The Decemberists To Release 'The Crane Wife' With Limited Edition Deluxe Vinyl

When The Decemberists made the unexpected leap to Capitol Records for their first major label album in 2006, fans' concerns of whether the band would simplify their trademark hyperliterate folk-rock or take their music in a new direction altogether quickly vanished when they delivered The Crane Wife.

The Portland, Ore. troupe, led by songwriter Colin Meloy, challenged preconceptions with their fourth album, pushing the envelope and their fantastical music to new heights.

"There are two ways we could have gone with our major label debut," frontman Meloy says.

"One was to get our money's worth with an album of singles.

But we would have failed, because we are not a singles band. The other was to mess with the convention of what a band's major label debut should be like."

The album included two mini-epics, the 12-minute multi-part opus, "The Island," and the album's namesake: a three-part suite based on the Japanese folk tale opens the 10-song collection with its mournful conclusion and bookends it with the fable's beautiful beginning.

In celebration of The Crane Wife's 10th anniversary, Capitol Records/UMe will release the album as a limited edition deluxe vinyl box set on December 9. The comprehensive collection will include five LPs featuring the original album as a double LP plus three additional records filled with b-sides and bonus tracks, unreleased outtakes, alternate versions and Meloy's solo acoustic demos.

Records four and five collect demos of nearly every song on the album, including the three-part "The Crane Wife" together as one composition in its original sequence.

The set will also include a Blu-Ray of a two-hour concert filmed live for NPR's second-ever webcast in 2006 at Washington, D.C.'s famed 9:30 Club, which has never been commercially available.

A 20-page booklet will include liner notes from rock historian David Fricke, senior writer for Rolling Stone, and an essay by avowed fan Lin-Manuel Miranda, the award-winning composer, lyricist, writer and performer behind the Tony and Pulitzer-prize winning play "Hamilton." The band is also offering a special, highly limited color pressing of 500 copies on marbled red vinyl, available now for pre-order exclusively at Decemberists.com.

The Decemberists also recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for their innovative tabletop game, Illimat, created in collaboration with renowned game designer Keith Baker (Gloom, Phoenix: Dawn Command, Eberron) and longtime Decemberists illustrator Carson Ellis.

In conjunction with The Crane Wife 10th Anniversary edition, the band has announced an expansion kit for the Illimat Kickstarter campaign, which includes six exclusive Crane Wife-themed game cards and two special tokens for the occasion, both of which can be added as part of a pledge.

THE DECEMBERISTS - THE CRANE WIFE

Record One: The Original Album

SIDE 1
1. The Crane Wife 3
2. The Island
- Come And See
- The Landlord's Daughter
- You'll Not Feel The Drowning
3. Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)

SIDE 2
1. O Valencia!
2. The Perfect Crime #2
3 When The War Came
4. Shankill Butchers

Record 2: Original Album Plus Outtakes

SIDE 3
1. Summersong
2. The Crane Wife 1 & 2
3. Sons & Daughters

SIDE 4
1. After The Bombs
2. Culling Of The Fold
3. Hurdles Even Here

Record Three: Outtakes And Alternates

SIDE 5
1. The Perfect Crime #1 + The Day I Knew You'd Not Come Back
2. After The Bombs (Early Take)

SIDE 6
1. Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then) (Alternate Take with Alela Diane)
2. Culling Of The Fold (Alternate Take with Sean Nelson)
3. Hurdles Even Here (Full Band Take)
4. The Perfect Crime #2 (Early Take)

Record Four: Home Demos

SIDE 7
1. The Island
- Come And See
- The Landlord's Daughter
- You'll Not Feel The Drowning
2. O Valencia!
3. The Perfect Crime #2

SIDE 8
1. Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then) (With Carson Ellis)
2. The Capp Street Girls
3. Culling Of The Fold
4. Hurdles Even Here

Record Five: Home Demos

SIDE 9
1. Shankill Butchers (Demo)
2. Summersong (Demo)
3. The Day I Knew You'd Not Come Back (Demo)
4. The Perfect Crime #1 (Demo)

SIDE 10
1. The Crane Wife 1, 2 & 3
2. Sons & Daughters

Blu-Ray: Live At The 9:30 Club, October 29, 2006
1. The Crane Wife 3
2. The Island
3. We Both Go Down Together
4. The Gymnast, High Above The Ground
5. The Perfect Crime #2
6. Shankill Butchers
7. Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect
8.

O Valencia!
9. The Legionnaire's Lament
10. 16 Military Wives
11. The Crane Wife 1 & 2
12. Sons & Daughters
13. Red Right Ankle
14. Culling Of The Fold
15. I Was Meant For The Stage