Salutations

Salutations expands Oberst’s raw scratch solo Ruminations’ 10 songs into a messier, more glorious celebration of squalor and self-indulgence with a self-loathing chaser.

It’s the sound of a gifted songwriter comfortable with his craft and in his own skin, offering glinting new facets to earlier sounds and the songs present on Ruminations, and it makes for a subtle, yet striking departure from everything that came before.

Overall, Salutations might be slightly sprawling and lack a little of the focus of Ruminations, but it makes for a highly enjoyable companion piece.

Releasing two similar albums in such close proximity might seem like a cynical attempt to double-down on the success of the first, but rather than feel like a re-release thrown together by label execs, these were the tracks as they should be; rich, nuanced, and steeped in major key melodies.

The result is rich and resonant, a testament to the power of communal music over solo soul-baring.

With a total of 17 songs and a runtime of over an hour, Salutations is Oberst's most ambitious album since his 2002 Bright Eyes masterpiece Lifted, and the best instalment in his solo discography.

It works exceedingly well. [May 2017, p.108]

The increasingly salty bite of Oberst's lyrics is only sharpened by the homely warmth of Salutations' arrangements. [Apr 2017, p.97]

The expanded palette, majoring on warm, Dylanesque waltzes and rolling country-rock, brings out the colours of the songs even if, at 17 tracks, it trades in the focused intensity of Ruminations for something looser. [Apr 2017, p.35]

Salutations is good, but it is apparent it could have been better. Rather than swing for the fences, Conor and crew settled for a base hit that didn’t move any runners on base.

As is often the case with Oberst, there are too any tracks, every half-thought included. It does allow a litany of references from Timothy Leary to Patti Smith, Heinrich Himmler, Sylvia Plath, Christopher Hitchens, and the Dalai Lama, however, and it doesn't matter too much anyway. Not when the Oberst and his merry players keep bringing the tunes

While gentler than its predecessor, Salutations is his bulwark against the tide, a warm record that offers calm in the cacophony, comfort in the struggle, the darkness amid the hope and the hope amid the darkness.

Ruminations is essential, then; consider Salutations its eccentric cousin, often engaging and occasionally difficult.

Though Salutations is one of Oberst’s most demanding albums, it’s also one of his least ambitious, even before taking these new arrangements into account.

With these band versions, Oberst seems more removed, drowned out by unnecessary country embellishments that only dilute the passion and emotion of the originals. That’s not to say these are bad, but they just aren’t quite as heart-stoppingly, heartbreakingly brilliant. Less, as it turns out, can be much more.