Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quite frankly......Astounding., 11 May 2003
This was the first Bright Eyes record I heard and I was simply blown away. For years I was ploughing my way through hours and hours of music, never realising that this was the album I was looking for. The lyrics are breathtaking and the music, though understated, is nothing short of epic (and not in a prog rock way!!!). A word of warning however. This album is not for easy listening and those music listeners who prefer not to think too much about their music should look away now, it takes a good few listens to really begin to appreciate Conor Oberst's lyrics. But when you do begin to recognise and understand the messages coming from these songs you'll understand why many people (myself included) believe this man to be the best song writer in the world today, perhaps the best ever. There can be no stand-out songs from an album where your favourite is usually the last one you heard, but if you want to try before you buy, then listen to "Lover I Don't Have to Love", "Lets Not S**t Ourselves" and "Bowl of Oranges" to get the full picture. Buy this album. You haven't lived until you've heard it.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Latest impressive offering from Conor Oberst, 12 Sep 2003
By A Customer
On first listen, do not be put off by the quirky intro, the unpolished recording and the echoed-voice that sounds more like a cassette than a cd. It appears that Conor Oberst uses this to add sincerity to an already convincing album, at the risk of immediately losing any form of mainstream audience. Unlike the moody, reclusive album 'Fevers and Mirrors', 'Lifted...' at times finds Conor and his collection of musicians in a slightly more upbeat state of mind (to write 'happy' would be too exagerated and too offensive a word). British fans might like to know that song 'Bowl of Oranges' is said to be a favourite of artist Ed Harcourt, and this track would certainly come under the list of songs instantly accessible along with 'You will. you' and 'Waste of paint'. However it is songs such as 'Lover i dont have to love'(displaying a dark repressed atmosphere similar to 'sunrise, sunset' from the 'Fevers and mirrors' album) where Oberst truly demonstrates his versatile emotions ranging from ambivolence, to depression to anger. Fans of Bright Eyes will know this already, and agree that for it to be categorized in the genre 'alt country' would be too dismissive of the Dylan-esque songs produced. Having done so myself, i would advise newcomers to listen to this album first as it is (though only slightly) more accessible than his previous albums that prefered to settle on one state of mind. At times it can be a challenge to listen to, which arguably isnt a bad thing in an era of insincere solo artists sticking to a similar formula.
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12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Conor owns Heaven, 22 Feb 2005
This album is insanely good, i found Conor through a good friend of mine in 2003/04 and he's really been a part of my life since i got this album quite soon after. It seems to be a story about life and generalism, but there is no doubt that there is a storyline behind it.
The album opens with 'Big Picture', and although everyone's like 'the quality is awful and it sounds totally amateur', i think it works perfectly, the laying down of raw emotion and the way that he can give a perfect account of what life is like in only 8mins42 is just incredible; it almost sums up the album before it properly begins, raw, matter-of-fact and directly to the point with song-writing seemingly way ahead of its time, like Dylan who he is so frequently compared to. 'Method Acting' is really the introduction of the story whilst 'Big Picture' was the foreword. This second track touches upon the theme of 'to love and to be loved', and when Conor speaks of 'a record of our failures' to 'document our love', he speaks about the album, his escape from reality; 'this method acting, well, i call that living...and the story goes on and on' and on it goes to the next track, a lovely 3/4 waltz type movement, 'False Advertising', which has grown on me to become one of the best on the album. The part when Conor realises that 'all that anyone is listening for are the mistakes', the music stops and we hear a woman saying 'sorry' in the background, to which Conor is completely sympathetic and counts the song back in, as if to attack critics; a mistake can be a beautiful accident. 'You Will. You?Will. You? Will. You?Will.' is absolutely perfect, it seems to talk about how we analyse things that others say and take them completely to heart; this should have been a single. Instead we got 'Lover I Don't Have To Love', which isn't as good, but it's still awesome. i personally relate to and i think many others will too. It screams at love, telling it that it's too much for a human to cope with and that it's too difficult to be deep and meaningful all the time. the next song was the first Bright Eyes song i heard, 'Bowl Of Oranges', which i grew an obsession with but it has since suffered from overplay on my part. Nethertheless, i enjoyed it for quite some time for a reason, because it's brilliantly crafted and a real pop masterpiece. I read 'Don't Know When But A Day Is Gonna Come' for an English exam, because i love the themes involved, chiefly religion which i have a big interest in. The songs seems just like a poem to music, and it's a brilliant poem indeed. 'Nothing Gets Crossed Out' is a brilliant depiction of 'what if' and 'what was', the words are softly sung delicately as only Conor can, but cut delicately at your emotions and eventually tear them in two as he raises his voice when the tension on his heart strings become unbearable and he 'long[s] to be found'. The next song is a perfect 'do what you will, i don't care anymore'. 'Make War' shows the joy of getting over something you never thought you could, and smiling at the thought that you'll never have to experience it again; comforting. 'Waste Of Paint' is a pretty acoustic about how life can only get worse, and is never resolved as we see in the last line as the guitar becomes more aggresive and Conor shouts about his 'absent God' who seems powerless for the most powerful, and the emotional ending 'all I want, to be loved and believe in my soul'. 'From A Balance Beam' is incredibly pretty as well, it seems as though it's some kind of release song, though it seems fairly abstract, nethertheless it stands out as one of the album's greatest moments. The next song is the only ballad on the album, about what seems like a soul mate that Conor let go of. It is about a mistake that cost him his love for what seems like forever, 'Laura Laurent'. The last song on the album is 'for all you god damn people', an upbeat 10minute ending which just sums up the life that society is driven to lead by standards and morals. This album is indeed one of the best things i have ever heard. The Standout Tracks: 1,3,4,6,8,9,11 but really, the whole album is a standout in itself. Ladies and Gentlemen, 'The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground'.
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