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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
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Cassadaga
by Bright Eyes
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.
| LABEL: |
Saddle Creek |
| RELEASE DATE: |
10 April 2007 |
| DISCS: |
1 disc |
| GENRE(S): |
Indie, Rock |
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.
91
Filter
On Cassadaga, classic sounds are resurrected in a satisfying swirl of country, gospel, cinematic pop, and of course, electro-folk.
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.
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.
80
Boston Globe
"Cassadaga"... delivers on the wildly unlikely promise that very young, very gifted artists can grow up without losing their balance.
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.
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.
80
All Music Guide
The band's fullest and most developed record to date.
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.
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.
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.
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.
80
New Musical Express
This is about as close to a bid for mainstream acceptance as you're going to get from Bright Eyes.
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.
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.
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.
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.
67
Austin Chronicle
Cassadaga, while not exceptional in Oberst's canon, demonstrates a maturity that ensures his legacy beyond emo-folk.
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.
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.
60
Pitchfork
The political lyrics are the most troublesome.
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.
58
cokemachineglow
On Cassadaga Bright Eyes sounds like John Mayer.
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]
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.
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.
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