Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy

Reviews of Black Sheep Boy

Rating Summary
n/a by www.stylusmagazine.com I've listened to this album more than anything else released this year, and I still don't feel like I've fully explored its depths. Read more
n/a by www.musicomh.com An unknown quantity to me before the first listen, by the third play I was already plotting which of my friends I would be lending it to and reprimanding myself for not having come across them sooner. Read more
n/a by www.lostatsea.net It's hard not to stare in open-mouthed amazement at the sheer brilliance of Black Sheep Boy, though you're trying to clinically dissect all the elements that make it so. Read more
n/a by Popmatters Consistently excellent, Okkervil River's Black Sheep Boy is a record that stuns on first listen, then manages the elusive -- it sinks deep into your soul. Read more
n/a by www.austinchronicle.com The force of Okkervil's last LP, '03's Down the River of Golden Dreams, is strengthened and stretched on Black Sheep Boy, bursting with the heaviness of heart. Read more
n/a by Pitchfork Media Black Sheep Boy creates a roomy and natural showcase for Sheff's high-wire vocals, and as a result, it may be the band's best album. Read more
n/a by www.cokemachineglow.com With Black Sheep Boy, Okkervil River have made the kind of minor classic that will inspire obsessive-compulsive love affairs with the lucky people who stumble upon it. Read more
n/a by Junkmedia By album's end, two coming-of-age stories are complete: the boy has grown into a black sheep man, and the literate musicians have become a hell of a rock band. Read more
n/a by www.tinymixtapes.com It is heavier on quality than most Bright Eyes albums I could name -- both musically and lyrically. Read more
n/a by www.guardian.co.uk It could be a recipe for pretentious folly, but Sheff harnesses his intricate arrangements and barbed, literate lyrics to cracking tunes. Read more
n/a by neumu.net It's like Bright Eyes -- urgent, personal, pent-up -- but better; less focused on the individual ego of the "creative genius," more about the group dynamics. Read more
n/a by www.dustedmagazine.com Sheff’s delivery, however, is the Black Sheep Boy’s biggest flaw. Read more
n/a by www.noripcord.com These are essentially songs of innocence and experience tinctured by world-weariness simultaneously infused with an earnest lack of guile. A brief criticism would be: a little more sound and a little less fury, please Will. Read more
n/a by www.shakingthrough.net Black Sheep Boy has bold ambitions, but Okkervil River hasn’t quite reached the point where polished execution equals or surpasses preliminary concept. Read more