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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Last year, Wichita released Fevers and Mirrors in the UK, an album that some of us erroneously believed to be the debut from tortured, soulful, ex-Catholic and Nebraskan, 20-year-old Conner Oberst. Erroneously, because in fact Oberst had already released two previous albums, A Collection of Songs (written and recorded between 1995-1997) and 1998s Letting Off The Happiness. (This, after forming Commander Venus at the age of 14, and releasing another two albums!. As might be expected from a precocious artist who has excited comparisons with Elliott Smith and Daniel Johnston, this is a raw and intimate affair: "Contrast And Compare" strangely sounding like Flaming Lips, "The City Has Sex" as frantic and oversensitive as Oberst's British fans have come to expect, "Touch" saturated in layers of emotion. Members of Neutral Milk Hotel and Of Montreal contribute, and the resulting album is less polished than Fevers And Mirrors, less accomplished, but nonetheless wonderfully affecting. --Jerry Thackray
Product Description
BRIGHT EYES Letting Off The Happiness (2001 UK Wichita Recordsings 10-track CD album from tortured soulful ex-Catholic and Nebraskan Conner Oberst. Includes Contrast And Compare and The City Has Sex picture sleeve WEBB011)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I am a firm believer that records should not sound over produced and filled with sounds that a really not necessary. This record totally fulfills this idea, the first song 'If Winter ends' is effortlessy sweet and bursting with emotion but still has this raw sound to it that characterises this record. 'Letting Off The Happiness' was Conor's first major release and marks a section of his career whee his youth perfectly balance his music, I can relate to a lot of the songs on this record, it really documents life in a town where sometimes life just isn't what it should be.
The arrangements are quite fantastic on this record, you really get a healthy dose of what can happen when you combine the recording vision of Mike Mogis and the song writing effervescence of Conor Oberst.
This record is an excellant starting point for listening to Bright Eyes but, it's a record that really is one of the best he has recorded despite the perhaps more developped Conor we see in the latest releases. This record is ESSENTIAL and with out doubt holds it's own with the new material.
The arrangements are quite fantastic on this record, you really get a healthy dose of what can happen when you combine the recording vision of Mike Mogis and the song writing effervescence of Conor Oberst.
This record is an excellant starting point for listening to Bright Eyes but, it's a record that really is one of the best he has recorded despite the perhaps more developped Conor we see in the latest releases. This record is ESSENTIAL and with out doubt holds it's own with the new material.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Not having heard any of the other Bright Eyes (the brainchild of Conor Oberst) albums (yet) I was ...pleased to discover how enjoyable this album is. Starting with the first song that manages to mirror the building frustration of the lyrics in the mounting intensity of the music, continuing with the harrowing second song (whose haunting lyrics begin with "i had a brother once, he drowned in a bathtub before he had ever learned how to talk") and following through to the very last track this is a collection of beautiful, intelligent, heartfelt songs that leave you emotinally drenched, but happy at having had the experience.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
27 reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
I don't know if music gets more emotional than this
14 Sep 2002
Format:Audio CD
The album starts off with noise that leaves you wondering what to expect, then all of the sudden, a tenderly strummed acoustic guitar comes into the sonic realm and your worries are relieved. "If Winter Ends" isn't a song to listen to while driving..."Padraic my Prince", melodically, is one of the best songs on here. Lyrically, it tells the tale of untimely death and a suicide pact to make up for it...it's not a happy album, folks. The female backing vocals give "Contrast and Compare" an interesting sound. The songs full of great lines people sometimes quote: 'I can't breathe with these words in my mouth'. "The City has Sex" is a faster paced song about the city and the people in it. One reviewer called "Touch" 'bedroom techno', and I can't think of a better way to describe it. It starts off semi-industrial but then morphs into something that sounds like an oldies station with manic depression. "June on the West Coast" is basically a country song without the typical redneck style vocals. The simple melody and Dylan-ish vocal delivery have been stuck in my head on many, many days. "A Poetic Retelling of an Unfortunte Seduction" is haunting to say the least. The album closes with "Tereza and Tomas" (a reference to Milan Kundera's excellent book The Unbearable Lightness of Being). The song is aching in its beauty. Its about love and escape, two of the things that often keep us going. If you listen to this with your eyes closed, it takes you away to another place. This album is underproduced, some might say, but a lo-fi fan might say that's exactly what makes it great. I don't know. The lack of production makes it seem very earnest, very genuine, and very very real. Unlike a lot of the fake and contrived "emo" out there today, this album is truly an emotional experience. I don't know if that requires it be labeled emo, but if it does, it certainly lives up to the title. Conor writes with such genuine honesty that you can't help but listen to and remember every word he sings. And the singing, oh my...he sings like he cries and it doesn't sound lame. If that's not an accomplishment, I don't know what is.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
a new discovery
22 April 2003
Format:Audio CD
i've recently become a bright eyes fan in the past few months. since then i've managed to snag lifted, fever and mirrors, and lettings off the happiness. it took a bit to grow on me, but, they are all flawless. conor has the ability to speak to many in a manner that few others do; its almost disconcerting. the songs are painstakingly beautiful, yet honest. last saturday i got to see bright eyes play at the howlin' wolf in new orleans, and it was amazing! pick up one of these albums or stop by a show, it will be worth the time and money invested.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
mind blowing
20 Nov 2005
Format:Audio CD
I am a huge Bright Eyes fan, and even though I don't think this is Oberst's best album, it is the most admirable. He was 17 and 18 when it was being recorded. I am the same age and all this makes me think is, "What am i doing with my life?" That and Conor Oberst is amazing. The ups and downs on this album are great and, as always, the lyrics are both everything you had always thought and things you had never thought of before. Definetly a good buy.
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