Anyone have the new Okkervil River - The Stage Names?

[Davey]

Hey, I knew that if I actually looked in this thread there'd be something I could comment on.

Yep, I try to keep it a diverse and inclusive environment here, making room for even those with the same crappy taste as me. Red Sea, Black Sea is my jam right now, but I don't really even know what that means

And bathed in this light,
we will swim again
From the high desert's walls
to the seas, red and black

http://www.matadorrecords.com/mpeg/s..._black_sea.mp3

[tentoze]

Actually, that Gob Iron eluded me altogether until right now- I'm hopelessly out of touch with new releases anymore, it seems. But it looks like something I need.

And, SB, I imagine I'll end up ordering the Okkervil regardless. Sheff would have to take a hard 270 degree turn into Electronica or Death Metal before I'd be ready to give up on him.

[Slosh]

Can't be worse than "Is it in yet?"

Hey Sloshy?

For some reason since I unzipped The Stage Names there's a background sound of rushing water on my computer. I closed down my listening program and it was still there if I turned the sound on.

So I put on Tom Waits - Mule Variations since there are so many weird sounds it fits right in.

What the heck do you think it is?

Okkervil River, of course.

Where is it?

Uh, Austin

[Snowbunny]

Okkervil River, of course. Uh, Austin

I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that this is the best thing Okkervil River has ever produced and that this is best Will Sheff's vocals have ever sounded. May very well make my favourite albums of the year list. If I bothered to keep one. I'm just not anal like that.

This album makes me very happy. I must find a "real" copy so I can follow along with the excellent lyrics. There are some interesting back-stories to this so-called autobiographical album. Sheff has had more than his fair share of heart-ache, which is a good thing when inspires him to produce such a great lyrical narrative.

I heartily recommend it, even to folks who find OR too slow or somber. If you only heard the first two tracks on the CD, you might never guess it was Okkervil River.

Thank you for the preview, Sloshy. And the lesson in geography...

[Slosh]

Too much music. I'm moving on to this:

[Slosh]

...and Future Of The Left - Curses (ex-McLusky) RAWK!!!

[Snowbunny]

...and Future Of The Left - Curses (ex-McLusky) RAWK!!!

NIce cover! What's the ex-McLuskey all about?

[Slosh]

NIce cover! What's the ex-McLusky all about?

McLusky is no more, but the active ingredient (Falkous) is there. Not Snowbunny tunes me thinks but for McLusky fans it's everything you'd hoped it would be.

So much 2007 music out there I still need to get to know better. For example, NP:

[Slosh]

I think I'm gonna try me some Meadow. This will be my first Richard Buckner rec. Good place to jump in? I'm always on the lookout for some quality alt-country.

While I'm at it I may as well try to find that Gob Iron thingie too.

Thread delivers (I hope )

[Davey]

I think I'm gonna try me some Meadow. This will be my first Richard Buckner rec. Good place to jump in? I'm always on the lookout for some quality alt-country.

While I'm at it I may as well try to find that Gob Iron thingie too.

Thread delivers (I hope )

I have three Buckner records, the first two, and this last one, and like them all a lot. Bloomed and Devotion + Doubt are both great, with maybe that second one getting the nod for the more fleshed out sound. He's put out quite a bit of stuff in between, but Meadow seems to pick up where I left off, and like Rae, I've been playing the crap out of it. Just a really fine CD. Not much country in in, but it rocks pretty good at times, good lyrics, great playing, and that voice. Mastered too loud, but not to the point of wreckage, only to the point of me knowing that it would sound much better if more sense was employed and that great playing was placed better in the mix, and allowed to spread out, instead of being compressed and congested. Same complaint I have about almost all rock, so don't let that deter you. If you find a copy of Bloomed on Glitterhouse without the 5 bonus tracks, the original 1993 release in Europe, not the reissue/remaster, grab it. After he was so critically acclaimed with the second album, I think Ryko picked up the debut in the US since it had fallen oop by the little label it was on here, Deja Disc, and remastered it and dolled it up some with some demo tracks not even from those sessions. Still great stuff, with Lloyd Maines doing the production and playing a lot of the instruments with Buckley, but they did master it pretty loud. I used the remaster on the Decade of Alt-Country comp, and can't remember if I turned it down or not, but remember it being louder than a lot of the stuff on there, but since picked up a used Glitterhouse version, and that's the one for me.

But you can't go wrong with Meadow, easy to find on the cheap too. Love it. You'll want more, cause this thread does deliver, so then you can heed the above

http://www.acousticmusic.com/fame/p00306.htm

[Slosh]

Thanks for the push, Davey. That Buckner sounds pretty good but yet again I've been sidetracked.

NP:

[Davey]

Thanks for the push, Davey. That Buckner sounds pretty good but yet again I've been sidetracked.

Hey, it's not Sept 11 yet! Looking forward to that one bigtime too, so watch the spoiler talk, buddy

Sept 11 is the new Joe Henry too.

[Slosh]

Hey, it's not Sept 11 yet! Sept 11 is the new Joe Henry too.

pfft!

NP: (and FLAC at that )

[Davey]

I have three Buckner records, the first two, and this last one, and like them all a lot. Bloomed and Devotion + Doubt are both great, with maybe that second one getting the nod for the more fleshed out sound.

I've been listening a bunch to those first two for the last week, hard to listen to anything else once I get started, so thought I'd add a few more words, cause you know I'm usually a man of few words ...

First off, I really didn't do justice to what a fuckin' great CD is that original release of Bloomed! Man, it does sound nice. But just a minor correction, mine is actually the 1995 DejaDisc US release, not the Glitterhouse Euro release, although I imagine they are the same. The Glitterhouse is more readily available now. Favorite song: Wow, that's tough, maybe the "Blue and Wonder" opener, or the "Six Years" I used on the Decade of Alt-Country comp, or "Gauzy Dress in the Sun" which might be the indirect title track. No, probably the beautiful "Mud" with the mandolin and dobro ... "And Christ, how this life from mud to miracle, is just the prettiest little burden, isn't it?"

Second, Devotion + Doubt is almost as good in my mind, his major label debut on MCA, recorded down in Tuscon at Wavelab with Howe Gelb and the Calexico boys, and guitarist extraordinaire Mark Ribot and others. Great record, nice sound. It even opens with a song called "Pull" that sounds kinda like ol' Howe Gelb and his Giant Sand, since they do have a certain sympatico, but then moves off decidedly into more twangy Buckner territory for the next song. Pretty diverse romp through the alt-country backwoods on this one, even one heartfelt a cappela song, just Buckner laid bare. Favorite: A Goodbye Rye

[Snowbunny]

I've been listening a bunch to those first two for the last week, hard to listen to anything else once I get started, so thought I'd add a few more words, cause you know I'm usually a man of few words ...

First off, I really didn't do justice to what a fuckin' great CD is that original release of Bloomed! Man, it does sound nice. But just a minor correction, mine is actually the 1995 DejaDisc US release, not the Glitterhouse Euro release, although I imagine they are the same. The Glitterhouse is more readily available now. Favorite song: Wow, that's tough, maybe the "Blue and Wonder" opener, or the "Six Years" I used on the Decade of Alt-Country comp, or "Gauzy Dress in the Sun" which might be the indirect title track. No, probably the beautiful "Mud" with the mandolin and dobro ... "And Christ, how this life from mud to miracle, is just the prettiest little burden, isn't it?"

Second, Devotion + Doubt is almost as good in my mind, his major label debut on MCA, recorded down in Tuscon at Wavelab with Howe Gelb and the Calexico boys, and guitarist extraordinaire Mark Ribot and others. Great record, nice sound. It even opens with a song called "Pull" that sounds kinda like ol' Howe Gelb and his Giant Sand, since they do have a certain sympatico, but then moves off decidedly into more twangy Buckner territory for the next song. Pretty diverse romp through the alt-country backwoods on this one, even one heartfelt a cappela song, just Buckner laid bare. Favorite: A Goodbye Rye

And this is relevant in an Okkervil River thread how?

[Davey]

And this is relevant in an Okkervil River thread how?

Ah c'mon, your thread obviously needed a boost, I mean you haven't even beat out the Fall Girl's new receiver thread yet! Just doing my little part to keep RR alive

[Snowbunny]

Ah c'mon, your thread obviously needed a boost, I mean you haven't even beat out the Fall Girl's new receiver thread yet! Just doing my little part to keep RR alive

Alright! I won't spank you for hijacking my thread.

But... I will take away a reputation point! [/evil laugh]

Have you listened to The Stage Tapes yet?

[Davey]

Have you listened to The Stage Tapes yet?

No, but to be honest I never really got into the last one so probably won't. Just got the Three Mile Pilot "Songs From An Old Town We Once Knew" compilation from a few years ago. Bunch of singles and unreleased stuff before Pall and Tobias and Armistead split into BHP and Pinback. Some real gems scattered over the two CDs, including "In This Town I Awaken" that just played, and the long organ-driven "Jadulastan Requiem" that just got started and stretches out over almost 12 minutes to open the second disc, with the legendary San Diego weirdo Jim French on some strange self-made skronky horn instrument called the svegl. Very cool, these guys have sure made a ton of music over the years.

Yea, I know, still nothing to do with your Okkervil River, but see, I bumped you quite a ways past FA's receiver thread now

[Davey]

But now back to Richard Buckner, Meadow, and a Bass Ale. Love this one, listened to it tons in the last few months, but always sounds good. "Window" playing right now, just classic Buckner. Rocking, passionate, nervous, full of energy, the desire, the buildup, the release. Leaving unanswered the age old question: is light a wave or a particle? Oh, wait, no, not that one. The one about what's better, the thrill of anticipation, or the post-sex glow?

Hey, I knew that if I actually looked in this thread there'd be something I could comment on. I've been playing the shit out of that Buckner since it came out last year as well. "Lucky" is really my jam. I don't know how I didn't get way into him the first time I heard him on yr Decade of Alt-Country comp lo those many years ago but it somehow fell by the wayside until I saw him play a hypnotic double-bill with Eric Bachmann early last year. I believe he had Doug Gillard as his sideman and the two of them played unaccompanied-- it ended up being quite the effects-pedal workout. Ever since then I've just been stuck on the new one-- "when's it gonna ha-a-pp-uhn..." Awesome stuff.

~Rae

Still a great listen, Buckner and Meadow. Maybe not up there with the classic Devotion + Doubt, but my kind of music, still the same. Some of my favorite people in this thread too