Product Description

Conor Oberst's studio follow up to the two albums that he released simultaneously in January 2005 is steeped in the kind of rolling 70's country rock that graced the critically acclaimed 'I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning'. Long time Saddle Creek cohort Mike Mogus provides glossy production on a record that includes contributions from Ben Kweller, Gillian Welch,David Rawlings, John McEntire and M. Ward. The violin fuelled single, 'Four Winds' is featured.

Track Listing

1. Clairaudients (Kill Or Be Killed)
2. Four Winds
3. If The Brakeman Turns My Way
4. Hot Knives
5. Make A Plan To Love Me
6. Soul Singer In A Session Band
7. Classic Cars
8. Middleman
9. Cleanse Song
10. No One Would Riot For Less
11. Coat Check Dream Song
12. I Must Belong Somewhere
13. Lime Tree

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1993 in Music
• Released on: 2007-04-09
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 62 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
On their sixth and most straightforwardly clean album, Nebraska's Bright Eyes once again integrate a revolving cast of players to the mix, including Portland tunesmith M. Ward and alt-country queen Gillian Welch. But the band remains at the helm of forever-wunderkind Conor Oberst, and the fruitful songwriter has one-upped 2005's I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning with a proficient and accessible ensemble of expansive pop orchestrations and ornate folk songs that chronicle his traverses across the American panorama. Oberst's voice quakes and wanders through South Dakota lore and Sunshine State chicanery, always the perfect vehicle for his threadbare lyrics. "Take the fruit from the tree/Break the skin with your teeth/Is it bitter or sweet/All depends on your timing," he forewarns in "Cleanse Song," a psychedelic merry-go-round of a soundtrack that joins the Scottish-tinged "Soul Singer in a Session Band" and singalong single "Four Winds" as Cassadaga's finest. The 13-song-record is certain to open more doors for a band whose recognition has soared with every release since Oberst was just 14. --Scott Holter

Customer Reviews

The best Bright Eyes album yet?
Conor Oberst's follow-up to 2005's I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning sees him writing and performing what is probably his most clean-sounding, straight forward country/indie/rock album so far. Gone is the ramshackle, home-recording sound of previous efforts, instead he has opted for a solid, well-produced very full sound and it really has paid off - Cassadaga is fantastic. The sprawling Clairaudients (Kill Or Be Kill) opens the album in a typically leftfield manner and, on the first listen, makes you wonder which direction this album is going to take, but the jaunty violin intro of the highly enjoyable Four Winds betrays the opener as a red herring and provides the groundwork by letting the listener know how the rest of the album is going to progress.

If The Brakeman Turns My Way, featuring Jason Boesel from Rilo Kiley, is an early highlight on an album packed full of excellent songs. It's a country-soaked, imagery-laden piece of brilliance, with a timeless, epic feel and is another strong contender for song of the year. The tumbling, rolling Hot Knives follows, another very big song in terms of sound and ambition and, by this time, it's apparent that this album is something very special indeed. Special just about adequately describes the extraordinary Make A Plan To Love Me, a soft, deliacte, sumptuously orchestrated and arranged ballad, which could touch even the hardest heart.

Soul Singer In A Session Band is a trademark, life-affirming Bright Eyes song which could easily have been a standout track on any of his previous releases and would have fit right in on Lifted or Wide Awake and boasts a brilliant country-violin solo. Equally good is Classic Cars, a country-folk stormer which swells and lulls like the ocean. Other highlights include No-one Would Riot For Less and I Must Belong Somewhere, but you would struggle to find a song on this album which could even be described as average - it's all good.

Cassadaga is the sound of an artist fulfilling his potential. An album with a huge heart, songs with strong appeal and yet impeccable artistic integrity. Lyrics with a big heart which paint pictures of characters, landscapes and provide political commentary as well as remaining grounded, connecting with the audience, telling stories of love and life. This is an amazing album, almost certainly the best complete piece of work that Conor Obert has written and released. Highly recommended.

They just keep doing it
Having spent most of last year listening to "I'm wide awake it's morning" I didn;t honestly believe that in Cassadage, Bright Eyes could produce something to the same level. I'm starting to think I was wrong.

At first, the album doesn't appear to have the any of the subtelty, meaning and passion as previous ones but it does just keep getting better everytime I listen to it. The lyrics are, as usual, phenomenal, with less of the politics prevalant in IWAIM, they nevertheless find a way to touch your soul and sometimes even speak on behalf of it. If the brakeman turns my way, hot knives and no-one would riot for less are real highlights for me but every song (except maybe the first) is a winner, a standalone epic. Buy the album and listen to it as much as you can - it's 10.00am and I've already heard it twice today - you won't regret it.

Splendid 6th from Oberst & Co.
The latest Bright Eyes album is easily one of the finest alt. folk (or whatever brand of Americana you want to label them under) records released this year. In fact, it's their finest effort to date - it's warm, mature and lacking in much of the pretension of their previous efforts.

It's not all about Oberst's quivering delivery and often sharp thought provoking sentiments contained in his words, it's the sheer majesty of the country tinged musicianship (the pedal steel, the riotous percussion, the warm background vocals) and the arrangements that make the songs of `Cassadaga' so accessible and endearing.

2005's releases were, at times, exceptional (especially the more stripped down `I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning') and they certainly suggested that despite the quality of their output to date, there was something quite amazing yet to come from the young Oberst & Co.

`Cassadaga' is more of a sequel to `I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning' as it recalls the flow and atmosphere of the tales within its song cycle. However, as much as it evokes the tuneful element of the aforementioned release, it also delivers on the promises within 2002's sprawling `Lifted, Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground'.

There's the Middle America characters and the political referencing that earned Oberst the `New Bob Dylan' accolades, yet the writing appears to be much more realized (the lyrics aren't just smart, but at times honest). The incredible `Hot Knifes' and the single `Four Winds' carry the recurring themes: religion and truth. In fact, much of the album rotates around the idea that life, like the haven the album is named after, is just that ... an idea (as the lady states amongst the noise of the opener, `Clairaudients': "Cassadaga might be just a premonition of a place you're going to visit").

This is the band's fullest and most developed record yet. Musically and lyrically it's ambitious, and although sometimes the ambition overwhelms its initial impact the intrigue pulls you back in.

Sure, the themes presented can be deemed as `heavy' - as it focuses on the questions around life ... such as our purpose - but `Cassadaga' is quite the opposite, it's a lifting listening experience and appears to be free of the burden of some of their previous records (there's much less anguish on display).

This could quite possibly be Bright Eye's masterpiece ... as important as The Arcade Fire's `Funeral' - in that it highlights that somewhere, among the thousands of generic sounding guitar bands out there, there's real music.

You could find yourself submerged in this album.