2008 Top Ten: #7 -- The Decemberists "Valerie Plame" 

#7: The Decemberists -- "Valerie Plame"

This is an easy one.

If you like The Decemberists, then you'll dig this. It's everything that's good about The Decemberists. The verbose, literary, somewhat historical lyrics. The eclectic instrumentation. Colin Meloy's singing. It's pretty much the essence of the band distilled down to a 4-and-a-half-minute pop song.

If you don't like The Decemberists, then you'll hate this. It's everything that's bad about The Decemberists. The verbose, somewhat self-important, self-indulgent lyrics. The needlessly eclectic instrumentation. Colin Meloy's singing. It's pretty much the essence of the band distilled down to a 4-and-a-half-minute pop song.

Obviously, I fall into column A. The Decemberists might have been one of the top three live shows I saw this year.