Tuesday, November 03, 2009

The Best Albums Of The Decade: #24 - The Execution Of All Things

MP3: Rilo Kiley - So Long

#24 - Rilo Kiley - The Execution Of All Things
Saddle Creek 2002

Joey On The Execution Of All Things:

This may seem like a kind of cheesy choice these days, and rightfully so: Rilo Kiley played us all for fools. There was such a promise of greater things coming from them and their actor backgrounds were quirks, sure, but it was nothing worth focusing on (though the press sure did... a lot). Here were some folks from California making really great, warm sounding pop music that came across as heartfelt and completely honest. So once they knew we were hanging on their every word, they dropped their cards and revealed that the whole thing was a bluff. They really were the assholes you'd think they would have been and used any type of (shudder) indie cred to gain the money and recognition that their sub par acting careers could no longer bring in. Bravo: my rat is off to you, sirs and madam.

So over the years, it became really hard to like their past Barsuk and Saddle Creek output, because every time you heard them, it was near impossible to ignore the pain behind the sham. Things have finally changed though: now, after hearing their last 2 god awful records and accepting them as something else entirely, those old records shine brighter. If anything, they represent easier times, when you could trust a band outright and just enjoy things for what they were.

"The Execution Of All Things" is a damn fine pop record. There is not a dud on it and at the time, nothing else sounded like it. People were still weary of female fronted music and the alternative country whatever sound was fresh and underplayed; Saddle Creek itself was worth a damn, putting out their talented friends and not chasing flashes in flashy pans like they do now (I think it was this band fucking them over that jaded them and if so, bummer. Get over it).

The song I am choosing from this record is a song by Blake Sennett, who seems like he is a dick, but a talented one at least. If you can back up your dickery, it makes it easier to swallow. Plus, The Elected was/is bad ass and probably deserving of a slot on this list, but alas... So yes. If you know this record, you know the Jenny Lewis songs. That's fine, they're so great. But this song, this song always gets me floating and really deserves so much more love. Like this record. We were young, sure, but nostalgia is in this year and I'm playing along. Enjoy.


KellyC said...

I agree with everything said. And reading earlier posts (the Weezer one as reference) I stayed with this band giving it all the chances I had. I always wondered, why are the first two albums perfect and the later ones bummers?

The Station Agent said...

Happens all the time. Two great records is more than 99% of bands ever do. And RK's two are better than most of those great records.

Still More Adventurous has four or five great songs and their b-sides are unstoppable.