BILLY LIAR

We kick off with the bouncy, beautiful baroque popper “Billy Liar,” and follow it up with the built ballad “Los Angeles I’m Yours.” Both are great songs, to be sure, some of the best off Her Majesty...but why? They’re easy enough to find on Her Majesty. I don’t need them here particularly. Why just slap them onto the EP, without even...you know, changing the order from the original album? (Seriously, I half expected “Gymnast High Above the Stage” to start up next.)

So the new material is represented by “Everything I Do, Nothing Seem to Turn Out Right” and “Sunshine.” “Everything” is a fairly standard indie pop rocker, only notable for the slide guitar peeking out of background. “Sunshine” is probably the better of the two; it might be even more standard by indie rocker standards, but it’s somewhat catchier, and certainly much more amusing. It’s also shorter, but hey, who’s keeping track of that?

All in all, you COULD obtain this...but why would you want to? The first two tracks are great, but why not get them on the Her Majesty record, so you can enjoy some decent music? The second two tracks are tolerable, but not really that good. They sound like outtakes from the first album...not very good outtakes either. If you pop “Sunshine” onto a rarities collection somewhere down the line, it might make an inoffensive surprise with its stab at Beach Boys charm. But making it the center of attention? Not a good idea. So, yes, the Decemberists CAN make useless material. Like this EP for instance.

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