| Rating |
Summary |
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| n/a by www.latimes.com |
His melodies curl to drive the stories, while his lyrics illuminate the road with a sometimes dazzling light. |
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| n/a by www.slantmagazine.com |
It's no surprise that Oberst is able to pull off this style exceptionally well, but what impresses most about the record is how its relaxed vibe--the album was recorded with the specially assembled Mystic Valley Band in just two months at a private house in Mexico--carries over into Oberst's songwriting. |
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| n/a by blogs.courant.com |
Conor Oberst (Merge) is the richest collection of songs from Conor Oberst--via Bright Eyes, Desaparecidos, whatever--in a long time. |
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| n/a by www.drownedinsound.com |
By its very nature this is a more cohesive work than Cassadaga, and a fine, true one at that: evocative, sporadically inspired and resoundingly enjoyable, repeat plays paying dividends. |
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| n/a by www.nowtoronto.com |
Theres a sense of playfulness on I Dont Wanna Die (In The Hospital) and NYC – Gone, Gone thats missing from Cassadaga, and enough catchiness to keep radio stations happy (even if said track happens to be an ominous ode to a dying boy), but its on the achingly simplest of songs where Obersts familiar splenetic growl returns at last. |
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| n/a by www.guardian.co.uk |
If hippie leanings and a penchant for image-dense, nature-inspired poesy make Oberst a kindred spirit to Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom, he can also be hard-nosed. |
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| n/a by www.uncut.co.uk |
Its proof that, when he escapes from awkward, self-conscious navel-gazing, Oberst can be a songwriter of some note. |
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| n/a by www.blender.com |
Oberst always projects a spiritual generosity unknown to most footloose troubadours who cant commit. |
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| n/a by www.boston.com |
With Oberst, there is little filter; the gems and the rubbish all emerge from the same place. Oberst's talent and his unevenness are all of a kind. |
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| n/a by www.avclub.com |
Oberst himself sounds enlivened by the chance to listen in and sing while he's at it. |
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| n/a by Pitchfork Media |
Oberst has traded in a lot of his post-adolescent trembling for a calmer, less unbridled melancholy, but Conor Oberst is still packed with disheartening realities, and Oberst refuses to temper his pessimism, even when it starts to feel heavy and contrived, more like a narrative tic than anything else. |
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| n/a by NME |
Its not the definitive work the self-titling might suggest but its sure as hell worthy of the name. |
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| n/a by Billboard |
Conor Oberst doesn't sound much different from any of Bright Eyes' acoustic material, except that it is lacking in the bare honesty of his earlier albums. |
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| n/a by Rolling Stone |
Largely, this is the introspective folk rock of Bright Eyes, though there's some welcome shift away from autobiography. |
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| n/a by www.sputnikmusic.com |
Lyrically, however, the album is just another soul-searching journey, and while he may be getting too old to call a boy genius, he's not lost any of his wistful intelligence. |
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| n/a by www.musicomh.com |
So, the jury is still out on Conor Oberst. His loyal fans will be slightly puzzled by the easy going roll of the music but rewarded by several choice lyrical nuggets, while his critics will point out that Dylan had already released Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde before recording John Wesley Harding. |
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| n/a by www.spin.com |
The album does an admirable job of living up to its low- key title (with spare acoustic tracks) and its situation (with loosey-goosey, classic-rock-indebted numbers). |
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| n/a by Popmatters |
Ultimately, Conor Oberst is a bit of a mixed bag, an album thats often as frustrating as it is inviting. It is, however, a step in the right direction and a sure sign that Oberst is growing as a songwriter. |
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| n/a by www.tinymixtapes.com |
Here, obsessed with his own mortality, Conor isolates himself from what stirs his best writing. |
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| n/a by www.hotpress.com |
A definite sense of fun permeates Conor Oberst, with the singer allowing himself to indulge a few whimsical idea's. |
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| n/a by www.cokemachineglow.com |
From admittedly unsympathetic ears, its a fruitless mess caked with vanity and smothered by its own insular delusions of prosperity. |
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| n/a by uk.launch.yahoo.com |
While it's certainly refreshing to hear Oberst refrain from swaddling his emotionally-driven conceits in rock statesman's clothing, much of Conor Oberst seems too comfortably by-the-book to really leap off the page. |
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| n/a by www.noripcord.com |
Conor Oberst's latest project has demonstrated his unmistakable ability to maintain continuity across an album while managing to quell any potential boredom before it begins to detract from the listening experience. |
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