Customer Reviews

DON'T FALL IN LOVE WITH EVERY [Vinyl]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I must confess, it took me a few weeks to get into this album. I slowly waded into it - and waded is the right word, because this album, for me anyway, has a very distinct sea-influence, like the songs rose up from a foggy coastline - it's just thick with atmosphere, this album. The vocalist has a bit of a whiney sound sometime, but after repeated listen I really feel comfortable with his voice - he is passionate, and I prefer passion to stale vocals that don't take any risks. Acoustic guitar, mandolin, banjo, and organs abound - very nice instrumentation - the quicker tempo tracks are very very good - I love the last song with its mandolin flourishes and sing along ending - I think this album deserves to be heard - any Wilco or Decemberists fan would probably dig this sound - check it out! Enjoy!

To the dark melancholy of 'Don't Fall In Love...', Okkervil River's brand new offering 'Down The River of Golden Dreams' is a ray of sunshine. Well, dark sunshine. Sunshine behind a cloud... with rain. 'Down the River of Golden Dreams' is that sunshine between rain, then. With lovely wind noises.
Decidedly more up-beat, this album drops the predominantly mandolin and thrashed acoustic guitar of it's predecessor in favour of wurlitzer in a sleeker, more refined and mature sound- still irrevocably that 'Okkervil River' sound, with no small thanks to Sheff's bitter-sweet and immensely distinctive, soulful vocals.
It is a glorious anthology of short stories, each one memorable, meaningful and double-edged- that is, an occasionally rusty, serrated edge- so if manufactured pop is your haunt- you have been warned.
Approach this with an open mind and you will be rewarded, enlightened and uplifted, for 'tis a beautiful creation, but fragile; so tip-toe towards it, lest it shatters.

We all know amazon reviews are the most biased opinions you can get anywhere - every cd is apparently the best one in the world. I'd say in recent years there have been a lot of 4.5 star cd's out there, excellent, worth listening to for months straight, but not quite deadly. This cd is absolutely deadly.. i'm not much for the nu folk scene, and wilco isnt my cup of tea.. but theres somethign undeniable here. Buy this album. If you have a soul, it will thank you.

I once read an interview with Okkervil's singer/songwriter Sheff in which he said he didn't want to be famous--well, there isn't going to be much he can do about that after this album. The band's sound is too strong to be ignored. As for Sheff himself, he sounds like the singer Jonathan Richmond could have been, but never quite developed into--and his lyrics read as beautiful on paper as they sing. This is a brilliant group that just keeps getting better and better. If they keep topping themselves with every album the way they've been doing, I think they are going to give me a heart attack.

I've been listening to this album for a couple of years now and just recently it has been sitting on repeat over and over probably because of the mood I have been in.
This is one of the most honest and beautiful albums ever. Ever.
Each and every song has it's own beauty in it's own special way. It seems like even when I don't comepletly see what a song is getting it, I can still relate to the words in my own way.
There isn't any one single track I would claim to love more than any other because I really only listen to the whole cd at once. (though the album version of 'The Velocity of Saul at the Time of His Conversion' is kind of weak, I much prefer the one from Stars Too Small to Use but that hardly makes a difference).
If you're a fan of Neutral Milk Hotel, Murder by Death, or other such melancholy, instrument-laden, emotional, lo-fi, indie-folk bands, and you don't like this you should be beheaded, end of story

I don't remember how I was introduced to Okkervil River but I'm glad I found them. I guess they belong in the indie-folk/avant-folk/alt-country genre... whatever that means. All I know is the music is slow and smoothing. The voice and lyrics of Will Sheff is akin to the great Nick Cave. The clear single is "It Ends with a Fall," which I believe the budget music video is available on their website. A must-see.

The great thing about this album is the more you listen to it, the more the rest of the album become your favorite songs, meaning, there won't be just one or two standout tracks. The whole album will be one complete enjoyment.

Okkervil River is simply amazing. Awesome lyrics. Like the previous reviewer said, The War Criminal Rises and Speaks is almost too good to be real. It is one of those songs that songwriters dream about writing.

When I first heard Okkervil River about a year ago, all I heard were the vocals, and how they werent perfect. Now I love the vocals. I am tired of these bands that spend weeks fixing their vocals so that everything is absolutely perfect. This music is raw and full of emotion. More so than any band I have ever heard.

5+ stars!!!!

okkervil river listens like reading someone's diary: embarassinly personal, full of all the things you never wanted found out, tearing away your pervious conceptions until you are almost sick from too much truth. will sheff's voice catches you off-guard, sometimes almost like a male chan marshall in it's tentitive quavering and at other moments worthy of a tennessee williams play in it's intensity. my personal favorites are "the war criminal rises and speaks" and "the velocity of saul at the time of his conversion." i don't see the point in comparing these guys to anything. if you do, they're bound to come up short for something like pretentions to uniqueness. okkervil river can stand alone.

This little EP is really nice. It's the only way to get "The President's Dead" on CD. It's currently only available as a digital download or on LP.

Track listing is as follows:
The President's Dead
The Room I'm Hiding In
O, Dana
Love To A Monster
Westfall (Live)


The live version of Westfall is good, and very diffrent from other live versions/album version.

Oh, Okkervil River: Please accept my congatulations, because this album is one of the closest things to musical perfection that's been made in my lifetime. I know that to some, this may sound like an exaggeration, but you and I know the truth... You're a present. For all of us. I'd heard most of these songs live before, but still, when I opened the CD and read the lyrics booklet, I almost started crying. It's "The War Criminal Rises & Speaks" that really kills me. I don't feel like my body can handle a song that good. So, thanks as well, for exploding me.

This album is amazing. Do yourself a favor and buy it up.