Bright Eyes - Noise Floor 1998-2005

  by Daniel Cressey

published: 2 / 10 / 2006

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Review

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 Fevers
2 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

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