― Marc-, Thursday, 9 June 2005 14:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Thursday, 9 June 2005 14:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― Marc-, Thursday, 9 June 2005 14:24 (eighteen years ago) link
After that, when you become an OkkRiv megafanatic, get Black SHeep Boy next (it's great).
The EPs are mostly quieter and less, i dunno, "folksy" than "Red" or "Kansas City".
― Sean M (Sean M), Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:20 (eighteen years ago) link
― Sean M (Sean M), Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:23 (eighteen years ago) link
Hehe nice, I actually bought it on ebay just after starting this thread.
― Marc- (feminazi), Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:42 (eighteen years ago) link
― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Thursday, 9 June 2005 17:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ludo (Ludo), Thursday, 9 June 2005 19:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― JC-L (JC-L), Thursday, 9 June 2005 19:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― Vic Funk, Thursday, 9 June 2005 19:24 (eighteen years ago) link
― WillS, Thursday, 9 June 2005 21:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― BeeOK (boo radley), Friday, 10 June 2005 05:56 (eighteen years ago) link
― Mitya (mitya), Sunday, 11 December 2005 16:36 (eighteen years ago) link
― Simon H. (Simon H.), Sunday, 11 December 2005 16:56 (eighteen years ago) link
― BeeOK (boo radley), Monday, 12 December 2005 09:55 (eighteen years ago) link
― mark e (mark e), Monday, 12 December 2005 12:38 (eighteen years ago) link
black sheep boy is a great version though.
― AaronK (AaronK), Monday, 12 December 2005 14:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― A Giant Mechanical Ant (The Giant Mechanical Ant), Wednesday, 23 August 2006 04:28 (seventeen years ago) link
New song/album announcement last night:
http://consequenceofsound.net/2011/01/11/watch-okkervil-river-debut-new-song-album-title-on-fallon/
I don't know how popular these guys are here, but I'm excited.
― monster_xero, Tuesday, 11 January 2011 18:56 (thirteen years ago) link
seems like they don't have much of a following here but i love "black sheep boy" and "the stage names", so i'm game for this
― fruit of the goon (k3vin k.), Tuesday, 11 January 2011 19:35 (thirteen years ago) link
I'm excited, been a huge fan of the last several releases.
― one pretty obvious guy in the obvious (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 11 January 2011 19:35 (thirteen years ago) link
I'm also a big fan, I ran this poll a couple of years ago:
Our Life Is Not a POLL or Maybe: Okkervil River Studio Albums
There was some discussion on another thread about the album they did as Roky Erickson's backing band. My feeling being that whatever deficiencies that record had were down to him rather than them.
― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Tuesday, 11 January 2011 19:58 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah I really like what they've been up to for the last few albums — dude's songwriting just keeps on getting stronger
new song doesn't blow me away but it doesn't really need to, y'know? definitely gonna check out the album
― bernard snowy, Tuesday, 11 January 2011 19:59 (thirteen years ago) link
He's also one of the best frontmen I've ever seen. Man he knows how to work an audience.
― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Tuesday, 11 January 2011 20:00 (thirteen years ago) link
I'd never heard Okkervil River so I just downloaded Don't Fall in Love, and I can't seem to get past the opener, "Red". What a stunner!
― what does xd mean (rip van wanko), Tuesday, 11 January 2011 20:26 (thirteen years ago) link
Black Sheep Boy is one of my favorite records of the last decade, and though the last couple were slight steps down, they haven't put out a bad record yet. Quite excited for this one. Also glad they took a little bit of a break between records this time; Stand Ins had some A+ material, but definitely felt rushed compared to its predecessors.
― Evan R, Tuesday, 11 January 2011 20:46 (thirteen years ago) link
Wasn't it recorded at the same time as The Stage Names, though?
― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Tuesday, 11 January 2011 20:55 (thirteen years ago) link
It was, and at times it felt like leftovers. Not as bad as Sujfan Stevens' post-Illinois clearinghouse The Avalanche, but still not the band at their freshest.
― Evan R, Tuesday, 11 January 2011 21:07 (thirteen years ago) link
excited! still love this band.
― World Series champion San Francisco Giants (Bee OK), Wednesday, 12 January 2011 06:49 (thirteen years ago) link
Track-by-track preview of the new record here, supposed to be less "polished" and more "chaotic" than the last two:
http://www.spin.com/articles/exclusive-new-okkervil-river-track-track
The thing is, it's the way they walk the line between polish and chaos that makes them so ace in my view. Still, we'll see.
― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Thursday, 10 February 2011 16:50 (thirteen years ago) link
sounds okay to me, I could go for a little more chaos
― there is a lout that never goes "aight" (bernard snowy), Thursday, 10 February 2011 16:58 (thirteen years ago) link
New album The Silver Gymnasium on the way. Says Will:
On our last record, I Am Very Far, I was musically trying to both satisfy and to challenge myself; for The Silver Gymnasium, I wanted to write a record that was very much about trying to reach out to other people and show them a good time. I’d always wanted to write a record that was more based in autobiography, that spoke about my memories of how I felt and how the world around me seemed at a specific moment in the past, and it felt like a good time to finally do it. I thought John Agnello would be the perfect choice as a producer, not only because I’ve enjoyed his more recent records with people like Kurt Vile and Dinosaur Jr. but also because John is a much more old-fashioned producer who was actually involved with a lot of the music I listened to growing up, everything from Cyndi Lauper to John Mellencamp to the Outfield’s “Your Love.” John even worked on Born in the U.S.A. and was loitering around in the background during the making of Tom Petty’s Damn the Torpedoes; so he was actually present while they were making a lot of the music that inspired the kid version of me to want to be a musician and that inspired The Silver Gymnasium in general. Our goal with The Silver Gymnasium was to work quickly and decisively, to make a “band” record and not a fussy studio creation, and to make the most fun record we could possibly make. - Will
The Silver Gymnasium tracklist: 1). It Was My Season 2). On A Balcony 3). Down Down the Deep River 4). Pink-Slips 5). Lido Pier Suicide Car 6). Where the Spirit Left Us 7). White 8). Stay Young 9). Walking Without Frankie 10). All The Time Every Day 11). Black Nemo
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Monday, 24 June 2013 13:56 (ten years ago) link
The last one took a while to grow on me but I really love it now, hoping for good things with this new one
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Monday, 24 June 2013 14:00 (ten years ago) link
tour also (obviously).
― Porto for Pyros (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 24 June 2013 14:10 (ten years ago) link
i LOVE this band, thanks for the new album info. it has been a while so i'm quite happy for some new stuff.
― Bee OK, Tuesday, 25 June 2013 01:08 (ten years ago) link
wtf
http://www.thesilvergymnasium.com/
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 15:49 (ten years ago) link
kewl
― Treeship, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 15:54 (ten years ago) link
LP is really good, by the way. Great return to form after the last one
― Evan R, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 16:27 (ten years ago) link
So yeah, this album is still great.
― Evan R, Sunday, 15 September 2013 00:52 (ten years ago) link
I hope (assume) this is the appropriate place to post this: http://okkervilriver.com/goldenopportunities
― regards to broad street, Wednesday, 18 December 2013 23:34 (ten years ago) link
thanks!
― Bee OK, Thursday, 19 December 2013 02:33 (ten years ago) link
Yesterday, on a bit of a whim, I finally sought out the Tolstoya short story these guys took their name from, & I must say..... it was not at all what I expected!
― Heroic melancholy continues to have a forceful grip on (bernard snowy), Friday, 3 July 2015 15:28 (eight years ago) link
in retrospect, "Okkervil River" the story has much less in common with "Okkervil River Song" than it does with the Stage Names/Stand-Ins twofer
― Heroic melancholy continues to have a forceful grip on (bernard snowy), Friday, 3 July 2015 15:32 (eight years ago) link
I've tried so hard to love this band. I feel like if they'd put out about 50% fewer songs that were 15% better, then maybe.
― rip van wanko, Friday, 21 August 2015 17:17 (eight years ago) link
Just give Black Sheep Boy one attentive spin from start to finish.
― Evan R, Friday, 21 August 2015 18:32 (eight years ago) link
some of the music these guys have put out is so, so good. i just keep forgetting to check for new stuff
― usic ally (k3vin k.), Friday, 21 August 2015 18:35 (eight years ago) link
still listen to the stage names once every couple of months
Really loved them for a while, circa Stage Names and Stand Ins. There are definitely some knockout songs - "Unless It's Kicks" forever and ever please. But after while his bellow starts to grate. I burned out on most of the stuff I like, and the last couple of albums have not registered with me at all.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, 21 August 2015 19:55 (eight years ago) link
I kinda loved I Am Very Far despite the maddeningly inconsistent production but the last album was such a drag
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Friday, 21 August 2015 20:01 (eight years ago) link
i actually liked the last album a lot more than the previous few idk
― ciderpress, Friday, 21 August 2015 20:37 (eight years ago) link
though really they're a band with a lot of great songs but only one great album (black sheep boy)
― ciderpress, Friday, 21 August 2015 20:46 (eight years ago) link
Yeah last album had some catchy songs. Seemed very focused. I Am Very Far felt like a band trying to make lightning strike but didn't wanna put the work into the songs
― Evan R, Friday, 21 August 2015 20:53 (eight years ago) link
barack sheep boy
― scarlett bohansson (unregistered), Friday, 21 August 2015 21:10 (eight years ago) link
I prefer The Stage Names to Black Sheep Boy, tbh
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Saturday, 22 August 2015 03:41 (eight years ago) link
Damn, both of those Obama playlists are excellent
― Evan R, Saturday, 22 August 2015 03:50 (eight years ago) link
Stand Ins > Stage Names > Black Sheep Boy >>> First couple albums >>>>>>>>> Last two albums :'(
Never really got BSB but enjoy it a lot everytime I give it a listen, listen to Stand Ins once a month, love every track - especially "Singer Songwriter" and "Calling and Not Calling My Ex" which is also a great christmas song. "Girl in Port" makes me come back to Stage Names again and again. And "Savannah Smiles".
Bought IAVF too but was so dissappointed - dislike the production and songs seem underdeveloped/overthought. Gave Gymnasium a quick listen but it's not for me - feel like Sheff is stretching/trying too hard, where the songs on Stand Ins sound like they wrote themselves. Love his prosaic/novelistic lyrics on SN/SI.
Anyway, I'm sure Okkervil will return with GREAT material at some point.
― niels, Saturday, 22 August 2015 09:26 (eight years ago) link
i think Black Sheep Boy is their masterpiece with Down the River of Golden Dreams being a very close second. also very much in love with Stand Ins and The Stage Names. the others are not even close to those four albums.
― Bee OK, Saturday, 22 August 2015 17:34 (eight years ago) link
BSB : one of the best album covers ever.I love it.
― mark e, Saturday, 22 August 2015 17:43 (eight years ago) link
"Hanging By a Hit," "Show Yourself" and "Lay of the Last Survivor" are some of my fave OR tunes. I finally grew to love "Your Past Life As a Blast" after a while, too - it did that breezy vibe better than anything on the most recent album, imo. Also loved the IAVF-era b-side "Walked Out On a Line," a v creepy song that would have been a better closer than the one on the album.
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Sunday, 23 August 2015 03:47 (eight years ago) link
Timely revive for me, I've been listening to this band a lot lately. "Mermaid" is another great song (the A-side of "Walked Out on a Line", right?) which should really have been included on I Am Very Far.
Stage Names is still their masterpiece for me with BSB running it a close second. I like IAVF fine, don't get the critical opprobrium it gets. Can't get into the last one at all.
― anthony braxton diamond geezer (anagram), Sunday, 23 August 2015 10:19 (eight years ago) link
I like 'em all but IAVF definitely took a long time to grow on me -- all the songs feel about twice as long as they actually are, which is a dubious accomplishment
& since nobody else has mentioned it yet, I gotta throw some love to the Sleep & Wake-Up Songs EP
― Heroic melancholy continues to have a forceful grip on (bernard snowy), Sunday, 23 August 2015 10:23 (eight years ago) link
oh lol it's literally the fist reply to the thread v_v still a great record though!
just realized will sheff sings a whole lot like jonathan richman!
― niels, Monday, 5 October 2015 13:22 (eight years ago) link
New one streaming on NPR:
http://www.npr.org/2016/09/01/491942048/first-listen-okkervil-river-away
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Thursday, 1 September 2016 14:33 (seven years ago) link
Cool. At first listen this sounds like a real return to form after The Silver Gymnasium, which I still can't get into despite repeated plays.
― heaven parker (anagram), Thursday, 1 September 2016 15:19 (seven years ago) link
Will is one of my fave frontmen
― pinkhushpuppies (rip van wanko), Thursday, 1 September 2016 15:41 (seven years ago) link
sounds stellar, a return to form - but also a lot of new territory, getting some Van Morrison/Joni Mitchell vibes in terms of song dynamics
― niels, Friday, 2 September 2016 08:55 (seven years ago) link
i liked silver gymnasium more than most of y'all; it'd be in my top three w/ bsb and stage names. it's got some real joyful moments.
new one sounds to be more in the vein of golden dreams, which i'd put just a cut below those.
― dc, Friday, 2 September 2016 09:47 (seven years ago) link
I'll give Silver Gym another go
I rank Stand Ins and Stage Names as perfect records, BSB obv also v v good, rarely listen to the early albums, forgot abt Golden Dreams (should revisit) and their "downfall" started w IAVF
― niels, Friday, 2 September 2016 10:29 (seven years ago) link
This one is completely distinct from their previous output imo - almost nothing in the way of crescendos/indie-rock songwriting tropes beyond a couple of moments here and there. It sounds to me explicitly like a set of eulogies, except for the stream-of-consciousness closing track. (I guess more like "bouts-of-consciousness" based on the NPR writeup.)
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Friday, 2 September 2016 11:05 (seven years ago) link
The new Okkervil River album is called ‘Away’. I didn’t plan to make it and initially wasn’t sure if it was going to be an Okkervil River album or if I’d ever put it out. I wrote the songs during a confusing time of transition in my personal and professional life and recorded them quickly with a brand new group of musicians. I got together the best New York players I could think of, people whose playing and personalities I was fans of and who came more out of a jazz or avant garde background, and we cut the songs live in one or two takes – trying to keep things as natural and immediate as possible – over three days in a studio on Long Island that hosts the Neve 8068 console which recorded Steely Dan’s Aja and John Lennon’s Double Fantasy. I asked Marissa Nadler to sing on it and got the composer Nathan Thatcher to write some beautiful orchestral arrangements, we recorded them with the classical ensemble and then I mixed the record with Jonathan Wilson out in Los Angeles.
from http://www.stereogum.com/1877894/okkervil-river-okkervil-river-r-i-p/mp3s/
― niels, Sunday, 4 September 2016 16:35 (seven years ago) link
I really love this record. it reminds me a lot of the most recent counting crows record (compliment) in the way scheff stretches out lyrically, packing a lot of information into these songs but still communicating very directly and clearly. the arrangements are also v gorgeous and spacious
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Sunday, 4 September 2016 16:59 (seven years ago) link
great hangover record too
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Sunday, 4 September 2016 17:22 (seven years ago) link
I just noticed that "The Industry" references The Silver Gymnasium's Pitchfork score
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Sunday, 4 September 2016 17:24 (seven years ago) link
xp important quality! was there ever a hangover record thread?God Save The Clientele probably my all time #1
― niels, Sunday, 4 September 2016 17:24 (seven years ago) link
that album art...
― ciderpress, Sunday, 4 September 2016 17:25 (seven years ago) link
... perhaps works well on a big canvas
― niels, Sunday, 4 September 2016 17:28 (seven years ago) link
i liked silver gymnasium quite a lot, i thought it was better as an album than the previous few even if the high points weren't as high
will listen to this new one asap
― ciderpress, Sunday, 4 September 2016 17:31 (seven years ago) link
there is indeed a hangover music thread
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Sunday, 4 September 2016 17:33 (seven years ago) link
hehe, I see
― niels, Sunday, 4 September 2016 17:37 (seven years ago) link
the instrumentation on "judey on a street" sounds imported from a van morrison record
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Sunday, 4 September 2016 17:59 (seven years ago) link
Love that bopping bassline, and the way it peters out like a fading pulse
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Sunday, 4 September 2016 19:05 (seven years ago) link
Interesting to read about how "Days Spent Floating" was recorded, it totally does sound like an afterthought, but somehow not in a bad way. Loosens out into almost nothing.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Sunday, 4 September 2016 19:15 (seven years ago) link
"Red" and "Kansas City" is an all-time one-two punch imo
― pinkhushpuppies (rip van wanko), Monday, 5 September 2016 05:16 (seven years ago) link
I haven't given a shit about OR since The Stage Names. What is that, nine years ago? To this day, Black Sheep Boy is the only front-to-back great album in my book. And if I'm honest, from The Stage Names, only "Savannah Smiles" is the song that floors me to this day - that song is really an all-time "sad-bastard" classic.
I remember making copy CDs of BSB for all my friends - easily an album that translated across most of my friend-base, even among the "12-CD-a-year-club" friends that we all share. Given all that, I'm kind of surprised how little I care about a new release from this band. Their last couple have left me so cold. But I guess I still have some hope...
― Rod Steel (musicfanatic), Tuesday, 6 September 2016 03:08 (seven years ago) link
give it a shot, my experience is basically parallel to yours
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Tuesday, 6 September 2016 03:13 (seven years ago) link
Soooooo yeah I think this might be the best thing Sheff's done so far.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Wednesday, 7 September 2016 09:20 (seven years ago) link
I think this is the best Okkervil album.
― akm, Thursday, 8 September 2016 12:23 (seven years ago) link
(i'm going to listen to the new one soon)
"black sheep boy #4" -- wow, still so moving after all these years
― have you ever even read The Drudge Report? Have you gone on Stormfron (k3vin k.), Saturday, 10 September 2016 05:37 (seven years ago) link
i can't stop listening to this album
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Saturday, 10 September 2016 16:01 (seven years ago) link
this is not as much of a departure sonically as people were making it sound but it feels fresh regardless
― ciderpress, Saturday, 10 September 2016 17:10 (seven years ago) link
I'm starting to think the album would be a little better off, pacing-wise, without "She Would Look For Me" but otherwise I'm still enamored. Reviews have been surprisingly middling for the most part? They all have the feel of folks who listened to it maybe twice.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Saturday, 10 September 2016 18:33 (seven years ago) link
I'm in love with "Mary On a Wave," love that almost-groove.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Saturday, 10 September 2016 18:37 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnXEtu6nwFY
did we know that scott walker covered "black sheep boy"??
― have you ever even read The Drudge Report? Have you gone on Stormfron (k3vin k.), Saturday, 10 September 2016 20:07 (seven years ago) link
yeah! everyone loves tim hardin
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Saturday, 10 September 2016 20:09 (seven years ago) link
oh duh i forgot the song "BSB" was a tim hardin cover
― have you ever even read The Drudge Report? Have you gone on Stormfron (k3vin k.), Saturday, 10 September 2016 20:09 (seven years ago) link
not really feeling this on first listen :( will definitely try again
― have you ever even read The Drudge Report? Have you gone on Stormfron (k3vin k.), Sunday, 11 September 2016 19:12 (seven years ago) link
It took me a few listens. Hell, it took me 5 or 6 to make sense of "Call Yourself Renee" as the second track.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Sunday, 11 September 2016 20:22 (seven years ago) link
yeah it took more listens than usual but i adore this album now
― ciderpress, Sunday, 11 September 2016 22:59 (seven years ago) link
it's a bit of a trojan horse where the previous albums were all very up-front about going straight at your emotions
― ciderpress, Sunday, 11 September 2016 23:10 (seven years ago) link
I'm in love with "Mary On a Wave," love that almost-groove.― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Saturday, September 10, 2016 2:37 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Saturday, September 10, 2016 2:37 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― ciderpress, Monday, 12 September 2016 02:36 (seven years ago) link
Ever the contrarian, I found myself thinking this might be their best album one the first run through and now, having listened again to BSB (although the appendix nudges it to a very high level admittedly) I am convinced it is. I can't understand how anyone could rate this as a seven out of ten album.
― yugi ex, Monday, 12 September 2016 06:59 (seven years ago) link
I like this album fine but the idea that it's better than BSB or The Stage Names is indeed contrarian.
― heaven parker (anagram), Monday, 12 September 2016 07:56 (seven years ago) link
not sure about BSB yet but I'll take this one over any other Okkervil record
― ciderpress, Monday, 12 September 2016 11:25 (seven years ago) link
Maybe it's the fact that it reminds me (in places) of prime American Music Club but I definitely prefer it to TSN.
― yugi ex, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 10:57 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, lyrically, this one is actually reminding me a lot of late-period AMC and recent solo Eitzel, where he crams in as many words as possible in a song and tells a story (ie: Patriot's Heart, Windows on the World).
― akm, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 13:53 (seven years ago) link
I really like this album... maybe I should be listening to AMC! never tried getting into them tbh
OR releases since The Stage Names felt like a series of dead ends, an ever-improving band let down by some directionless songwriting (the Golden Opportunities series really stands head & shoulders above those records; I'm sure the live shows were great, too) & so it's nice to hear nine tracks' worth of memorable melodies & interesting lyrics again -- the looser, pared-back arrangements are also welcome, although I kinda dug the era of Will Sheff as mad fussy recording artiste getting 25 musicians in the studio for a single take, I think I'm way more likely to actually listen to this album the way through
whoever compared Away to Astral Weeks upthread was OTM (that comparison may even have come from the press kit? in which case, lol)
― Tell me who sends these infamous .gifs (bernard snowy), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 14:38 (seven years ago) link
Lol I didn't get no press kit (I think)
― niels, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 15:12 (seven years ago) link
maybe I should be listening to AMC! never tried getting into them tbh
This doesn't really sound anything like Eitzel/AMC to me but they're essential regardless. I recommend their final album The Golden Age as a starting point.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 16:06 (seven years ago) link
this is the 3rd recent thing i like a lot that's had AMC invoked in discussion about it so i should probably get on that as well
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 16:21 (seven years ago) link
this showed up on Spotify, last time i checked it wasn't there.
― Bee OK, Wednesday, 14 September 2016 23:36 (seven years ago) link
ciderpress, one of the other two were, I'm guessing, Ryley Walker (slightly more OTM)? what was the third?
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Thursday, 15 September 2016 00:16 (seven years ago) link
god, black sheep boy is still so good. i have the stage names on CD and listen to it much more, and often will try to convince myself that it is superior, but...
― have you ever even read The Drudge Report? Have you gone on Stormfron (k3vin k.), Thursday, 15 September 2016 03:26 (seven years ago) link
xp dont remember the 3rd but i remember thinking 'that's the second time' when someone said it for ryley walker
― ciderpress, Thursday, 15 September 2016 03:43 (seven years ago) link
maybe i just have deja vu
― ciderpress, Thursday, 15 September 2016 03:44 (seven years ago) link
Still listening to this in full every few days, still totally in love with it. Deserves to be mentioned right alongside the other (also great) Albums About Death that have dominated conversation this year (Bowie, Cave, to a lesser extent Touché Amore, more I'm forgetting I'm sure). On recent listens Marissa Nadler's backing vocals have really emerged as an essential bit of coloring.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 26 September 2016 23:09 (seven years ago) link
yeah it's really good. I listened to it so much while it was streaming that all the hooks are embedded in my head now, but I can't always remember which song a given snatch of melody occurs in, the whole thing is so much 'of a piece'
― Tell me who sends these infamous .gifs (bernard snowy), Monday, 26 September 2016 23:44 (seven years ago) link
also: the departure from previous albums was what initially stood out, but now I've started to recognize lines of continuity, e.g. the way "Frontman in Heaven" recalls (to my ears) Okkervil River's outstanding cover of Big Star - "O, Dana"
― Tell me who sends these infamous .gifs (bernard snowy), Monday, 26 September 2016 23:49 (seven years ago) link
that really is a great cover, I really love that first Golden Opportunities tape. I'd kill for them to release the full "Basement Tapes"-style session that produced some of those covers and "The President's Dead"
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 26 September 2016 23:55 (seven years ago) link
3 weeks out and i'm still listening to "Mary On a Wave" on repeat, this is the best song of his career
― ciderpress, Wednesday, 28 September 2016 16:05 (seven years ago) link
masterpiece alert
― niels, Monday, 3 October 2016 06:51 (seven years ago) link
I'm inclined to agree.
Really like every song but She Would Look For Me is the one that is offering up so much more than I initially thought would.
― yugi ex, Monday, 3 October 2016 17:09 (seven years ago) link
and of course, this is a perfect fall album
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Sunday, 23 October 2016 23:40 (seven years ago) link
...perfect for every fall, it turns out. I picked up the 2xLP early this year; the fourth side features a sidelong field recording (including a patch of rain), which is a nice alternative to the "fourth side etching" most bands are doing these days.
― Simon H., Wednesday, 25 October 2017 23:48 (six years ago) link
― ciderpress, Wednesday, September 28, 2016 12:05 PM (one year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
still stand by this
― ciderpress, Thursday, 26 October 2017 00:12 (six years ago) link
not sure if I'd go that far but it is a blissful thing
― Simon H., Thursday, 26 October 2017 01:00 (six years ago) link
couldn't agree more
― niels, Thursday, 26 October 2017 13:29 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiOJBGjnV04
― niels, Monday, 12 February 2018 10:40 (six years ago) link
hmmmmmmm
― Simon H., Monday, 12 February 2018 13:04 (six years ago) link
while it's sonically completely different from Away, which imo was a masterpiece, I think the songwriting seems on point
― niels, Monday, 12 February 2018 13:11 (six years ago) link
dang i figured Away was gonna be a Final Album for the OR bandname
― ciderpress, Monday, 12 February 2018 16:11 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ7bMUsOu7w
Not exactly my taste but oh well, in many ways finding a new direction is a sign of life - long live Okkervil River
― niels, Tuesday, 20 March 2018 19:43 (six years ago) link
dad rock is cool in 2018
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 20 March 2018 21:33 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG3YIoW_2zs
― niels, Tuesday, 17 April 2018 09:16 (five years ago) link
I liked Away a lot, and this is better than anything on Away
― Evan R, Tuesday, 17 April 2018 15:07 (five years ago) link
ooof I completely disagree, this is diminishing returns on the "sad tales of showbiz" Sheff vein of songwriting (despite the autobiographical addition)
― Simon H., Tuesday, 17 April 2018 15:10 (five years ago) link
this is better than anything on Away
https://i.imgur.com/sSgATjF.gif
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Tuesday, 17 April 2018 15:19 (five years ago) link
it's got a good melody though
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Tuesday, 17 April 2018 15:22 (five years ago) link
Sheff's "inspirations" playlist for this record features "Let's Go Out Tonight" which is not a huge surprise but unfortunately there's just a little too much going on for full-on Blue Nile worship
― Simon H., Tuesday, 17 April 2018 15:29 (five years ago) link
his is diminishing returns on the "sad tales of showbiz" Sheff vein of songwriting
Agree that he'd run that muse into the ground. But he finds the emotional core of each of these stories, and I am very there for those turns of phrase
― Evan R, Tuesday, 17 April 2018 15:29 (five years ago) link
i like the crispness and glossiness of the production. i wish that carried through to... the other two songs i've heard from this
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Tuesday, 17 April 2018 15:30 (five years ago) link
though on revisit i like what's going on in "pulled up the ribbon" too. "don't move back to la" is borrrrrrring in a way that away never was
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Tuesday, 17 April 2018 15:32 (five years ago) link
can't imagine he'll ever top Away for me though i think i thought the same thing about Black Sheep Boy a decade earlier and then my tastes changed
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 17 April 2018 15:35 (five years ago) link
I appreciate that Sheff is both restless and prolific even if the results have been wildly variable in quality for the last few records. That's a lot more than I can say for basically all the other big indie singer-songwriters who came up around the same time.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 17 April 2018 15:37 (five years ago) link
also I had no idea they covered "Candle on the Water" for the nu-Pete's Dragon OST. That must have been a nice little check.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 17 April 2018 15:39 (five years ago) link
So this compelled me to listen to the album, and there are times when it feels like a worthwhile sequel to Away but it loses the plot something awful in its second half. Lots of wild swings; tries to do way too much and breaks the spell, which I guess is the story of post-Stage Names Okkervil River. It's gonna be worth excavating though; there are a few knockout songs ("Love Somebody" and esp "Pulled Up The Ribbon") and even some of the long winded songs have these little moments of bliss scattered throughout them.
― Evan R, Tuesday, 17 April 2018 16:07 (five years ago) link
this is my favorite of the singles so far, love the dizzy melancholy vibe
diminishing returns on the "sad tales of showbiz"otm but imo the autobiographical addition really lifts it
Simon, where's that inspiration playlist?
― niels, Wednesday, 18 April 2018 09:37 (five years ago) link
https://open.spotify.com/user/okkervilriver/playlist/74vXlXmcChs5sJ5Z8azPNk?si=6XKjKURHQImbFIZUZ1JUjA
― Simon H., Wednesday, 18 April 2018 12:02 (five years ago) link
nice!
― niels, Wednesday, 18 April 2018 12:37 (five years ago) link
Also, someone asked me to make a representative CD80 and it's really tough! This is the best I could manage
https://open.spotify.com/user/suckerblues/playlist/4i8gfO0gt8LEFXnFlkpBpY?si=vTvBNF7mTXiC32Rfvxc_aw
― Simon H., Wednesday, 18 April 2018 12:53 (five years ago) link
Can't think of another band that can turn me both on and off as hard as OR
― thots and players (rip van wanko), Wednesday, 18 April 2018 13:14 (five years ago) link
https://www.npr.org/2018/04/19/602258666/first-listen-okkervil-river-in-the-rainbow-rain
― Simon H., Thursday, 19 April 2018 12:42 (five years ago) link
I just realized both this record and the new Manics explicitly reference Caitlin Thomas
― Simon H., Thursday, 19 April 2018 12:46 (five years ago) link
nice coincidence, i listened to away yesterday during a very long commute. that could be a favorite album of all time for me in a few years. i can think of very few records that approach it in mood and ambition (the great american music club records come to mind and not much else). i also kinda think van morrison should cover at least half of it
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 19 April 2018 13:01 (five years ago) link
Halfway through the new one and it's gonna take a bunch of listens to sort out whether the sonic pivot works or not. the Blue Nile influence is definitely palpable and "Love Somebody" even evokes the 1975 a bit, but I don't think I like Sheff writing in this deliberately broader lyrical mode. "Pulled up the Ribbon" has grown on me a lot though, their best single in a long time.
― Simon H., Thursday, 19 April 2018 13:07 (five years ago) link
Album definitely feels like work in away that Away never did. Also a classic case of "songs don't justify their length" syndrome
― Evan R, Thursday, 19 April 2018 14:34 (five years ago) link
yeah it's a really weird record. I liked a few tracks on first contact but like with Silver Gymnasium Sheff seems to be chasing down a set of ideas that don't play to his strengths
― Simon H., Thursday, 19 April 2018 14:52 (five years ago) link
otm and otm
― niels, Thursday, 19 April 2018 16:16 (five years ago) link
can one of you journalists call Will and ask how he cleared the Kinks riff?
― niels, Thursday, 19 April 2018 16:17 (five years ago) link
― Simon H., Tuesday, April 17, 2018 11:29 AM (two days ago
*clicks furiously*
― k3vin k., Thursday, 19 April 2018 16:35 (five years ago) link
which Kinks riff?
k3vin the BN influence is only really felt on maybe 3-4 tracks, fair warning
― Simon H., Thursday, 19 April 2018 16:55 (five years ago) link
haha I am an okkervil fan at baseline so it's not strictly necessary, was just making an in character post
― k3vin k., Thursday, 19 April 2018 17:07 (five years ago) link
The 'Waterloo Sunset' riff is in the new song.
xp
― the word dog doesn't bark (anagram), Thursday, 19 April 2018 17:26 (five years ago) link
"Famous Tracheotomies" is great, not least because while it references "Waterloo Sunset" structurally it most resembles "Celluloid Heroes."
― Dangleballs and the Ballerina (cryptosicko), Saturday, 21 April 2018 15:23 (five years ago) link
https://www.reddit.com/r/indieheads/comments/8hov84/hi_im_will_sheff_frontperson_for_the_band/
― niels, Monday, 7 May 2018 18:01 (five years ago) link
I've been so out of the Okkervil loop for the last ten+ years that I didn't even know so many albums had come out, but I decided to give the latest one a spin and it's quite nice. Never thought I'd say that in 2018.
― Johnny Fever, Saturday, 2 June 2018 20:06 (five years ago) link
The new one has its moments but, as discussed upthread, Away is a bit of a secret masterpiece.
― Simon H., Saturday, 2 June 2018 20:24 (five years ago) link
I really like "love somebody"
― k3vin k., Saturday, 2 June 2018 20:54 (five years ago) link
^ Yeah, that's the one that really stuck out for me.
― Johnny Fever, Saturday, 2 June 2018 21:11 (five years ago) link
great song, he talks a bit about it here https://uproxx.com/music/okkervil-river-interview-in-the-rainbow-rain-love-somebody-video/
album's a grower too, Sheff's such a humanist (reminds me of DFW, less mathematically rational, more spiritual)
― niels, Sunday, 3 June 2018 10:15 (five years ago) link
yeah he seems like a good dude for sure
― k3vin k., Sunday, 3 June 2018 15:49 (five years ago) link
New monthly live series and request tour this summer, one album per month. I actually really appreciate that it's a digital-only affair (there are too many boutique vinyl releases these days), even if the whole thing is a little steep for me.
First release has a gorgeous, glacial "For Real"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuI3rA0Odls
― Simon H., Tuesday, 2 April 2019 17:20 (four years ago) link
apropos of nothing, "The President's Dead" plays *very* differently these days. Try it!
― Simon H., Tuesday, 2 April 2019 17:39 (four years ago) link
Just saw that Travis Nelsen, Okkervil's drummer from Black Sheep Boy to The Stand Ins, has passed.
― brechtian social distancing (Simon H.), Saturday, 11 April 2020 02:16 (three years ago) link
I wish I had more to contribute on the subject, but I'll just add that his drumming on Black Sheep Boy is a perfect complement to the high dramatics of the album, and he was very fun to watch live.
― brechtian social distancing (Simon H.), Sunday, 12 April 2020 02:54 (three years ago) link
oh man that sucks. I've been playing "black sheep boy #4" a ton lately
― k3vin k., Sunday, 12 April 2020 03:03 (three years ago) link
basically every song those sessions produced is incredible, Sheff and co. were on fire and Brian Beattie's production work was remarkable. I'm shocked he didn't become a go-to studio magician after that.
― brechtian social distancing (Simon H.), Sunday, 12 April 2020 03:18 (three years ago) link
new Sheff solo on the way
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph-zatqd8Go
single sounds like an album track, not bad
― corrs unplugged, Monday, 15 August 2022 13:53 (one year ago) link
sounds like an Okkervil River record to mehttps://willsheff.bandcamp.com/album/nothing-special
3 listens in, very good
― corrs unplugged, Tuesday, 18 October 2022 08:48 (one year ago) link
When this snuck out I didn't read any press around it so I didn't think about it possibly presaging the end of Okkervil River and that he would be going out as a solo artist going forward. Of course he wrote a song called "RIP Okkervil River" but then went and released another album under that name. Well this interview certainly seems to suggest that Okkervil River is indeed no more:
https://www.stereogum.com/2201956/will-sheff-after-okkervil/interviews/qa/
― lord of the rongs (anagram), Monday, 19 December 2022 13:38 (one year ago) link
that's a v good interview, thx!
Sheff is more invested in interrogating why Okkervil River was able to thrive, not in spite of its occasionally vengeful and violent music, but because of it. Specifically, whether they helped reinforce what Sheff describes as “the Harry Potter narrative,” in which we’re all misunderstood wizards stuffed in the Cupboard Under the Stairs, waiting for our magical capacities to be discovered. There certainly was a revenge-of-the-nerds element to mid-aughts indie culture, from TV to film to Black Sheep Boy itself, which generated comparisons to contemporaries like Bright Eyes, the Decemberists, the National and Arcade Fire — feverishly literary groups armed with seriously uncool instruments that cloaked their darker undertones with an invigorating, us-against-the-world mentality. Sheff worries about “the men out there who feel like the world stiffed them, that they’re owed something,” extrapolating this mindset to a kind of “fascism of superhero movies.” “I started to see my preoccupation with jealousy and what I felt my work deserved.”
"For Real" is def a song that grabbed my attention back then, but now my favorite record is Away, and that's more or less solo Sheff, so not too concerned with the band name
New album is v good, hightlights include title track and In The Thick of It
this is sad:
he estimates that he’ll end his East and West coast tours approximately $5-7,000 in the red. He expects to lose double that going to Europe
― corrs unplugged, Monday, 19 December 2022 14:48 (one year ago) link