Conor Oberst is running on dangerous ground: getting his first Dylan comparisons at age 12, frolicking with Winona Ryder, releasing two separate albums at once. Didn't he learn anything from Ryan Adams's mistakes? It's a good thing he can write such haunting, intimate songs. I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (released simultaneously with Digital Ash in a Digital Urn) is the album the Omaha native has always threatened to make, channeling his country rock influences into articulate, witty ballads that come to life with gorgeous harmonies supplied by Emmylou Harris. The tumbling "We Are Nowhere and It's Now" might be his first actual masterpiece, while the words of album closer "Road to Joy" ("I could've been a famous singer if I had someone else's voice/ But failure's always sounded better") indicate that Oberst might have his head screwed on right after all. -- Aidin Vaziri
Product Description
Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst continues to earn his reputation as our most respected young troubadour with almost frightening ease. For the past few years he's been tagged "rock's boy genius" by the music press. These albums are a soundly articulated slice of modern life rolled into two very different records, both bursting with all the heartfelt poetry for which Bright Eyes' records have earned their acclaim. Of course, the rough edges haven't gone away - the palpitation of a splintering note, the crack of a voice as it overextends, the clumsy thump of a misplaced thumb. It's all still there. But there's a glorious new level of depth, a maturation of texture, writing and delivery. His best work yet.
I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning,Bright Eyes,Saddle Creek,Indie Rock,Pop,Rock,Rock/Pop
I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Average customer rating: 
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I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Bright Eyes Manufacturer: Saddle Creek ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD  General
| Alternative Rock
| Styles
| Music
Indie Rock
| Indie & Lo-Fi
| Alternative Rock
| Styles
| Music
General
| Rock
| Styles
| Music
Pop Rock
| Pop
| Styles
| Music
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ASIN: B00070FV0M Release Date: 2005-01-25 |
Tracks:
- At The Bottom Of Everything - (with Jim James)
- We Are Nowhere And It's Now - (with Emmylou Harris)
- Old Soul Song (For The New World Order) - (with Emmylou Harris)
- Lua
- Train Under Water
- First Day Of My Life
- Another Travelin' Song
- Landlocked Blues - (with Emmylou Harris)
- Poison Oak
- Road To Joy
Amazon.com
Conor Oberst is running on dangerous ground: getting his first Dylan comparisons at age 12, frolicking with Winona Ryder, releasing two separate albums at once. Didn't he learn anything from Ryan Adams's mistakes? It's a good thing he can write such haunting, intimate songs. I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (released simultaneously with Digital Ash in a Digital Urn) is the album the Omaha native has always threatened to make, channeling his country rock influences into articulate, witty ballads that come to life with gorgeous harmonies supplied by Emmylou Harris. The tumbling "We Are Nowhere and It's Now" might be his first actual masterpiece, while the words of album closer "Road to Joy" ("I could've been a famous singer if I had someone else's voice/ But failure's always sounded better") indicate that Oberst might have his head screwed on right after all. -- Aidin VaziriAlbum Description
Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst continues to earn his reputation as our most respected young troubadour with almost frightening ease. For the past few years he's been tagged "rock's boy genius" by the music press. These albums are a soundly articulated slice of modern life rolled into two very different records, both bursting with all the heartfelt poetry for which Bright Eyes' records have earned their acclaim. Of course, the rough edges haven't gone away - the palpitation of a splintering note, the crack of a voice as it overextends, the clumsy thump of a misplaced thumb. It's all still there. But there's a glorious new level of depth, a maturation of texture, writing and delivery. His best work yet.Customer Reviews:
one of my top five albums of all time.......2007-06-01
there isn't a track i don't like
crass, a bit bitter, a little drunk.... this album captures the soul of a young man like no other record i have ever heard. this is his document of what it means to move into lower manhattan. this is how it is for him. this is how he sees the world: he questions, he listens, and he looks. (it is called literature)
i am not yet tired of this record, it is full-bodied. it is honest. it is part of my own story as well, only with better background music.
Whatever you do.......2007-02-19
This album is a feat for Oberst - an excellent folk album that everyone can relate to, sing along to, listen to, and love. If you like folk, slow music, Conor Oberst, indie, or life, you've got to listen to this album.
From claustrophobic storytellers ("At the Bottom of Everything") to sad, sweet folkies ("Lua") to simply happy tunes ("First Day of My Life") to joyful/miserable I-love-and-hate-life songs ("Road To Joy"), this CD has something for everyone that's ever felt ecstatic, down, confused, bitter, torn, smitten, terrified, or alive. Bottom line: it's got everything.
Heartfelt, incredible, rich in emotion, and downright brilliant - I'm not exaggerating when I say that this is Oberst's best work to date. If anything of his that comes out surpasses this amazing album, I will die, come back to life, and buy it.
Let's just say that this would be one of the albums that I'd choose if I ever had to answer that stupid "If you were on a desert island and could bring only five CDs, what would you bring?" question.
read my future on the Amazon.com review board.......2007-02-16
The pen is mightier than the sword, I read my future on the Amazon.com review board. People log in to say what they think of me, praise, rag, bitch, and moan for free. Did we buy his s--t at the record store, or just download music for free once more. That's all right, its fine with me, just shut your face and buy the CD. I spill my guts, have done it for free, so praise your God and steal my CD.
Come on Conor, we know you read this stuff. Post a review and write your next song.
great sound.......2007-02-03
"I guess you'd call that painting in a cave...".......2007-01-30
I would probably not be so quick with the Dylan comparisons. I'd probably be more apt to call Oberst kin to Gram Parsons or Jackson Browne, where confessional lyricism was more the point of the song. I also take issue with the emo tag connected to Bright Eyes albums by underage metalheads without the maturity to make the distinction. This is folk music in the seventies sense, maybe a bit more stripped down but still a close cousin to "Late For The Sky" or James Taylor's "Mud Slide Slim." "I'm Wide Awake It's Morning" belongs on the same pantheon as those albums, even with the age difference.
I've also been lucky enough to see Oberst play (in a song circle with Jim James - wow - and M.Ward -eh) at the 2005 Newport Folk Festival. Far from a gallery of screaming teenaged girls that some of the more virulent negative reviews would lead you to think are his core audience, Oberst captivated a huge ADULT crowd of concert goers. The songs from "I'm Wide Awake It's Morning" resonated with this crowd with the same rapport the audience shared with other acts that weekend, including such stalwarts as Arlo Guthrie and Nanci Griffith. They are the kind of company young Conor is peer to. Although this CD came out in 2005, it still gets strong rotation in my stereo.
Average customer rating:
|
I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Bright Eyes Manufacturer: Saddle Creek ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General
| Alternative Rock
| Styles
| Music
Indie Rock
| Indie & Lo-Fi
| Alternative Rock
| Styles
| Music
General
| Rock
| Styles
| Music
ASIN: B00069W4J0 |
Tracks:
- At the Bottom of Everything
- We Are Nowhere and It's Now
- Old Soul Song [For the New World Order]
- Lua
- Train Under Water
- First Day of My Life
- Another Travelin' Song
- Land Locked Blues
- Poison Oak
- Road to Joy
Customer Reviews:
Wakening.......2005-01-31
Oberst keeps his eye on sadness and disenchantment, with his life and the city around him. All that emotion gives the twenty-four-year-old's songs a raw feeling, especially the first single "Lua." It's a fragile, wounded ballad where Oberst sounds a little hungover and a lot depressed. ""We might die from medication/but we sure killed all the pain/what was normal in the evening/by the morning seems insane," he sings, in a voice that sounds like it's about to break into sobs. Poor guy.
That dramatic tremble keeps going in the slower, simpler songs. But Oberst indulges in more bluesy-rockiness in songs like the pensive "We Are Nowhere And It's Now," or the angsty yet bouncy "Another Travellin' Song," which has train whistles in the background. But surprisingly, Oberst never SOUNDS indulgent.
While its sister album experiments in the tradition of Radiohead -- synth wobbles and all -- "I'm Wide Awake It's Morning" sits firmly on an alt-country foundation. Reportedly it's all about Oberst moving to New York, and all the nerves, loneliness and bewilderment of his move.
Many of the songs are mostly Oberst and a guitar, both quietly trembling through his sad songs; a few of them have more instrumental backup, especially the catchier tunes. The stripped-down sound suits Oberst, since it lets his songwriting skills shine through, be it an anti-war rant or a drug-hazed night out with a date.
The album ends on an upbeat note with "Road to Joy," where Oberst sings " The sun came up with no conclusions/Flowers sleepin' in their beds/The city cemetary's hummin'/I'm wide awake, its mornin'." It's the logical finale to a melancholy, pensive album -- one that may well be a classic, twenty years down the line.
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