Decemberists "Down By The Water"

You can practically hear the relieved sighing of record promotions folks on this new Decemberists track.

After a huge breakthrough with "The Crane Wife," I'm sure the people who had spent years working to spread the word of this excellent band were hoping for the continued ascent of this rising band's profile when they released a follow up.

Instead they got "The Hazards Of Love."

I wrote a little about my feelings on the album, last year.

No doubt, "Hazards" is the work of a brilliant mind. And the shear balls it took to even contemplate an endeavor such as a rock opera about a woman who falls in love with a shape-shifting forest dweller, his jealous mother and an infanticide-prone lover, must be commended, by any lover of challenging art.

But for those who might be a lover (or needer) of commerce, the word "Rock Opera" is still, pretty much, poison.

So how nice, for my friends in the record community, who have delivered "Down By The Water" to radio, giddily letting us know that this new Decemberists album is just a collection of rock songs, and there is no playbill or libretto necessary.