#196
Bright Eyes - Lifted or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Gound (Saddle Creek, 2002)
It seems like this album tends to get lost in the shuffle, coming as it did between the much beloved Fevers and Mirrors in 2000 and the two albums from 2005 that really seemed to break him with the mainstream (I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn). Not to mention being released in the same year as the uptempo Desapararecidos album, the one that really seemed to appeal to quite a few vocal Oberst haters. Whatever the reason, it is an unfortunate situation, especially considering this album really gave us all a taste of what was in store. "Lover I Don't Have To Love" was one of the most successful attempts at pop Oberst had made to date, echoing the club setting of its lyrics with a bass-heavy beat and an Omaha garage-band approximation of synth-pop. The song clearly set the template for what he was to explore on the Digital Ash release. Both "Make War" and the epic, ten-minute "Let's Not Shit Ourselves" give us hints of the country-rock that was to be explored more fully during the Mystic Valley Band era. Even when Oberst falls back on his standard tropes - Dylan indebted folk passion, heart-on-sleeve earnestness - he is wise enough to surround himself with fantastic musicians that color in the gaps and breathe life into these compositions. We'll see more, and better, Oberst records on this list, but this one should not remain forgotten.
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