The People's Key

Bright Eyes | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 15, 2011)
• Original Release Date: 2011
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Saddle Creek
• ASIN: B004GHYC52
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,077 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Firewall

2. Shell Games

3. Jejune Stars

4. Approximate Sunlight

5. Haile Selassie

6. A Machine Spiritual (In the People's Key)

7. Triple Spiral

8. Beginner's Mind

9. Ladder Song

10. One For You, One For Me

Editorial Reviews

Bright Eyes will release The People's Key on February 15th 2011 on Saddle Creek. The People's Key--the band's seventh studio album--is the eagerly awaited follow-up to 2007's acclaimed Cassadaga. Since 2006 the once revolving cast of Bright Eyes players has settled around permanent members Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott, with additional musicians joining them in the studio and on tour. Fully realized and bursting with charisma, The People's Key is an assured and accomplished album, artfully arranged and filled with the engaging and mesmeric songwriting for which Oberst is renowned. The first 50,000 copies of this CD will come in limited-edition packaging:
6-panel tri-fold die-cut digipak, printed on iridescent foil. Includes O-card, full color CD inner sleeve and 20 page booklet.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One Love, One Powerful Message February 25, 2011

By Chad

Format:MP3 Music|Amazon Verified Purchase

Conor Oberst and the band has found within themselves a new energy, a new arrangement of thought, peppered with the Rastafari Movement and an awareness of I and I and the One Love shared by and within us all (that is,the power is within us all to awaken and be on a positive path to an enlightened future). This album is a rich, balanced culmination of Conor's musical journeys, and there are audible hints indicating inspiration from Smashing Pumpkins and Weezer's "Pinkerton," from 80's synthesizer energy to the late rock aesthetics. This is a solid album, bridging the band's soul-searching double release in '05 and the spiritual journey of Cassadaga from '07 into this new message of enlightenment and universal truths.

I don't intend for this to appear as psychobabble. This is just the view from the air with this CD as my rocket.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing depending on how you look at it February 23, 2011

By E. Heraldez

Format:Vinyl

This record can be disappointing depending on how you look at it.

This is the 7th and rumored to be final Bright Eyes album. If you look at it from that perspective, disappointment will most likely be your initial reaction because a folk record along the lines of Lifted.. or Wide Awake would be a more fitting farewell.

Yet if you look at it as another Bright Eyes record it's actually impressive. Listening to it I get the vibe that this is everything Digital Ash was supposed to be. The record is rock influenced with the slight hints of electronic synths. It sounds full, layered and is much more consistent than Cassadaga. The spoken word segments through out the album can get kind of annoying, but the don't really deter from the music. Lyrically angry Conor is pretty much a thing of the past. The lyrics and overall tone of his voice is more positive.

The packaging for this record is nice, not quite as nice as Cassadaga's, but nice nonetheless. The outer jacket is a gatefold with holographic details on both the outside and the inner side where the lyrics are printed. The record is heavy 180g and comes in a standard plastic sleeve, but the actual record inner sleeve is enclosed as well. Saddle Creek tossed in a copy of the cd instead of the traditional download code which makes the vinyl package a great value.

Overall this is a great record. If your new to Bright Eyes though start with Fevers and Mirrors than work your way through Lifted.. and Wide Awake... and listen to a young Conor in his absolute prime and see why he's one of the best writers of our young generation.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars the best Bright Eyes album July 26, 2011

By Adam Ast

Format:Vinyl|Amazon Verified Purchase

A "real" Bright Eyes fan probably wouldn't say this, but this is by far the most cohesive, coherent, mature album this group has put out to date. A few years ago I hated Bright Eyes with a passion. A handful of decent songs clued me in that Conor Oberst had some kind of talent, but it was very difficult for me to get over the whiny, self-indulgent pity party he seemed to want to throw on every album. 16 year old girls find this to be very impressive, I understand. Males in their mid-thirties usually don't. In a word, Conor Oberst was OBNOXIOUS.
That's why this album comes as a huge surprise. Incredibly well constructed songs, inticing production, intriguing lyrics and concepts, an overall sense of well-being and hope as opposed to despair and self-pity, this album shows a depth I honestly thought Bright Eyes did not possess. This album is on my turntable constantly! Every song is a gem and, while the narrative ramblings of Randy Brewer might be confusing to some, I find them to fit rather well with the overall tone of the album. I am immensely glad that Conor cleaned himself up and is able to show the world what he is capable of. I hope he changes his mind about dissolving the Bright Eyes moniker as well. It sounds to me like these guys just found themselves.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I Can't Help But Love Bright Eyes July 10, 2011

By Tom Freeman

Format:Audio CD

Now, I most likely have a bit of an inclination to love anything by Conor Oberst. More then a bit in actuality, its sort of impossible to not for me, though some of his songs I do not like but its very few and they are very rarely on his cds. Now thisss I consider a great cd by him. I don't have an exact favorite work by him as I love all his cds so that likeness I can not decide upon. But I can try to describe the feeling.

The cd is like... a si-fi rock anthem with emotion, lots of emotion. If you cannot handle emotion then bright eyes is not for you, we should all know. Bright eyes is here to rip your heart out and make you cowher as if your facing some kind of noble king. To pass by this idea the cd is truly a unique one compared to the rest of his repetoire. It is less sensitive. Without a doubt. He seems to finally have found his place in this world and is not whining for his lover.

He seems to have come to terms with life and facing the reality that he has a power in his words that make people think differently about those thoughts deep in the crevices of our brain. He always has a very universal message. Now, I can ramble about how great I consider bright eyes all day. This cd is simply some sort of sci-fi brilliant idea that he feels the urge to putonto a cd. Like Dune or something. He's a musical scientist.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Really 3.5 stars but I can't round up for this one, not yet at least July 6, 2011

By A. Jones

Format:Audio CD

I like this better than Conor Oberst's Mystic Valley Band, by far. I like it better than Conor's solo albums (I think) but I do not like it better than any other Bright Eyes albums, though I think the songs are good, some are even very good. However, the weird Gary Busey profit dude interrupting every so often is distracting. I really wish they had scratched that idea. He isn't enlightening or clever and it really makes listening to the album kind of difficult.