth into the woods, or "taiga" as it happens to be called, which is a fantastic word, but also puts the location in some place where the tundra ends.
2. William, the shape shifting faun-man whom Margaret falls for, and he reciprocates.
3. The Queen, who is the adoptive mother of William, and a generally evil-creepy-son-obsessing-jealousy-ridden ruler of the forest (and just happens to provide the best moments on the album).
4. The Rake, who is a child killing, immoral, Margaret abducting.......well, rake.
Track Listing:
1. Prelude: it's a prelude, just let it get you in the mood.
2. The Hazards of Love 1 (The Prettiest Whistles Won't Wrestle the Thistles Undone): Margaret goes "riding out", which she seems to have a tendency to do, past the Wall (of the city?), and into the forest. She comes upon (William) a "white and wounded faun". Being the charitable person she is, "a credit to her sex", Margaret wants to help out the faun. However, as she does, the faun begins to change, and in walks William. Thus, the "occupations" ensue. In other words, they get it on. And we also get fantastic, and telling, lyrics in "you'll learn soon enough, the prettiest whistles won't wrestle the thistles undone".
3. A Bower Scene: Margaret, upon returning home, discovers she is pregnant, as her "waistline grew wider". Thus she "withdraws to the Taiga".
4. Won't Want For Love (Margaret In The Taiga): Margaret returns to the Taiga in search of William. She's tired, but proclaims that, despite being pregnant, it won't subdue her want for love. Essentially, she still wants William.
5. The Hazards of Love 2 (Wager All): William finds Margaret, and lays her "down in a clover bed", where they "lie till the corncrake crows" minus the annoyance of any clothing (draw your own conclusions). Ultimately, William declares he is willing to "wager all" for Margaret, and it's quite the foreshadowing of The Hazards Of Love.
6. The Queen's Approach: Nothing but music, but the Queen is on to something, and she's coming.
7. Isn't It A Lovely Night?: Margaret and William proclaim what a lovely night it is and reflect upon their relationship, and their "sweet little baby".
8. The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid: Damn. Here comes the Queen, and William knows it. He can hear her footsteps, he can anticipate her jealous anger, but still he wants for Margaret. The Queen shows and is pissed. She states how she saved William and this is how she is repaid? She doesn't approve of Margaret at all. But William pleads that she owes him life and asks that she let him have the night with Margaret and he will return to her "at the break of light". The Queen says it's cool, but "consider it your debt repaid".
9. An Interlude: Once again, just music, but presumably the beauty of the remainder of a night well spent between William and Margaret.
10. The Rake's Song: Enter the bad guy. This wretched man weaves us his tale. He was married at the age of 21 (more great lyrics, he "was wedded and it whetted my thirst"), and all seemed well, until his wife's "womb started spilling out babies". Isiah, Charlotte and Dawn were born, followed by MyFawny, who died during her birth, "mercifully" killing her mother in the process. Thus, here was the Rake, a widower, with three children whom he could do without, yearning for his freedom. So, what else to do but kill them? He feeds Charlotte foxglove, then drowns Dawn in her bath. He tries to kill Isiah, who fights back, but "was easily bested", so he was not only killed, but his body was burned for "incurring" his father's "wrath". Interestingly, the rake also admits to being our narrator ("and that's how I came your humble narrator"), and goes on to say "expect you think that I should be haunted", which is another lovely occurrence of foreshadowing. And that's our lovely Rake.
11. The Abduction of Margaret: Our Rake gets his hands on Margaret and takes off with her. But, he has to figure out how to cross that tricky river, which will resurface soon.
12. The Queen's Rebuke/The Crossing: Oh boy, the Queen comes back, and a lot happens here. First, she makes it known that she rules everything ("I'm made of bones of the branches the boughs and the brow-beating light. While my feet are the trunks and my head is the canopy high"), from the shine ("brighter shine, it's my shine") to the day ("brightest day, it's my day"). Then, she tells the story of William. He was but a "baby abandoned, entombed in a cradle of clay", when the Queen decided she would take "pity" on him and get him out of there. She "gave him the form of a faun to inhabit by day". THEN, she praises our lovely Rake for grabbing Margaret and taking the "temptation" that's "troubled" her "innocent child" away. She's even cool with his rendering her "rift and defiled", thus she offers to "fly" them to the other side of the river so as to get Margaret out of William's reach.
13. Annan Water: William reaches the river and realizes that crossing is nearly impossible. He implores the tumultuous river to chill out and let him pass. Despite his mother, The Queen's, warnings that he will be drowned if he tries to cross, he tells the river that if it will just calm down a bit and let him by, that he will let the river "render" him "a rat" when he returns. Basically, if the river will grant him passage, then it may do its worst to him upon his return. So, he makes it past.
14. Margaret In Captivity: The Rake continues to be what he is and essentially boasts about having kidnapped Margaret and taken her where she will never be found, despite her desperate calls to William for help. He tells her that "none can hear your call till I have rest and wrecked you behind these fortress walls". Still, Margaret calls for William.
15. The Hazards of Love 3 (Revenge!): The Rake gets his fair share as his children return and force him to face each of their deaths. They take care of the Rake (and it seems they prefer "the lash"). Oh, the hazards of love.
16. The Wanting Comes In Waves (Reprise): A revisitation of the same earlier "The Wanting Comes In Waves". It is faster and quite exultant, as Margaret and William are reunited having William crossed the River and the Rake been fed his karmic portions via his children.
17. The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned): They reach the river, and William must face the deal he entered. They agree to be married with the "the rushing waves to bear" their "witness". "And these hazards of love never more will trouble us". The waves begin to overtake them as they speak their vows. They close their eyes and kiss as the river takes them away, destined to be a "ghost who" will "wander all of the water". "These hazards of love never more will trouble us."
There are lots of things I like here. One of them is the fact that The Decemberists allow me to use the word "anachronistic".
I've read of the complaints that, being made as a story, a whole, individual songs don't really stand to being heard apart from the whole. I've heard they tried to take on too much. I've heard lots of complaints. But, maybe people just like to complain. Sure, the story seems a bit simple, but come on, we're given the freedom to fill in lots of gaps. Though I compared the album, experientially, to reading a book, it's still not a book. There's not the time to elaborate as fully as could be done, and I like that. We don't complain about having to dream up the way the characters may look, or create their mannerisms and idiosyncrasies, so let's be content with filling in some gaps and connecting some dots. There are plenty of dots, recurrences, that happen throughout the album that link songs and concepts together. And there are plenty things left unsaid to let us run with and see where we end up.
Admittedly, the fact that singer Colin Malloy voices multiple characters can be confusing, but you can handle it.
On to the music. I find the music and arrangements to be great. In other words, this isn't just a gimmick based on a story line. The arrangements are every bit as good as other Decemberists work. While I agree that the album is best listened to as a whole, I don't buy the argument that the songs don't stand up on their own. Before I broke down and got the album I heard "The Rake's Song", "Annan Water", and "The Wanting Comes in Waves" on Sirius XMU and they were enough to convince me the album was worth a listen, despite the story line. After getting it I've added several others to the list that I listen to apart from the whole. I also think you feel what is happening. The most interesting songs involve the Queen, and I think it's pretty clear how she feels about things, even without hearing her words.
In essence, get this album and listen to it. Set aside some time and go from start to finish. Then do it a few more times. Then complain, or get it, or listen to only a select few songs, or do something entirely of your own choosing. It all works.