BBC Review
There's some good lyrics here looking for a song, or even a melody, by a man who...
Darren Overs Pearson 2005-01-24
Conor Oberst proves that you don't need a multinational record company to create a lot of hype. Still, Bright Eyes occupying both numbers one and two in the US Billboard Hot 100 singles sales chart is somewhat surprising. I'm Wide Awake It's Morning is full of promising starts that go nowhere. Some good lyrics looking for a song, or even a melody, by a man who thinks pathos is drinking wine from the neck...
"Lua" is the most successful song on the album. Its simplicity of lyric and production, featuring just voice and guitar, brings a poignancy that's sadly absent elsewhere on the record.
On the whole, Oberst's voice and lyrics tend to leave the listener a little cold, the worst culprit being the hackneyed protest dirge "Land Locked Blues". Is it a love song, an anti-Bush rant, obtuse, clichéd or all of these? Even Emmylou Harris' vocal doesn't save the day.
The band handle the folk and country themes very nicely, especially Mike Mogis' soaring pedal steel on "Old Soul Song" and "Train Underwater". Unfortunately, "At The Bottom Of Everything" and "Another Travelling Song" tend to sound like pastiches.
The problem with Oberst is not the fact that he's a dullard but a dullard who's been told he's clever. This is a man so prolific he has to release two albums (the other being Digital Ash In A Digital Urn) simultaneously, when there is barely enough decent material for one. Although Digital Ash... has a different treatment altogether, the same problems exist; it goes nowhere.
At his best, he sounds a little like Beck at his worst. After listening to this record you'll realise that drinking, nihilism and soured relationships don't seem so interesting or, for that matter, entertaining.
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Terrible review for such a good album. Bright Eyes or, correctly, Conor Oberst has been compared to Bob Dylan by many, and the reasons why are not that hard to deduce. The lyrics of songs such as 'Lua' and 'First Day Of My Life' have such a profound effect and display clearly the agony that the protagonist is struggling to deal with. The harch voice of Oberst is central to the album, and this voice is recognised in 'Road To Joy' as necessary to convey his feelings: "Well I could have been a famous singer, If I had someone else's voice". Dylan used to wait until he had a cold in order to find just the right roughness to his voice. Oberst is blessed with the same roughness but without the ill feelings existing also.
'At the Bottom Of Everything' is the opening song on the album and seeks to initiate a change in the monotony of life and to encourage the listener to make a difference. The standout song on this album is 'Lua', which to this day after 349 plays on my iPod still invokes a wave of calm upon me. All thoughts leave, and I am left in awe of such a bare and stark display of love, though the object of this love may be different to the one Oberst originally fell for. To compliment this song is the equally light 'First Day Of My Life'. Differing to 'Lua' in that the love does not fall apart, it details quite what love can make you do, from driving through the night to meet someone to following someone anywhere they wanted just so that they can be happy, even if you are not.
The change from song to song, and the balancing of light songs with heavier ones is an extra aspect where this album succeeds, with just the right tone found.
Overall, in my opinion this is one of the best albums since 2000. With its 10 songs having a combined playing of over 1100 plays on my iPod, I find it hard to comprehend how Darren Overs Pearson can find that this album 'sounds like Beck at his worst'. Q magazine gave it 5 stars. I'd give it 6 if i could. The whole album has a poignancy that can be related to in everyday life. You'll love this album if you get it.
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