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Conor Oberst | 
| Artist: Conor Oberst
Label: Wichita
Category: Music
List Price: £13.99
Buy New: £6.98
You Save: £7.01 (50%)
New (16) Used (2) from £5.00
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 1358
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
EAN: 5055036271752
ASIN: B001ASIRVA
Release Date: August 4, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | Cape Canaveral | | • | Sausalito | | • | Get-Well-Cards | | • | Lenders In The Temple | | • | Danny Callahan | | • | I Don't Want To Die (In The Hospital) | | • | Eagle On A Pole | | • | NYC - Gone, Gone | | • | Moab | | • | Valle Mistico (Ruben's Song) | | • | Souled Out!!! | | • | Milk Thistle |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
He has less reason than most to seek temporary refuge behind his own name. For all intents and purposes, and certainly in the wider public perception, Conor Oberst is Bright Eyes incarnate. But he's nothing if not prolific and without long term collaborator Mike Mogis on board he's free to pursue some brand recognition of his own--something his managers must have been craving since 'the new Dylan' choruses started ringing out and he began dating Hollywood A-listers. On this eponymous solo debut he certainly plays up to those expectations, peddling stripped-back, lyric-loaded country traditionalism, barely troubled by amplification. It's a shame then that it can't quite rival the emotive maturity reached on the last similarly no-frills full band record, Cassadaga. He still has a fine way with words, able to mine a deep well of imagination, stringing together frequent memorable couplets, sometimes twee ("The kind of love that makes my back hurt / wearin' nothing but a T-shirt"), sometimes nonsensically transcendental ("thought the kettle was a train / thought that Monday was a doorframe"). But though he kicks things up a little on the jaunty blues riot of "I Don't Want to Die (In the Hospital)" and stomping White Stripes-esque square-dance "Moab", it's to no further extent than he has done before, suggesting the days of veering off into artistic catharsis may be behind him. None of which should denigrate the album's quaint value, just acknowledge the high standard he's set himself and which he finds hard to pass here. --James Berry
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
Diamonds and Sand January 4, 2009
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Mr Oberst is a man of many incarnations.
Good to see him hunker down therefore and wrestle
with his not inconsiderable muse.
This spare set of twelve tracks deserves our attention and admiration.
The songs are by turns whimsical and affecting;
the arrangements terse and economical;
his voice an instrument with a considerable capacity
to transform potentially mundane musical material into
polished gems.
The gently percussive opening to 'Cape Canaveral' evolves
into a ballad of considerable emotional intensity.
'Danny Callahan's naive melody belies a composition
of subtle complexity.
The hallucinatory images of 'Eagle On A Pole' define
perhaps the strongest song on the album.
Mr Oberst's occasionally wayward vibrato emphasizing
the surreal nature of the subject's strange terrain.
'Lenders In The Temple' and 'Milk Thistle' are powerful
acoustic interludes. Well played - well sung.
'Moab' rocks out in a Dylanesque sort of way.
The truncated hoedown of 'NYC - Gone, Gone'
and the very silly and unmystical 'Valle Mistico (Ruben's Song)'
are disposable.
A worthy set and more than worth a listen.
Another solid, enjoyable album from Conor December 16, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Recorded on a mountain in Mexico with the Mystic Valley Band at the start of 2008, Conor Oberst's self-titled album is a pretty fine effort, almost up there with his last couple of releases under the guise of Bright Eyes. To be honest, there is no real difference between the sound of this record and the sound of his material when it is released as Bright Eyes, so if you like Bright Eyes, chances are you'll like this album. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed when I heard the album for the first time, but on subsequent listens it sounded better and better - so I would definitely classify this album as a "grower".
There are plenty of very good songs here, excellent even, such as the effortlessly catchy 'Get-Well Cards', the toe-tapping, extremely pleasant country-rock of 'Danny Callahan', the raucous, amusing 'I Don't Want To Die In A Hospital' and the short square-dance stomp of 'NYC - Gone Gone', but it is during the moments when there is hardly anything other than the stripped-down honesty of artist and guitar in 'Lenders In The Temple', 'Cape Canavarel' and 'Milk Thistle' that this album truly arrests you and demands your complete attention. It could be said that there isn't enough songs which actually attempt to connect with the listener on this album, instead of purely entertaining them, but perhaps, when the songs do connect, that makes them all the more special.
Fans of Conor Oberst will, undoubtedly, enjoy this album - some to a lesser extent than others, I'm sure, but this is a solid and enjoyable record with a handful of compositions which really do make this a worthwhile and satisfying purchase.
My take on this album. September 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I enjoy this album a lot, mostly because i really enjoy Conor Oberst's songwriting. However I would recommend this album to listeners who are not entirely familiar with Conor Oberst's songwriting, as it is simple display of Conor's songwriting talents without attempting to push any boundaries, or over-simplifying the music.
I would say this album provides a typical mix of his songs written in his typical pop/country manner, combined with full on country numbers like "I Don't Wanna Die (In The Hospital)" and folk/acoustic tracks like "Milk Thistle". If you have listened to say, Radiohead, Oasis and Bob Dylan, and could imagine a cross between all three, then this is your thing.
Oberst's lyrics can be natural and confessional like on Moab ("You can't break out of a circle you never knew you were in"..."There's nothing that the road cannot heal") and Milk Thistle ("If I go to Heaven I'll be bored as Hell, like a crying baby at the bottom of a well"). But he shows a more ambiguous, analgous and story-teller side too, on tracks like Danny Callahan ("Western medicine couldn't save Danny Callahan etc"). In my opinion this versatility provides old and new Oberst fans something, and I would definitely recommend it.
The man who could do no wrong August 20, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is a Bright Eyes album in all but name, which basically means it is brilliant. As my title says, Conor Oberst can do no wrong, whether it's under the guise of Bright Eyes or as a solo-ist. Each song is a lyrical tour-de-force. There is something for everyone, up tempo numbers which will have you tapping your feet, slow numbers which will make you sit back and think because of their lyrical beauty. If anyone deserves the tag of the new Dylan (hundreds have had the label, none have deserved it) then it is Oberst. I have given this album three or four listens thus far, and I have always found Bright Eyes albums to be growers, they require a few listens before being engrained. This one will probably be no different. The lack of a fifth star is because I don't think it quite matches up to 'I'm wide awake...' but then what does? So far I have been most taken with the up tempo numbers such as Sausalito, but that is probably because they are instantly more catchy than the slow numbers. I'm looking forward to laying in bed in darkness and listening to the slow numbers then I can hopefully come back and give this five stars instead!
Yes and No. August 10, 2008
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
I'd disagree with the previous reviewer that this is "a more stripped down show yet again, very reminiscent of 'I'm Wide Awake it's Morning'." There are less of what I'd call simple yet profound songs, and more in your face, country music that almost makes you want to stand up and dance around in a big white tent. There's three of the former, at most.
I do agree with this fact though... 'Cape Canaveral' is simply stunning, and could literally make me cry. The last song too (Milk Thistle) is beautiful, and again really renders me speechless... And as Oberst blurts out "Up and Down" almost out of nowhere it's almost as if he's summing up the whole record. To me this is bitter sweet country folk encased either side with two simply sad songs. They alone are worth the price.
All in all if you're looking for a song like "First Day of my Life" there are three here at most, and they are all beautiful. The rest are more akin to something like "Another Travelling Song" off I'm Wide Awake...
It is for the most part fast and jaunty, and reminds me of some old American film with people dancing around in a bar or around a maypole... but it can't be faulted. I don't know what Connor meant it to be, but it feels like a manic trip. It feels so sad, yet by track 7 you want to just jump around... by track 12 you'll want to cry again. Then some more when it's over.
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