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Cassadaga

EMAILPRINTby Bright Eyes

Bright Eyes reviews
78
7.7 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 35 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 91 votes
Read user comments
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Album Info

Label: Saddle Creek

Release Date: 10 April 2007

Discs: 1 disc

Genre(s): Indie, Rock

Summary

Conor Oberst & co. branch out into country and orchestral pop on their latest 13-track set, which finds them joined by guests Gillian Welch, Janet Weiss, and M. Ward.

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Los Angeles Times

The music doesn't always live up to the demands of the journey, but Oberst's trembling, vulnerable voice carries through to a rewarding conclusion.

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91

Filter

On Cassadaga, classic sounds are resurrected in a satisfying swirl of country, gospel, cinematic pop, and of course, electro-folk.

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90

Under The Radar

More sonically and lyrically ambitious than 2005’s I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and more fully realized than the scattershot Digital Ash In A Digital Urn, Cassadaga is Oberst’s most affecting and challenging full-length to date, and proves that he’ll be a defining figure in folk music for many years to come. [#17, p.83]

90

PopMatters

Cassadaga is an assured and accomplished album; a classic constructed from classic elements.

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83

Entertainment Weekly

Musically, it's his richest album yet, full of Nashville twang and Branson brassiness. And lyrically, the itinerant-traveler conceit is intriguing, even though its sweeping scope lacks the almost masochistically intimate power of earlier material.

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80

Boston Globe

"Cassadaga"... delivers on the wildly unlikely promise that very young, very gifted artists can grow up without losing their balance.

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80

Spin

Oberst's countryish genre studies have deepened with a very adult loneliness. [Apr 2007, p.89]

80

musicOMH.com

Cassadaga is everything his fans would expect from him - mournful, moody and full of lovely melodies.

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80

The Guardian

Oberst's frequent comparisons to Bob Dylan won't suffer, but he has also conjured up some of his best tunes, especially Hot Knives and If the Brakeman Turns My Way, with themes of alienation and self-medication.

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80

All Music Guide

The band's fullest and most developed record to date.

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80

Sputnikmusic

Fantastic lyrical concepts, an improved musicianship and the addition of an orchestra make Cassadaga easily the most enjoyable Bright Eyes album as a whole.

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80

Prefix Magazine

Cassadaga represents a next phase, one that will prove enduring even as the kids latch onto their next rock 'n' roll savior.

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80

Q Magazine

It's about 15 minutes and three songs too long. [May 2007, p.117]

80

Slant Magazine

One hopes that the next LP will pack a little less filler, and Bright Eyes will drop a 40-minute work as tight as their best four-minute works.

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80

Mojo

Cassadaga is an album to warm souls, rally minds and break hearts in equal measure. [May 2007, p.110]

80

Urb

At once apocalyptic and born again. [May 2007, p.96]

80

Rolling Stone

Musically, Cassadaga is fully formed, a considered synthesis of the catch-as-catch-can expansiveness of Oberst's Lifted-era bands with the country tendencies that have always undergirded his Middle American vocals.

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80

New Musical Express

This is about as close to a bid for mainstream acceptance as you're going to get from Bright Eyes.

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80

Dot Music

Heartfelt, honest and compelling, "Cassadaga" is garnished with melodies so lush that Bright Eyes' ascent to the next level of recognition is absolutely assured.

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80

Alternative Press

[Cassadaga] finds Oberst cultivating a sophistication usually found in records made by people old enough to be his grandparents. [May 2007, p.150]

80

Uncut

Cassadaga is fulsome, epic, and swirling, by far Oberst's most sophisticated, seamless effort. [May 2007, p.89]

78

ShakingThrough.net

A restless, questing work.

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70

Blender

An ambitious, twangy and faintly psychedelic folk-rock set that still may not convince haters he isn't a twerp. [May 2007, p.102]

70

No Ripcord

A pretty decent album with a lot of filler.

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70

Paste Magazine

As ambitious as this album is, there's a surprising lack of anguish on display. [Apr 2007, p.54]

67

The Onion (A.V. Club)

It isn't that Cassadaga is necessarily bad, but where I'm Wide Awake was compact and graceful, the new record lumbers, belaboring Conor Oberst's anguish about the state of the world.

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67

Austin Chronicle

Cassadaga, while not exceptional in Oberst's canon, demonstrates a maturity that ensures his legacy beyond emo-folk.

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60

NOW Magazine

Oberst's political criticism is most effective when he's humble and straightforward, yet his overwrought poetics seem laughable, childish and blinkered when applied to world affairs.

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60

Billboard

It's a pleasant enough, if uneven work. [14 Apr 2007]

60

Playlouder

'Cassadaga' is much less of a draining emotional journey for both chief player and listener alike than Bright Eyes previous work.

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60

Pitchfork

The political lyrics are the most troublesome.

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58

Stylus Magazine

Cassadaga falters in the same way I’m Wide Awake did: by trying to present his views as universal, it just exposes how Conor Oberst can’t handle the Truth.

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58

cokemachineglow

On Cassadaga Bright Eyes sounds like John Mayer.

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50

The New York Times

He is clearly searching for a more mature style. But the musical and rhetorical convolutions of “Cassadaga” are no substitute, yet, for the way he used to blurt things out. [9 Apr 2007]

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50

Hartford Courant

"Cassadaga" is an insular, self-referential album that strives for depth and profundity and sounds instead like a high-school poetry reading, full of rhyming-dictionary couplets and banal pronouncements about life.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 7.7 (out of 10) based on 91 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Steve gave it a9:
This is an outstanding album. I hadn't heard much Bright Eyes before I got this album, so it's not to say that I am giving it a high score just because I love the members of the band. Most people seem to tout "Four Winds" as the headlining song on this album and though it is good, it pales in comparison to "If the Brakeman Turns my Way," "Cleanse Song," or "Middleman." "Four Winds" is the song that appeals to the largest group of people, which explains its long stretch of playtime on the radio. As most know, the vast majority of what is played on the radio is complete crap.

[Anonymous] gave it a10:
I was never a Bright Eyes fan (respected Connor but not my thing). This album has turned me around. An instant classic. No one is making albums like this anymore.

darryl f gave it a10:
best album of this year so far

jw gave it an8:
(8.5) Coat Check Dream Song, I Must Belong Somewhere, Four Winds, and Hot Knives are the highlights. I bought the Four Winds single first, and I think in some ways that collection is stronger (overall) than what he left on the full album. Cartoon Blues and Reinvent The Wheel are especially good, I think. Take the six songs from that single, add Coat Check, Must Belong, Knives, and maybe Soul Singer... and you've got something REALLY special. With the lineup as is, Cassadaga is still a solid 8 or 9.

Andrew A gave it a6:
You can get some great singles out of here, but the whole thing is too much.

[Anonymous] gave it a6:
Alas, Conor's paling around with M Ward has got the best of him. Ward's influence is heavy and yet Conor is not Ward and thus falls a bit flat when going for that style. I feel this will go down as the being M ward's butt boy album.

Craig R. gave it a7:
A good if slightly underwhelming attempt. Lacks the subtlety of "I'm Wide awake it's morning" and the bite of "Digital Ash..." - definately a step down in quality this time around.

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