7th August - Okkervil River's The Stage Names

Artist – Album: Okkervil River – The Stage Names

Released:  7^th August 2007

Sounds Like: Hardly the Stand-ins

 

“Let me go home, let me go home, I wanna go home, let me go home, Why don't you let me go home? I have a blog to write, I don’t even know what the album is yet”

 

This sentiment may become all the more familiar to my soon-to-be housemate in the coming months, but tonight was the first that I had real cause to use it, with tonight being the first of potentially many completely impromptu piss-ups with the best mate.

Thankfully, being left with an hour to review an Okkervil River album is something that I feel that I am more than equipped to deal with, considering they’re one of the most reliably gifted bands of the last ten years. Will Sheff consistently delivers his dramatic vocals that are part lamentable but part perfect indie, whilst his intelligent lyrics are no less clever here than on the awesome previous album Black Sheep Boy. The rest of the band seem to have found a new found confidence that turns them bombastic at times, such as on the never-more-theatrical ‘Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe’, one of the absolute highlights of the record. ‘A Girl in Port’ proves the band aren’t all about high intensity rock, however, as it’s country tinged brilliance comes close to stealing the show. The knowing references of ‘Plus Ones’ is also a highlight, as is the album closer ‘John Allyn Smith Sails’, a strange mix of the Beach Boys’ ‘Sloop John B’ and Sufjan Stevens.

 

Being that I’m a little bit drunk, listening to this album for the first time only half an hour ago, and I have just 25 minutes to finalise and finish my post, it would be easiest for me to dismiss the album as complete tosh. It honestly is a huge complement that I’m driven to do the almost complete opposite –viewing the album as one of the modern greats and giving it a glowing reference that is almost more than my lazy imagination can cope with. As previously explained on April’s Black Sheep Boy blog (http://analbumadaykeepsthebluesaway.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/5th-april-okkervil-rivers-black-sheep.html), these guys are brilliant.

 

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

 

1.       Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe – 4:23

2.       Unless It’s Kicks – 4:38

3.       A Hand to Take Hold of the Scene – 3:59

4.       Savannah Smiles – 3:38

5.       Plus Ones – 3:43

6.       A Girl in Port – 6:36

7.       You Can’t Hold the Hand of a Rock and Roll Man – 4:53

8.       Title Track – 5:22

9.       John Allyn Smith Sails – 4:33

 

Listen to ‘Plus Ones’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaXvayF2vog

5th April - Okkervil River's Black Sheep Boy

Artist – Album: Okkervil River – Black Sheep Boy

Released:  5^th March 2005

Sounds Like: sufficiently contemporary to win you over, sufficiently unknown to make you feel cool

 

Now, don’t be too disappointed with me, but not everything I write here is completely my own original thought. Sometimes (oooh sometimes) I remember what I’d read in some other magazine or online website and regurgitate as best as I can their snappy sentiment. Some of my jokes have been lifted from critically acclaimed but criminally underwatched American comedies (*cough* 30 Rock, *cough* Arrested Development). And, you’ve probably noticed, but Wikipedia has got me up to speed with things once in a while... I only mention this now because I’m just going to quote word for word a review from Allmusic right now (how lazy am I?):

“...Fourth full-length, Black Sheep Boy, titled after the lovely song penned by Tim Hardin with which the band opens the record. However, their take on the song feels a bit rushed and uneventful, which knocks the tender breath from the lyrics and presents a clumsy start. Opening the record this way is the singular yet major complaint of the album, ironically pushing "Black Sheep Boy," the intended centerpiece, to the outskirts of the album's overall feel.”

 

Ok, so those might not be my words, but they do a damn fine job of covering my feelings on this record – the opening song and title track is something of a disappointment, but really that’s about the only criticism that can fairly be levelled at the album. The second track 'For Real' is a fantastically epic nugget of mid-noughties indie rock, zig-zagging between hushed vocals and crunching visceral guitars. When it's really got pumping, you envisage Will Sheff, red-faced and vein's bulging, as he strains to wring every last drop of emotion from the barked lyrics. 'Black' is soundtracked by a lighter, almost pop backing, disguising the literate but dark love song within. 'Get Big' is a lovely folk duet with Amy Annelle.

The album continues along these indie folk rock lines throughout and it stands as one of the better albums in this vein to have been released in the last decade or so. I may not have been the first person to have thought as much, but that doesn't make it any less true.

 

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.       <!--[endif]-->Black Sheep Boy – 1:18

<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.       <!--[endif]-->For Real – 4:42

<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.       <!--[endif]-->In a Radio Song – 5:39

<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.       <!--[endif]-->Black – 4:39

<!--[if !supportLists]-->5.       <!--[endif]-->Get Big – 3:55

<!--[if !supportLists]-->6.       <!--[endif]-->A King and a Queen – 3:22

<!--[if !supportLists]-->7.       <!--[endif]-->A Stone – 5:23

<!--[if !supportLists]-->8.       <!--[endif]-->The Latest Toughs – 3:11

<!--[if !supportLists]-->9.       <!--[endif]-->Song of Our So-Called Friend – 3:23

<!--[if !supportLists]-->10.   <!--[endif]-->So Come Back, I Am Waiting – 8:03

<!--[if !supportLists]-->11.   <!--[endif]-->A Glow – 3:43

 

Listen to ‘Black’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K7RokHjYd4