User Score
Universal acclaim- based on 64 Ratings
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 56 out of 64
-
Mixed: 4 out of 64
-
Negative: 4 out of 64
Review this album
-
-
Please sign in or create an account before writing a review.
-
-
Submit
-
Check Spelling
- User score
- By date
- Most helpful
-
Mar 31, 2012I thoroughly enjoyed this whole album. From start to finish, it's a melodic, rhythmic triumph that gets better with each listen. All In All, Okkervil River never tend to fail.
-
SaintGodJun 21, 2009
-
-
ConnorG.Jun 18, 2009Incredible album, listen to the depth and you will be surprised. Look for the stories, the meanings and you will find that this is easily the best album out of 200...No contest, hands down.
-
-
QuinnCrOct 3, 2008This is easily my favorite okkervil river album. There isn't a single song I dislike, so it is a wonderful work of art.
-
-
TimC.Dec 11, 2007Loved it!
-
-
GuyH.Dec 6, 2007
-
-
EV.Nov 11, 2007I don't know whats with all the hype. Black Sheep Boy was awesome but this record is gay as fuk.
-
-
DavidH.Nov 8, 2007Without a doubt one of the best albums of 2007. Even repeated listening won't get you bored of it; you'll grow to love each and every song even more.
-
-
MattW.Nov 6, 2007Great album. Lyrically appealing as well, which is pretty rare for today's music.
-
-
cM.Oct 31, 2007It is the best of Will and the boys records yet.
-
-
ElizabethPOct 11, 2007"Black Sheep Boy" is a tough act to follow, so "The Stage Names" is a good album but it can't compare to "BSB." This album has a lighter tone, in that, the mood isn't as dark or morose as "BSB," but it's still a nice change of pace.
-
-
NicholasWOct 8, 2007Wow!!! Near Perfect-
-
-
brianjOct 3, 2007perhaps the album of the year. majestic, powerful....it has it all!
-
-
DrewSep 24, 2007This is probably their third best album, which is meant more as compliment to the band than an affront. This is easily in my top 5 albums of the year...
-
-
HaroldB.Sep 12, 2007Will Sheff proves yet again he is among the best lyricists in music today. The Stage Names is easily among the best albums of 2007.
-
-
johnw.Aug 28, 2007FUCKING BRILLIANT
-
-
BrandtBAug 27, 2007This album should be in every indie-lover's Top Five of 2007 list. "Plus Ones", "John Allyn Smith Sails", and "A Girl in Port" are among the best songs that I've heard thus far this year. Will Sheff joins Sam Beam in songwriting capabilities with this album. Let's see if Iron & Wine's latest album can compete with "The Stage Names." I have a feeling it can.
-
-
SpencerL.Aug 26, 2007Easily one of the best albums of the year. Not long enough? Put it on repeat - it doesn't fail under repeated listening.
-
-
ChadS.Aug 21, 2007
-
-
pix101Aug 19, 2007Great album! If you liked Black Sheep Boy you will like this, but it might take a few listens to get into...
-
-
TomAug 18, 2007Dang, these boys are good. Not as angry as BSB, but no less grabbing.
-
-
grampAug 15, 2007This is the most complete and listenable ablum so far this year. Great stuff.
-
-
[anonymous]Aug 14, 2007A nine because it could have been longer, in my opinion, without hurting the album.
-
-
TylerMAug 11, 2007Slightly underrated, one of the top albums of the year in my opinion!
-
-
jaydubAug 10, 2007Bland. Soooo bland, and so MOR, and so mid-tempo, and so amused with its own lyrical conceit, and so not emotionally convincing. Basically, the polar opposite of Black Sheep Boy. Also, waaaaay too much on the maracas. Plus, the formulaic song-writing. Boring arrangements as well. Pretty awful use of a string section. I could go on, but...
-
-
RoryAug 10, 2007Mind-blowing in a very different way than Black Sheep Boy. I haven't heard an album better this year.
-
-
JasonAAug 10, 2007First let me start off by saying that I love Okkervil River and I love this cd. I just discovered the band about 8 months ago when I randomly saw someone saw how excellent their last album
-
-
ToddWAug 10, 2007
-
-
BigBAug 9, 2007Perfect album!
-
-
EliotA.Aug 9, 2007
-
-
DavidHAug 9, 2007What makes this so amazing is how different it is than the prior OR releases. BSB was dark and dense. Golden Dreams was wistful and sad. This one is rollicking and triumphant. Reminds me a little bit of the hysterical pleading of Funeral. It tops Boxer and Neon Bible as the best album of the year thus far.
-
-
PatDAug 9, 2007Okkervil River comes back with another amazing album. This is one of those albums that you really have to let grow on you before you can really appreciate it. On par with 'Don't Fall in Love with Everyone You See."
-
-
RobertDAug 8, 2007glad i found another great band this year. new stuff is as great as the old stuff. nice raw energy. totally original.
-
-
[Anonymous]Aug 8, 2007
-
Awards & Rankings
-
The urgency is still there, as guitars and pianos take turns screaming during the breakdown, but the violence is replaced with a sense of frivolity and playfulness that lingers throughout the group's fifth release.
-
The cerebral lyrics take center stage, as it were, while the band rocks out much harder than it did on 2005's melancholy "Black Sheep Boy."
-
The Stage Names is much more of a balls-out rock album than most of Okkervil River's oeuvre, and also more orchestral and layered, with arrangements that include everything from non-sissy glockenspiel to metronome percussion. The complexity is the perfect counterpart to Sheff's dense writing.