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Black Sheep Boy [VINYL]
 
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Black Sheep Boy [VINYL] [Enhanced]

Okkervil River | Format: Vinyl
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Music

Image of album by Okkervil River

Photos

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Biography

"The goal was to push my brain to places it didn't want to go. The idea was to not have any idea – to keep myself confused about what I was doing," frontman Will Sheff says about Okkervil River's newest album. "I produced it myself so that I could extend the songwriting process all the way through to the very last second of recording, so the songs would never really stop changing." The resulting… Read more in Amazon's Okkervil River Store

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Product details

  • Vinyl (24 Mar 2008)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Format: Enhanced
  • Label: Secretly Canadian Records
  • ASIN: B0007UDCBW
  • Other Editions: Audio CD
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 487,507 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I was not a huge fan of Okkervil River before this album. I'd heard 'Down The River Of Golden Dreams' and thought that, whilst Will Sheff wrote outstanding lyrics and the band played musically excellent compositions, the songs were a little too drawn out and lacked any real focus.

This all changed with 'Black Sheep Boy'.

From the instant Will Sheff's vocals speak over a lightly strummed guitar in a highly wonderful version of Tim Hardin's 'Black Sheep Boy' and then the feedback begins 'For Real', I was hooked. OR's penchant for dynamics in sound is highlighted in a number of songs like 'For Real', where Sheff alternates between crooning and shouting his lyrics over distorted guitars and thundering drumming.

However OR don't just rely on dynamics in volume, they alter styles as well. 'Black' is as close to a pop song as they've ever gotten with its bouncy keyboards and post-punk drumming married with distressing lyrics about child kidnapping, whilst 'Get Big' and 'Like A Stone' show an altogether more stripped down sound more in tune with folk.

The album's nadir, however, is the penultimate track 'So Come Back I Am Waiting'. What begins as a sad song builds to an explosive chorus and ends with one of the most heartwrenching outros I've ever heard. When Sheff sings "I'm waiting to make you my lamb" in an almost whisper, I can't help but want to be that lamb.

And this is where the album excels. Every aspect of OR has been raised on this album. The emotional power of the lyrics, the catchy hooks in the music and, overall, the feeling of immesne pleasure you can derive from this album are all combined into making this a cult gem of an album.

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Wonderful 25 July 2005
Format:Audio CD
This is simply a gorgeous album... I was recommended it over the Internet by the hype of jonnys_guitar (above) and from a few other sources, and it hasn't disappointed at all. Moody folk with the occasional and orchestral leaps of horns, strings and piano for colour lead to a gorgeous album worthy of any better known band. If you want an album to get you into Okkervil River (and you will not be disappointed) then this is the one.
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Good but not great 16 Oct 2008
Format:Audio CD
I got this after hearing The Stage names which i fell in love with instantly.

I could tell it was going to be a darker affair from the artwork and what i had read on amazon.

Well it has some amazing high points but also a lot of songs that dont really do anything (well they dont for me at least)

I love the fact that their albums are so different - each with different themes and stories. This album has enough good songs to make it a worthwhile purchase.

'For Real' is wonderully edgy song based on perception of what is reality and how to test it. Its soft loud dynamics make it engaging and appealing.

'Black' possibly their best song - is an unavoidably catchy tune - but coupled with an awful tale of a friend of the singer who has been raped by a close relative. The song is so powerful is makes you tingle - especially when Will Sheff sings
"and if i could rip his throat - spill his blood between my jaws"
"and erase his name for good - dont you know that i would - dont you know that i wouldn't pause"

other worthwhile songs are "the latest toughs" again using that soft loud dynamic with false Falsetto vocals adding to the eeerie nature of the song and also the softer sombre "Stone".

This is still a fantastic album by an amazingly talented band - but by The Stage names high standards it comes in second to it in my opinion.

However - it has songs on it that need to be heard but a number of dull slow songs stop it from being an album you can listen to without skipping tracks.

On the plus side the imagaery, concept and artwork of the whole package is wonderfull - the booklet pictures match the nature of the music perfectly....!!
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