Black Sheep Boy [ENHANCED]

Okkervil River

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 5, 2005)
• Original Release Date: April 5, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Label: Jagjaguwar
• ASIN: B0007UDCBC
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #76,078 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The band's name comes from an obscure Russian story and the album title comes from a song by fallen '60s folk hero Tim Hardin, but the haunting music here is purely the Austin collective's own. Like tour partners the Decemberists and soul mate Alasdair Roberts, Okkervil River deals primarily in dark string instruments and even darker poetry. "Some nights I thirst for real blood/ For real knives/ For real cries," singer Will Sheff sings on opening track, "For Real," signaling that his appetite for southern gothic muder ballads remains as strong as ever on the group's fourth album. The sinister "So Come Back, I Am Waiting" and "Black" confirm this suspicion. Less country, more Arcade Fire--whatever that means--Black Sheep Boy paradoxically also finds the band at its most commercially ambitious. Here, the slow death rattle of previous releases slowly gives way to explosive choruses and actual gore. --Aidin Vaziri

Product Description
On Okkervil River’s first Jagjaguwar release, Don’t Fall in Love with Everyone You See, the band included a song entitled "Listening to Otis Redding at Home During Christmas," a kind of re-imagining of Redding’s "I’ve Got Dreams to Remember." On the band’s newest release, they perform a trickier feat, as songwriter Will Sheff takes a lesser-known text — "Black Sheep Boy" by ‘60s folk-pop master Tim Hardin — and spins that short song’s imagery into a phantasmagorical evocation of the title character, including a brief cover and a couple of sprawling, surreal sequels. Black Sheep Boy is Okkervil River’s most ambitious and cinematic record yet, a love story and adult fable that evokes the mature songcraft of Leonard Cohen’s New Skin for the Old Ceremony, the sophistication of Scott Walker’s Scott 4, the shambling slow-motion bravado of Neil Young’s On the Beach, and the raw nerves and trick effects of Big Star’s Third/Sister Lovers. It also echoes Lou Reed’s Transformer in that it is the band’s most playful and confident record by far, delighting in linguistic games and reveling equally in sheer pop, lacerating rock’n’roll and straight-up country weepers. The most fully realized and wildly adventurous Okkervil River album also introduces such previously foreign elements as children’s keyboards, digitally manipulated field recordings, and dirty splatters of distorted guitar. The longing might be keener, but the fun is funner – somebody has spiked the drinks, and there are at least two bullets in the Russian roulette chamber.

"We will float until we learn how to swim. Yes, that’s an In the Aeroplane Over the Sea reference, and yes, Okkervil River has that sort of mythical genius." – Magnet’s Eighth Best Record of 2003

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There's nothing quite like the blinding light, September 24, 2005

By	Michael Kluge (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It opens with a tender strummed guitar and the short anecdotal cover of Tim Hardin's "Black Sheep Boy," Will Sheff's voice perfectly capturing the lonesome, winsome feel of the song. But then...

Okkervil River was one of those obscure bands that no one would ever find without some digging, one of those band that needed, absolutely demanded commercial and critical success but you know would never receive it and drift off into some shadowy part of history, forever forgotten. To forget such an absolute treasure, one of the finest examples of just plain MUSIC in recent years, is to be a fool, plain and simple. This is one of those albums where you'll listen to it and wonder "Why the hell didn't someone try this before???" as you hear some new ingenious bit of chord or vocal or structuring. Even with all the traditional playing and instruments it utilizes, even with the grounded-to-earth folk feel this record sometimes lets on as being, the music as a whole just comes together in such a brilliant, ingenous, road-paving way that you wonder how they could do this with said ingredients.

I've read in a Modest Mouse review that it is the holy grail of artists to forge a unique sound out of rock's traditional instruments. Okkervil River not only manage to form a distinct sound (maybe described as somewhat folky, somewhat indie-rock, somewhat classical) but they pepper it with this all-defining mood of loss, not just of love, but of friendship, which is fairly refreshing. Love plays a strong part, of course, but so does plain friendship, plain and simple being there for someone else, and reconciliation, and it ends up just as compelling as any set of songs about failed relationships, etc. I've lost a friend of 13 years due to certain differences, among others, unfortunately, and I can definitely relate.

The record careens from one perfectly realized nugget of pop and musical wonderment to another, beginning with the fierce "For Real" . Utilizing imagery from Wizard of Oz, it seems the song's main distress is over the simple ability to feel. The narrator longs for something real, even going to the point of violence to obtain it. "Sometimes I thirst for real cuts/ for real blood/ For real knives/ For real crimes." It speaks deeply to these impulses within us, even dark and murderous, as some way of tryign to connect with reality. Minimalistic cymbal crashes and guitar permeate it at first, but then give way to full on rollicking drums and guitar thrashes, as if the song itself were losing its mind.

The album moves on gracefully from there. "In a Radio Song" somberly sets the pace for the rest of the record, pensive and distant. The poppy "Black" recalls abuse, full of venom and revenge despite the sweet sound of the music. The narrator seems at odds with cutting the guy's throat and at the same time trying to be there for the victim. "Get Big" is a sweet little duet, maybe a comment on growing up. "A King and Queen" continues the theme of the black sheep boy, focusing on his particular trials and tribulations. Then there's the mammoth "A Stone." This song is basically made to anyone who felt rejected and denied by someone they loved or liked deeply. "The Latest Toughs," despite the grim subject matter preceeding, is a triumphant call to personal arms, and is more apt at suggesting hope and light than pretty much any song this year, or the year previous, to be honest. "Song of Our So-Called Friend" delves deeper into the issue of friendship, all sweet harmony and slow delicate instruments as Sheff considers the nature of his so-called "friendship."

Then comes this record's denoument, "So Come Back, I Am Waiting," a love song, if in the loosest sense. After the dejection of "So Called Friend," it says "but just let me say one more time..." and is a heartbreaking lament to lost love, and a decleration to give the narrator another chance. Eight minutes of pure power and emotion, it is the shuddering and broken song of the year.

The record closes with the soft "A Glow," a gentle and reflective song of recovered love, as it only should, hinting towards the future. I can only predict incredible things for this band. I wish they would become more well-known for this appalingly incredible record. In fact, I'm surprised everyone can manage to ignore a piece of work of such mangnitude. 16 reviews? Only??? Amazing. Give this a chance, and move on to the band's other work. Here is the future of intelligent pop music, the future of what will compell you in months to come. If emotion could be registered any more purely, I would love to see it. The highest reccomendation.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bring back the mandolin!!!!, April 18, 2005

By	Kevin Satterwhite (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I too was at the Okkervil River/Decemberists show in Houston, and it's true Okkervil River put on a better show (and that's coming from a huge Decemberists fan). That night openned my eyes to Okkervil River. Previously, I had known them, and liked them somewhat. I liked "Don't Fall In Love With Everyone You See", and loved a few tracks from there. While I liked the album, I feel it was a little poorly executed. In some parts instruments were out of tune together, and often Will Sheff's vocals were off key. But it was still a pretty good release.

That's basically the awareness of Okkervil River I went into that show with. After the show I bought their first album.

Fast forward ahead 2 weeks, I pick up "Black Sheep Boy" and subsequently wonder how the **** I didn't pick this up that night instead. This album is really damn good! It's a bit less folk/alt-country then their previous releases, which is actually the only part that bothers me. There is no mandolin! I think some of Okkervil River's best songs feature the mandolin. "West Falls" (my favorite Okkervil song), "Dead Dog Days", "Okkervil River Song", "Seas Too Far To Reach" & "Yellow" all feature the mandolin and are great. That negative aside; One giant emphasis that people should be aware with this album lies with Will Sheff's absolutely brilliant lyrics. If people thought Colin Meloy's storytelling was a high enough precedent for this year, I feel he's now been surpassed...

The best of show is definitely "For Real". Everything about this song is great: the lyrics, the music, the structure and so on. The latter part of the song builds to climatic peak that is just amazing. Seriously, you must hear this song. I love Will Sheff's stories of criminals. They're novel and never really out of line. And on this song he is basically living with homicidal thoughts in his mind. "So Come Back, I Am Waiting" is an 8 minute song about someone who eventually escapes capture from some serial killer. This is another truely amazing song and it highlights another great aspect to this album: how melodic the singing of Will Sheff has become. On this album, he creates some wonderful melodies with his vocals, more often than not over powering the instruments, which is a brilliant task. "Song Of Our So-Called Friend" is a song about rejection. It's another great song with great lyrics but I really feel this song could have been even better with a damn mandolin! "Get Big", "A Stone", "A Glow" and "A King And A Queen" are more examples of Sheff's vocals creating better melodies then the band's instruments, which are putting a really great show themselves. "The Latest Thoughs" & "Black" are the more upbeat, louder tracks of the album. And finally: "In A Radio Song" is a slower paced, melodic song filled with various experimental noises throughout.

Overall, this is perfect, and by far Okkervil River's best release. It is one of the best releases, period, this year. I hope with this release they get the giant recognition they now deserve. And I hope something incites them to bring back the mandolin! I won't be too surprised if this grows to become my favorite release of the year.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fairly stunning, May 1, 2005

By	Zachary Sultan (NY, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I recently read an article suggesting that music is increasingly valued for its association with other media, and less for its stand-alone merits. It's not enjoyed for itself, but consumed in relation to other things.

Part of this is fallout from vertical integration; pop is hawked through big films, videos, or ads. Like it or not, the experience of The Shins becomes emotionally rooted in our experience of "Garden State." Meanwhile, club electronica and "dance rock" are no good by themselves--they require "being there" amidst a grinding mass of sweating people to produce a visceral effect.

Consequently, it's getting tougher to find music that produces its own discrete sensations and entertainments, removed from other (visual) sensory input.

Yet this is exactly what Okkervil River does, and what they've gotten better at doing with each subsequent album. Though the narrative efforts are a bit more obtuse on this record than on previous releases, each track still carries a stunning ability to reach into your chest and shake hands with your guts. Moreover, they're evocative of internal visual experience on par with a great work of fiction. In sum, these guys should have a neurotransmitter named after them.

As others have mentioned, "Black" is a particular standout with its screaming catharsis. The other songs, however, never lag far behind. Throughout, Sheff's wedding of sharp poetics and soaring harmonies pack a rattling wallop totally intrinsic to the music, and the music alone.

In an era of frenzied convergence in the realm of entertainment, it's good to know that music as a project still has the capacity to shake our cores both intellectually and physically.