Album Review: Outer South- Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band

So here I am with Conor's new CD in my hand, yes, I still buy his stuff, because, y'know, it's him. The sleeve is nice, shiny and colourful with lots of posey pictures of them all looking a bit awkward. There's 16 songs on this album, so that's value for money, at least (but how many is he doing the lead vocal on?). The Daily Mail said Conor was in danger of producing 'quantity over quality'. But he's always been prolific. I listened to his last (almost) solo offering in this flat too, so it wasn't so long ago. But I'd rather prolific and a bit shoddy than retired.
Slowly (Oh so Slowly) reminds me of Gentleman's Pact. To All The Lights in The Windows sounds like a soft rock song, like Conor is trying to be Bruce Springsteen, but there are flashes of good stuff. His voice sounds kind of raw and live on it, a bit under produced, which is nice.
The third song has a crossed out title; cute. From the lyrics, I suspect it's really called 'big black nothing'. Uh-oh, it's one of the others singing. I was afraid of this. Actually, it aint too bad.
Air Mattress also has another one singing, but his voice is kind of nasally (and not in a good way) and the song is a bit cliche. It makes me pine for Conor's vocals. Oh god, that guitar solo is unnecessary.
Cabbage Town is pretty good, probably the most Bright-Eyesey yet. I quite fancy going to Cabbage Town. Again, Conor's voice sounds good, a little bit ripped up and echoey. Definitely less studio-fied than on the last solo album.
Ten Women is quite nice, it has a gentle tone to it, and is probably the least country. Difference is Time is good too, even though it's another lead vocal from someone else, his voice is quite nice (although he sounds a little drunk). It's got a kind of Neva Dinova feel too it.
I thought Nikorette was a bit tedious, wasn't that meant to be the single? They always do a duff single! It's just TOO country, that guitar makes me want to puke.
White Shoes (with just Conor singing with a guitar) reminds me of Lime Tree (with a bit of Lenders in the Temple). It's kind of atmospheric but tuneless, like it could be beautiful but doesn't quite find it's feet. It's lyrically gibberish, which I'm sure means something to Conor, but not very much to the listener. The echo on his voice is cool. This will either really grown on me, or just end up leaving me cold.
Bloodline sees one of the others singing. It's OK but goes nowhere; it's country nothingness. Spoiled is quite good, it has a nice pace to it and the lyrics are sweet. It's a bit poppy. Worldwide feels like more interchangeable country; it feels like it should be Conor singing it.
Roosevelt room goes glam rock, which is a bit weird at this point, but at least Conor is shouting a bit, and he sounds angry. I've heard this before live. I absolutely HATE that 70s guitar sound, but at the same time it's good to hear something a bit different, which doesn't say much for the album. This song is too derivative, but the whole album is. It feels like a waste of Conor's genius.
Eagle on a Pole is not as good as Eagle on a Pole which is on the 1st album. Getting sleepy now.
I Got The Reason #2... wasn't this on the last album? When you're doing two songs with the same name and songs with the same name, but version 1 & 2, maybe you are too prolific. I do really like this song, but I know it quite well, anyway. The version I have is quite understated and quiet, but this version is good too, at least he's loud on it. It's probably the best song on the album.
Snake Hill is an awful ending to the album; it's the mega nasally one again. B-side!
Anyway, I've heard this is a grower, so all comments are pretty much null and void until a couple of weeks time. But it felt like a slog. Conor is such a talent; why does he insist on selling himself so short? And with himself, us.

Gig: Conor Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band (Electric Ballroom, Camden)

So here I am, walking past a queue of people seemingly no taller than five foot (and I aint MUCH taller), to see screamy-turned-country-cokehead-genius-and-isn’t-he-cute!- Conor Oberst. The crowd does not match the music on offer tonight. But these are eyelinered teenagers who fell in love with The Calendar Hung Itself (that was the first Bright Eyes song I ever heard) and Lover I Don’t have to Love (if you’re younger).
Why do we stick by Conor as he goes from brain-bleedingly vital (Desaparecidos) and downright genius (Letting Off The Happiness/ Fevers & Mirrors/ Lifted/ Digital Ash) to generic country bumpkin? Because look how many albums WERE downright genius. How can you fall out of love with someone who gave you so much? I am a loyal little fucker and he has done more for me than 99.9% of people on this planet just by existing.
And so I took my place at the front of the barrier amongst the crowd who were 80% female and 80% under 20. I might be older, but I’m the same age as Conor. He speaks for me as well.
The support band were a bit peculiar, a Welsh David Icke lookalike and a guitar player who would have made a rabbit in the headlights look like it was sitting on a sun-lounger sipping a cocktail. But my general feeling was, it could have been a lot worse.
I had reasonably low expectations for the gig; I was fully expecting it to be a full on country-fest, which it was to an extent, but it seemed to work well in it’s own bubble. You just have to push the back catalogue out of your head and appreciate this for what it is. I saw quite a chunk of Conor at Reading on BBC3 and I thought it was OK, but it was much better when you were there (plus he didn’t look quite so much like he was in fancy dress).
Conor and The Mystic Valley Band came on in a collection of puke-coloured shirts. Conor later said they were ‘ill’; I think ‘drunk’ was more the word he was after. The guitar player looked like he was struggling to stand and Conor later said it was because he’d dropped acid right before the show; if that was the case, he did a sterling job.
I’m quite fond of the Conor Solo album anyway, but it seemed more alive on a stage, less mellow and like it was meant to be heard this way. The stripped down numbers like Lenders in the Temple and Milk Thistle were lush and I thought Conor’s voice sounded really good, especially as he seemed to have a sore throat. The lighting was really cool at times I thought and they did one song that I have an acoustic version of that they really rocked up and it sounded brilliant (I don’t know the name of it- they did it at the BBC session and it says untitled!)
Minor gripes; I don’t think there was one member of the band that didn’t sing a song (even the bloody drummer sang one!) which seems a bit of a waste; like getting some gormless ballboy to play a set at Wimbledon whilst Nadal sits drinking some barley water and staring into space. Actually those songs were OK, and the covers, and I thought the whole set was pretty good (oh OK they pushed it a bit at the encore, but the very last song made up for it.)
I do just enjoy watching Conor, I like watching him fall apart a bit, and stumble round, and I especially like it when he SCREAMS. The final song (which I have discovered is called Breezy) saw Conor take to the keyboards, for this ballady number, then halfway through the song kicked in (I Believe in Symmetry style!) and there was a fair amount of shouting. It felt like a moment. It was an absolutely brilliant song and I want it now!
I actually thought him playing no Bright Eyes tonight was just right. I’m sure some eyelinered teens will have been disappointed. But I’m older. I’ve seen him on five or six tours now. They just should have been born earlier!
PS. I think Conor will be our Madonna and go a bit pop/ dancey next. I’m hoping anyway.

Music: Conor Oberst- Conor Oberst

Well, I expected the worst, which paid off, as I really like this album. Yes, it is country. Yes it is dated, unoriginal, lyrically regressed. But there is something lovely about it. If you can just forget Bright Eyes for a minute.
This is easy-listening Conor, which is offensive, obviously, as the beauty of him has always been in the pain, the raw emotion. But it's not awful for him to be reflective, or mellow. It's just awful when he sounds like he's going to go 'yee-ha!'
Cape Canaveral is a soft, tender start to the album. I think I like the pared down ones the most. Get Well Cards could easily be on Cassadaga (it's quite Hot Knives-esque). He does sound like he's doing a Brandon Flowers impression on it, which is peculiar, but not entirely unpleasant. He almost shouts in parts, and he definitely goes out of tune a bit, which I like. I hate it when he's too polished but his voice does sound really strong on this album. Almost slick, but not inhuman like on 'Brakeman'.
Lenders Inside The Temple I love, I've been caning the live version of this for a while anyway. Lyrically it's Bright-Eyes strong, and very-anti country. It could be off Letting Off The Happiness. There's something really moving about it, I think it's probably the line 'I'd give a fortune to your infomercial if somebody would just take my call... take my call.' I like the wobble in his voice.
That's not to say I like ALL of this album. I think Danny Callahan and Souled Out! are both pretty average, so I was surprised they were the lead tracks from the album (this is why my hopes weren't high). They are reasonably catchy, but you wouldn't die if you'd never heard them. But Conor has always had a few throwaway tracks in his album like these (Train Under Water, for example).
The guitar/piano combination on I Don't Wanna Die in The Hospital should be highly offensive but actually the song is sooo damn catchy, it's totally forgivable. It makes me want to go to a ho-down. And he screams! Yay. NYC- Gone Gone also reminds me of this one, it's a catchy foot-stomper. If it was anyone other than Conor, I'd hate it. As it is, I love it.
Eagle on a Pole's lyrics; 'thought the kettle was a train, thought that monday was a door frame.' Has Conor been huffing too much of that magic dust again? Actually I really like that one, it's got passion.
Moab could easily be off I'm Wide Away it's Morning. Cos it's Conor, there's a stupid 50-second track which is an assault on your ears in the middle, but I couldn't cope without that these days.
Finally Milk Thistle finishes the album where Cape Canaveral started it, with understated emotion.
Do you know what, I think I like this album more than Cassadaga! There are songs I HAVE to skip on Cassadaga (Make a Plan to Love Me springs to mind- vomit), where I could happily put this on and just go for the ride. Shit, I never thought I'd say that!
Oh yeah, so here's the video for Souled Out! I was mega surprised to see Conor acting in it, normally he's soooo po-faced and not even in his videos, but here he is (with short hair again- yum) larking around (and he even has his top off at one point- oh yes!)
But you know, it's all about the music. I can't wait to go to Conor's solo gig later this month. He's back and I still love him. Always have, always will.

Music!

Even I'm bored of my Big Brother blogs, so let's talk randomly about something else.
I have recently fell IN LOVE with the Infadels song Free Things for Poor People. I imagined the singer as some lithe handsome indie boy, and actually he looks like a death metaller. But anyway, it's the catchiest song of the year so far, utterly cheesy but brilliantly poppy and singalong. I downloaded the rest of the album and was fairly unimpressed though. It did sound a bit like The Feeling.
Just edging it out of the way for single of the year though, is Bloc Party's Mercury, which is just so damn good! I think it's the best thing they've done for yonks and gets jammed in your head for days. I love their dancey stuff. I love their indie stuff too, but I think it's cool when bands I like go a bit techno. Unlike when they go country, Conor.
Talking of which... I heard two of Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band's new songs which I thought were a bit crap (Danny Callahan & Souled Out) but then I downloaded these live tracks off of the brilliant to die by your side and I absolutely fell in love with them. I'm sure he played Money Lenders when I saw him with Bright Eyes, but it's just a really lush song, and the untitled one is lovely too. It made me fall in love with him all over again. But please, bring on the techno (or the screaming) again soon, Conor. I can only take so much of the straw chewing.
I'm also very much liking The Geeks Were Right by The Faint which you can hear on this fab blog here, if you feel that way inclined. (Look at me doing links and everything, you can tell I've got time on my hands).