Bright Eyes - Noise Floor 1998-2005
by Daniel Cressey
published: 2 / 10 / 2006
Label:
Saddle Creek
Format: CD
intro
Oddly accessible collection of B sides and lost tracks from Bright Eyes, the project of Conor Oberst, whose ability to craft songs of heart-rending delicacy and razor sharp bitterness remains unmatched and unquestionable
Arch-miserablist and Bright Eyes main man Conor Oberst has long been a poster boy for a particularly unpleasant type of self-pitying music lover. His ability, however, to craft songs of heart-rending delicacy and razor sharp bitterness remains unmatched and unquestionable. As with all collections of B-sides and ‘lost’ tracks there are some inclusions here that clearly only deserved their original status. But the gems’ sparkle is dazzling. Traditional Bright Eyes material – such as the perky ode to seeking drugs and love ‘Spent on Rainy Days’ – are things of beauty most songwriters and poets would give their eye-teeth to have written. And for simple delicacy ‘Weather Reports’ is up with the better songs Oberst has penned. On other tracks the band push the envelope further than they normally let themselves. Their albums can overwhelm with the continuity of misery but this one changes pace often enough to allow the listener to sit straight through from beginning to end. While most collections of this sort can only really be recommended to obsessive fans and completists, the variety on 'Noise Floor' might actually make a hitherto acquired taste more widely accessible. It is a tribute to their skill that the scrapings of Bright Eyes’ barrels shames many bands’ primary output.
Track Listing:-
1 Mirrors And Fevers2 I Will Be Grateful For This Day
3 Trees Get Wheeled Away
4 Drunk Kid Catholic
5 Spent On Rainy Days
6 The Vanishing Act
7 Soon You Will Be Leaving Your Man
8 Blue Angels Air Show
9 Weather Reports
10 Seashell Tale
11 Bad Blood
12 Amy In The White Coat
13 Devil Town
14 I've Been Eating (For You)
15 Happy Birthday To Me (Feb. 15)
16 Motion Sickness
Label Links:-
http://saddle-creek.com/https://www.facebook.com/SaddleCreekRecords
http://www.last.fm/label/Saddle+Creek
https://www.youtube.com/user/SaddleCreekRecords
https://twitter.com/saddlecreek
interviews |
|
Interview with Conor Oberst (2003) |
|
| At only 22, Conor Oberst is already being proclaimed by many as being a musical genius, and fronts both the Desparicodos and also his own solo project Bright Eyes. Julia Willis chats him about Bright Eyes latest 'Lifted or The Story is in the Soil' |
bandcamp
reviews |
|
Lifted Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground (2002) |
|
| Compulsive and challenging fifth album from Bright Eyes, the folk/country project of the Desaparecidos, Conor Oberst |
most viewed articles
current edition
Peter Doherty - Blackheath Halls, Blackheath and Palace Halls, Watford, 18/3/2025 and 21/3/2025Armory Show - Interview with Richard Jobson
Liz Mitchell - Interview
Deb Googe and Cara Tivey - Interview
Lauren Mayberry - Photoscapes
Max Bianco and the BlueHearts - Troubadour, London, 29/3/2025
Maarten Schiethart - Vinyl Stories
Sukie Smith - Interview
Clive Langer - Interview
Kim Wilde - Photoscapes
most viewed reviews
current edition
Davey Woodward - Mumbo in the JumboNigel Stonier - Wolf Notes
Wings - Venus and Mars
Only Child - Holy Ghosts
Kate Daisy Grant and Nick Pynn - Songs For The Trees
Neil Campbell - The Turnaround
Philip Jeays - Victoria
Darkness - Dreams On Toast
Suzanne Vega - Flying With Angels
Charles Ellsworth - Cosmic Cannon Fodder
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart