I feel like I’m the main defender of The Decemberists around here (Matt and a few other people really hated them) but that was mostly due to their first album and a handful of other great tunes like “On The Bus Mall,” “The Sporting Life” and “The Engine Driver.” I have always adored that first album, they hadn’t really taken their schtick full-bore yet, so there wasn’t much for Christgau-types to sneer at yet. None of their other records came close, in spite of inspired bits here and there. I don’t think any of the other albums were shit, though, just not as good as that first one. Either way, The King Is Dead is to the Decemberists what Sky Blue Sky was to Wilco: where the critics largely stopped paying attention.