Customer Reviews

Black Sheep Boy Appendix

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been watching this band grow up for the last five years. They have always been good. Their first two full-length albums didn't seem like they could ever be improved upon when I first heard them, and then "Down The River of Golden Dreams" was released and Will Sheff's songwriting had evolved to such a beautiful degree that it was basically all I could listen to for a year. When "Black Sheep Boy" was released, I was blown away again. The songs on that record are dark and thoughtful, they creep into your heart and take over. This appendix seemed like it might disappoint after such a high note, might feel like leftovers, but it doesn't -- not at all. Some of Sheff's most beautiful songwriting to date is in "Another Radio Song", which is actually a lyrically rewritten version of a song that appeared on their very first LP. The music that frames his literary songwriting style has grown as well and this music is as lush and full-bodied as it gets.

Listen to this band hard and they will break your heart and reseal it in all new shapes.

While I share the opinion of the reviewer above in that Mr. Sheff's songwriting continues to grow stronger and stronger, one can't help but feel slightly dissatisfied with the River's latest offering.

I too have held a long-term fascination with this group, and Sheff in particular, and bought this album just as any obsessive fan will. After a few listens through, however, it becomes increasingly apparent that "Black Sheep Boy Appendix" is merely a good excuse to showcase one or two musical gems, specifically "Another Radio Song" and "Black Sheep Boy #4." Though these two tracks will certainly warrant the purchase price for most fans of the group, the rest of the album, unfortunately, sounds like mere filler.

"No Key, No Plan" and "Last Love Song", while not bad songs, seem colder and less natural, due in large part to Sheff belting out lines in wracked emotion before the listener even feels a connection to the material being sung. Unlike Okkervil's previous efforts, which paced themselves perfectly to allow the listener to slide into the album and it's mood, making Sheff's emotional stylings believable and appropriate, these songs feel forced and insincere.

Tracks such as "A Garden" and "A Forest" meander almost aimlessly and are usually perpetrated by far more pretentious artists than Will has ever appeared to be.(Connor Oberst and Mike Patton, though both exceptional writers in my opinion, come to mind here.)

While I can understand that Will's tireless musical output drives him to release material at a more frequent rate than his peers, it's no secret that this is the fourth release by Okkervil River in just over a year. Four releases, though two of them were an E.P. and a single, is still an awful lot of work.

One starts to notice the parallels and similarities between artists such as Oberst, Patton and Sheff: multiple projects churning out material simultaneously, more releases in six months than most artists in two years, etc., etc. My gripe is only that it becomes very easy for an audience to tire of something (however brilliant or inventive) when given too much too quickly, and even easier for the artists themselves to tire, which tends to lead to poor material.

Luckily for Mr. Sheff, he seems to have found just enough material here to warrant this release, but again, just barely.

All in all, this album seems to work, if only for the fact that it still offers that familiar "Okkervil" sound we love so much, though it will almost certainly not join the ranks of the near-perfect masterpieces this ensemble have blessed us with this last year.

And down the river goes Huck....

Last year, I was given a copy of "Black Sheep Boy" by a friend. I loved it so much, that I purchased "The Stage Names". While the latter is a great album, it didn't have the haunted, broken sound of "Black Sheep Boy" that made me love it. So I thought I'd give the "Black Sheep Boy Appendix" a try. Yes! More of the same lovely, beautiful songs that seem somehow imcomplete, and yet fully realized at the same time. "A Garden" is sort of unnecessary, especially for 99 cents, but the whole Appendix was so worth the 7 bucks, that it doesn't matter. Okkervil River have a sound on these records that sells you on the idea that they could make the songs more radio friendly, they could write the songs to be better played, or better sung, but why do that, when it's obvious that what they're giving you now is their heart and soul up for scrutiny? That's what grabs me about this. It seems incomplete, rushed, broken, and yet somehow RIGHT.

Okkervil River has been one of my favorite bands of the decade thus far. However, this CD seems to be just the scrapings of a few miscellaneous songs, with a few fillers just to justify putting it to market. Two songs of note: "Another Radio Song," which has been floating around for a few years, and "No Key No Plan," the only new song that's really worth hearing on the piece. This isn't to say that this album is bad, it's still better than 75% of the music I've bought this year, but if this is indicative of the future direction of OR then I am disappointed. The new Shearwater album is amazing, though, and perhaps this OR release feels rushed and pieced together because the band has been concentrating on that instead.

I bought this right off the turntable in the music store. I like all the songs and three of them are among my all time favorites. The intensity builds and hits a peak that gives me goose bumps.

Sheff writes and sings with passion, feeling, and conviction. This music grabs you and grows on you. RCM

Seriously you need to hear this