can you do it for me?
Admission: I’ve never really listened to much Bob Dylan. Of course I’ve heard a ton of Bob Dylan, but I’ve never really listened to what people really admire about him…mainly his poetry. It’s not that I resist his importance to the music world, but I just never exposed myself to his stuff the way I should.
I’ve never really listened to Bright Eyes. It seems his influence over the world of particularly emotional indie types really made itself apparent towards the end of my obsession with particularly emotional indie type music. My take was always that he was overly mopey and a lyrical master wannabe. Of course, I say that having heard maybe one of his songs and ignoring it.
Okay, those two paragraphs are written and now I will proceed to listen to both of these albums for the first time. I will admit, there’s little hope for Bright Eyes, because I’ve always told myself if I really dug into Bob Dylan, I’d find what everyone else has always loved him for. But I make this vow: I will give Bright Eyes his fair shake. I hope to be pleasantly surprised. Here goes something…
My first reaction is that I am listening to two artists with very distinct voices. That’s the similarity. The difference is that Conor Oberst’s voice seems to be quite manufactured. His poetry, which seems quite forced, gets lost in the fact that he is, at least in my estimation, singing earnestly to convince us that he is earnest. Dylan, on the other hand, simply seems to be singing from his gut without regard for what we might think.
Dear Bright Eyes, Is that Emmylou on track 2? What a way to show that you don’t have real chops.
Another reaction…I listened with anticipation for each song on Blood on the Tracks. I listened for the poetry. For the almost anthem like calls…
I wanted the Bright Eyes album to be over mid-way through track three. I don’t know. I think I just hate it. The instrumentation, while skillfully played, is just kind of too smooth, or boring. It doesn’t match that (false) earnestness with which Oberst is singing. I just don’t know why I’m supposed to care about what he moaning into my earphones.
Can you see where this is going? I don’t think I need to write any more, really.
Blood on the Tracks y’all.
I think you're right, in a sense, that Oberst's voice is manufactured, but I think that's because he's crafting something in a really intentional way. One thing I found interesting about this matchup is how strong some of Oberst's rhymes are - in a way that feels similar to Dylan's. I think he's getting better, too, and will be around for a long time. We saw him with The Monsters of Folk this Fall and he really outshone Jim James and M. Ward (both of whom I really like) and seemed even more precise in his delivery and writing than the recordings I'm familiar with. I really like the sound of words escaping from his mouth. It's kind of like how I feel this compulsion to make a tight "o" with my mouth when I hear a guitar through a wah pedal.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying I wouldn't have picked Blood on the Tracks (probably my favorite and most-listened to Dylan Album), just felt like sticking up for Oberst a bit.
i've always really liked conor oberst's voice...it sounds kinda new wave to me...i think he has gotten stronger as a writer and performer since this album...the prescence of emmylou as a backup singer, i think, just speaks to good taste...she's great at singing "behind" unconventional male singers (see - willie nelson/teatro, neil young/freedom, and the dylan album right after blood on the tracks, desire)...maybe he's just copying his "heroes"...i would direct you also to the version of "lua" he did with gillian welch and david rawlings for the "dark was the night" album...real mellow and intimate...anyway, i woulda definitely picked blood on the tracks...bright eyes sucks!!!!!
ReplyDeletealso gram parsons
ReplyDeleteDitto to Bruce and Andy. I would have picked Dylan too, and especially BotT, but Conor Oberst continues to improve and impress. This was the first album of his that helped me understand exactly how much potential he has to rule.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love some of the songs on this album: Poison Oak, Landlocked Blues, Another Travelin' Song, We Are Nowhere and It's Now. There are some great lyrical surprises here, there, and everywhere. I'm reminded of a line in "Old Soul Song": "I see some flowers on the hillside / Like a wall of new TVs." As the kids said 20 or so years ago, "That's fresh."