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Clear Heart Full Eyes - Craig Finn
Clear Heart Full Eyes Image
Metascore
69 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 34 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.3 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 4 Ratings

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10 out of 10
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  • Summary: The debut solo album of The Hold Steady's Craig Finn includes elements of country music.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 34
  3. Negative: 0 out of 34
  1. Tiny Mix Tapes
    Feb 1, 2012
    90
    All the things that give an album its personality--the sound of a band finding its feet, the little tempo fluctuations, the requisite "are we rolling, Bob?" fits and starts--are here in spades.
  2. Expert Witness (MSN Music)
    Feb 7, 2012
    83
    He nails three [songs] flat-out....The rest tend more, how to say it, evocative.
  3. Q Magazine
    Feb 21, 2012
    60
    Swapping The Hold Steady's white-knuckled intensity for skeletal drums and echoing guitar gives Finn's voice more room to manoeuvre. A welcome change of pace. [Mar 2012, p. 100]
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User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. alice3372
    10
    According to liner notes in Petty's Playback box set, he and Jeff Lynne were playing some elaborate stuff on the keyboard that all started with 3 simple chords. Lynne suggested that Tom stop all the hard stuff and just sing some words to those three chords, and he came up with "She's a good girl... loves her mama..." just to make Jeff smile, and they kept going from there. divorce help… Expand
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  2. ZeCatalist
    7
    For his solo debut, Craig Finn, known mostly for his band The Hold Steady but also for Mini Apple rockers Lifter Puller, went to Austin, Texas. Noted for it's music scene, college culture, "Keep Austin Weird" mantra and bevy of art house film legends (Terrence Malick is currently shooting a film that uses the town's music scene as a setting), the Texas capital resembles Portland more than it does Dallas. Brooklyn more than Houston or San Antonio. An extremist island of liberals sunk in an ocean of stiff conservatism. To say that Finn and his literary slant fit in instantly with the town's educated, progressive, laid back population would be an understatement. He quickly picked up a band and almost immediately started recorded songs he'd been saving for some time now. Both songs that didn't fit the sound of The Hold Steady and new songs that he was still getting to know himself. Songs with a heavy focus on narrative writing and, maybe more than anything else, Finn's distinctive vocal style, which is a deep, talk-y brand that falls somewhere between early early Lou Reed, Bruce Springsteen and the ranting of Louis CK. Along for the ride are go-to Austin producer Mike McCarthy (Spoon, Trail of Dead, etc.), Centro-matic's Will Johnson and a handful of Austinite studs. And sure, there's a little bit of twang here (mostly in the drums and slide guitar), but probably not enough to completely lose the THS fans who lean more towards Finn's band's Thin Lizzy and Who influence than, say, their clear love for Springsteen, Westerberg or the Stones. The tracks play through quickly and pleasantly, rarely breaking the mid-tempo vibe and almost always focused on simple four-piece arrangements and the songwriter's voice and words. Finn's always rhythmic, often repetitive, totally verbose and wholly bookish songwriting hits an early peak on "When No One's Watching," a song that works as a one-on-one conversation with a lying womanizer whom Finn describes as "a weak man living off of weaker women." Here we learn a little about just one of Finn's new rambling characters; later we visit Jackson and Stephanie on another wordy standout called "Jackson." Two of Finn's drug buddies, at least in song - one an aspiring actor and the other a bored party girl. The kind of people you meet after you've been on the cover of Spin Magazine. Another of Clear Eyes' more masterful tracks, titled "Honolulu," further hints at Finn's versatility as a songwriter. Here we have a memorable, almost bouncy, track that could easily be a popular radio single, if only it were sung by a songbird like Taylor Swift rather than a drinking buddy like Craig Finn. Imagine a great early era Jimmy Buffett song, if only Buffett were as elegant of a writer as he begs us to believe with his many mediocre novels. In a mere 250 seconds Finn tells a hazy, abstract story that feels cinematic, even hinting at the writing style of auteur Jim Jarmusch, whom Finn has surely crossed paths with since his move to New York City. The track grows and grows with repeated plays, both in widescreen mystery and accessibility, as any great song should. While there is much here to love in this record that shows a new side of one of today's favorite college rock songwriters, Clear Heart Full Eyes does begin to feel a bit long and tedious over its 11 songs and 44 minutes. But maybe only because there are just that many damn lyrics here - so much to get to know and so many rhymes and schemes and characters and ideas. Lucky for the listener, Finn and his Austin crew did a good job at making the record sound very cohesive and clean - a Texas record through and through. The adventure and pop we hear on Hold Steady records might be missing, but the songs - most of 'em at least - do reward familiarity. That said, Clear Heart Full Eyes would probably be a more powerful listening experience had Finn kept things brief, cutting three of the lesser tracks, instead offering a mini album that still features more lyrics than any single disc since Bright Eyes' Lifted. All together, though, a solid solo debut and some top-shelf storytelling from one of today masters of vocal style. Check out more of my music- and film-related writing at ZeCatalist.com.… Expand
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  3. j30
    6
    Clear Heart Full Eyes by Craig Finn is far from a miss, but it's not exactly an album you can fully invest in. Maybe the music feels a little too laid back for my liking. However you kind of get the feeling CHFE is a precursor to great Hold Steady album in the making (in which they're in the studio as we speak).… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

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