Laces Out Dan!

Comin right up boss.

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Wayfarer

I get what you mean, about Pink Moon being sad, but with the slightest bit of hope. S'what makes it my favourite Nick album. Well, that, and for some reason I just prefer Nick with an acoustic guitar over string arrangements and whatnot.

sleepy jack

9. Okkervil River "Black Sheep Boy"


Jesus what to say about Black Sheep Boy. First off Will Sheff is an incredible lyricist and one of the greatest songwriters of the past decade. Verses like "You're all that I need / Though I know that it never can be / I'd be pleased to post your decrees / To fall at your knees / To name all your streets / And to sit down and weep when you're carried back through them / And set down to sleep / And to lie by your side for sublime centuries / Until we crumble to dust when we're crushed by a single sunbeam." could be the most romantic expression of love since being hit by a double-decker bus and a ten ton truck.

Will Sheff is no Jeff Buckley and if he was this album wouldn't work. Pushing himself beyond the limits of his voice he screams, spits and raves about stones, rape, child abducting, loss, monsters, in a slightly hysterical manner and all this is centered around this one figure; the Black Sheep Boy. They follow this child from lamb to ram in a first person narrative that is hauntingly believable. As will Sheff spits this out hes backed by an ever-growing band it seems, playing music rooted in folk/country that can go from anywhere to slow and melodic to fast paced and energetic. Driven by keyboards, acoustic guitars and bass the album takes a new turn with each track. From the slow folk Tim Hardin cover in the beginning to the climax of the album (and my favorite track) So Come Back, I Am Waiting with eerie strings and beautiful horns all the way to the closer, A Glow.

Black Sheep Boy blew me away when I heard it, it was literate, intense and Will Sheff was a punch in the face kick in the crotch vocalist who sang with such conviction I wondered why he hadn't been arrested for doing such awful things or why he wasn't sitting in an asylum somewhere raving to padded walls. Black Sheep Boy is a story, as haunting as it is beautiful.

Favorite Songs: For Real, So Come Back I Am Waiting, Black, A Stone, Song For Our So-Called Friend, Black Sheep Boy, A King and a Queen



MySpace.com - Okkervil River - Austin, TEXAS - Folk / Indie / Rock - www.myspace.com/okkervilriver

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clarksided

Will. Sheff. Is. GOD~

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http://www.last.fm/user/Folkwire
http://rateyourmusic.com/~Folkwire

sleepy jack

agreed.

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Laces Out Dan!

Mad love for this album.

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The Dave

I honestly can't think of anything else to say about Black Sheep Boy, that you didn't. It's a beautiful story, through and through with some of the most engaging and realistic lyrics that I've ever heard. A Stone is easily the best love song that I've heard and to me, this album is my #1.

sleepy jack

8. Joy Division "Closer"


I was a little kid when i'd first heard Joy Division and it scared the shit out of me. The guitar didn't sound like a guitar, the driving bass, the droning vocals and drums and the echoey production we're just all, scary and offensive to me. It's slightly funny now to think about Joy Division scaring me but kind of odd because at times I can still feel the same weird kind of reverence towards them I felt as a child.

It was hard deciding between this and Unknown Pleasures both were groundbreaking, influential and just amazing. Last night I was up listening to both wondering what to choose but I eventually decided that since I listened to Closer more i'd go with that, plus Heart and Soul is my favorite Joy Division song so that helped make the choice slightly easier. Both are phenomenal albums but there's just something about Closer that I just like better.

Now onto Closer itself, the album blew me away when i'd heard it more recently (a month or two ago) in fact Joy Division in general blew me away. The production, the guitars, the bass, the drums, the vocals everything about it was exciting to me and the lyrics were just breathtaking and the way Ian Curtis sang them was even more breathtaking. "Existence, well what does it matter? / I exist on the best terms I can / The past is now part of my future / The present is well out of hand."

Joy Division have recently taken the roll of being my second favorite band from the 80s (I think they could be my absolute favorite from the 70s.) Either way, Closer is easily one of my favorite albums of the 80s and I think it could be the most important album of the 80s and if not it certainly gives Disintegration, You're Living All Over Me, Doolittle and The Queen is Dead a run for their money.
Favorite Songs: Heart And Soul, Passover, The Eternal, Twenty Four Hours, Atrocity Exhibition, A Means to an End



MySpace.com - Joy Division - Manchester, UK - Alternative / Indie / Post punk - www.myspace.com/joydivision

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right-track

Atrocity Exhibition is possibly my favourite Joy Division track from this album.
The Atrocity Exhibition - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Commonly known that it was based around this novel by Ballard.
(added interest for those who don't know)
Curtis being a fan of his writing.

Glad I wasn't the one to have to choose between 'Closer' and 'Unknown Pleasures' Ethan...rather you than me.
I love them both, but Closer is a very personal album...Curtis stripped to the bone.

Urban Hat€monger ?

I'll be interested to hear how it would sound without Martin Hannett's production , seeing they've just released a re-mastered version that is supposed to be closer to how the band wanted it to sound originally.
Although the band didn't like it I actually think Hannett's production is one of the things that made them stand out from everybody else.

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