Sorry if this has been posted, but I just hopped on there to check out what they had to say. Two stars on both and they just absolutely admonish everything printed everywhere else about this fucker. Nothing like some refreshing honesty pointed in the direction of this lame emo crap.

I dig the acoustic one alot...havent really played the other one yet..only once....

I like "Wide Awake" - haven't given "Digital" a proper run-through yet, though...

Just like "indie", that word has lost all meaning.

I've only heard the folk one, but like it or not, it isn't "emo". It isn't all that fantastic either, but can't we have something other than hyperbole to evaluate music?

Labels or not (and I don't even know what half these labels mean i.e. I call ALL electronic music "techno") but I know Bright Eyes isnt emo--its folk rock in the same vain as, say, Ryan Adams.....

But thanks for the player hatin' Chase.

I thought i was alone.

I bought a Bright Eyes ep years ago and couldn't stand it. Everything i've heard from them has been quite bad, yet they still continue to get loads of praise. Maybe i'm missing something but that review put a huge smile on my face.

well, "they." i mean, this is basically just erlewine taking the piss, right? that guy is essentially one of the least astute critics/writers i have ever read. sub-pitchfork, self-important, generalist bullshit.

on the merits, i think the beats on digital are borderline embarassing, the substance of his lyrics on either record are awfully similar to previous efforts, but the way he ties things together on Wide Awake is pretty impressive. maybe not a record i will listen to much, but like Arcade Fire, i can still appreciate the craft put into it.

still though, STE...argh.

KPH

lets all hold hands in a circle of hate for Bright Eyes

Why did you think I stuck that emo crap in there? Mainly to elicit those genre bending defenses of stuff like this.

I just find it to be the quickest and easiest way to describe what he does, or I guess has done. The screeching on the opening track of Lifted is either going to go under "emo" or "misc" in my book, and yes, while the world would be a better place and more beautiful without labels that really detract from the versatility and uniqueness (that's probably not a word), while I'm detracting from something I'm going to label it.

The thing about him that's so painful is that he can do such beautiful things and write such great songs. "Bowl of Oranges" is really the major bright spot on Lifted for me and that's mainly because it's actually a song.

I'll see what the feedback is like here and probably end up checking these out just for the sake of being able to actually have a legitimate opinion.

Can anybody give a more simple breakdown of what these two albums are like and how they contrast? Allmusic did it, but in a bit much of a jumble. Thanks.

how long until the backlash backlash begins?

and the backlash to that.....

Personally (in relation to another thread), I'm a bit upset at him being a headliner for Coachella - I mean, I thought he was getting bigger, but bigger than the Chemical Brothers big (stagewise)?

This'll all clear over in about a month and a half - just ask the Arcade Fire...

I listened to Digital Ashes...Urn in a listening station earlier today, and I have to admit, was quite taken by it. It's on my wish list.

That Stephen Thomas Whatever guy makes a living essentially reproduciing press releases, and that's fine. He's really good at it, and that's a big reason All Music is as useful as it is. When he actually decides to put on his "critic" hat, though, it's always a disaster, because, well, I'm starting to think he's just not very smart. He makes poorly thought out arguments and consistently makes over-the-top statements, both positive and negative.

One of the things I find ridiculous in that review (and another one I saw somewhere, though I can't remember where), is the observation that, because Kurt Cobain was 24 when he released Nevermind, Oberst's age shouldn't be mentioned. The implication is always that Oberst isn't actually wise beyond his years, but that Cobain was. And I'd make a different argument: they're (were) both smart enough to feel alientated by a lot of mainstream culture, but not much smarter. They both expressed very basic counter-cultural sentiments, and in effect have the ability to speak to a larger group of people than, say, Pavement.

Back to Nevermind, though....I was actually so annoyed when I first read that AMG review that I tried finding the writer's email address so I could ask him to go back and listen to the lyrics on Nevermind or even In Utero. They're incredibly juvenile (far more so than Oberst's), and really just plain silly, but brilliant nonetheless.

The assertion than Oberst is "wallowing in perpetual adolescence" is proof positive that Erelewine flat-out doesn't know what's up. Rock and Roll exists for and because of people stuck in a perpetual adolescence.

well spoke, mike.

i'll probably download and eventually buy at least once of these.

I've never had any problem with Oberst. Nor have I ever been that enthused about him.

I don't know what's more surprising

allmusic shitting on an album

or the fact that every other fucking reviewer in the entire world loves I'm Wide Awake

Bright Eyes frustrates me like few others; a song like "Waste of Paint" I can listen to 10 times in a row while others I can barely stomach. But that's fine. He ain't my cup of tea. I'll just move along on that fact.

But with regards to Erlewine, I like that someone has been willing to call a spade a spade with regard to the media circle jerking that's been going on for near three years now with Bright Eyes. It just ain't there, folks. At least, not enough to justify all the ink that's been used to trumpet him in that time. Quibble over Erlewine's argumentative tactics, but his thesis is sound. Now, I don't know if a review of the new albums is the appropriate forum to spew that vitriol (I haven't heard them) but at least he tried to connect his screed to his critical musings. It comes off as a little hackneyed as a review, but I can live with that for the sake of someone wanting to pull away from the heard.

If it's being done for the sake of pulling away from the herd, I cannot live with it, and that's how Erlewine's review came off to me.

i think Springsteen is the last one to survive "the next dylan" hype

i listen to their recommendations every so often, but are the writers credible or even accurate in your experiences?

That review was awful. It's basically just an attack on Oberst.



Seriously, I'm not the biggest Bright Eyes fan but to say something like that is just stupid.

if another emotional fifteen year old girl recommends me this cunt again, i think i will rip another hole in her....he's just so bad, i don't understand why normally credible reviewers don't lump him in with john mayer and those other wankers, which he oh so deserves