Bright Eyes - Letting Off The Happiness - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

One of the things that struck Oberst as he and the band went through twenty-plus years of music is that he may in fact have been writing the same song this whole time. Not sonically, of course, but conceptually. This last wave contains, in Noise Floor, early Bright Eyes songs so raw Oberst never even released them back in the day, as well as, in Cassadaga and The People's Key, the band's most polished and sophisticated albums. When Bright Eyes toured Cassadega they performed an epic 7 sold-out nights at NYC's Town Hall. What's more grown-up rockstar than that? And yet...InchThematically those early songs are not that different than the songs I make now,Inch Oberst says, shaking his head. InchThere's something affirming and disheartening about it. It's like, have I really changed or grown? But maybe it's just that I knew what I wanted to write about from the beginning.Inch Album Tracks 1. Firewall 2. Shell Games 3. Jejune Stars 4. Approximate Sunlight 5. Haile Selassie 6. A Machine Spiritual (In the People's Key) 7. Triple Spiral 8. Beginner's Mind 9. Ladder Song 10. One for You, One for Me

One of the things that struck Oberst as he and the band went through twenty-plus years of music is that he may in fact have been writing the same song this whole time. Not sonically, of course, but conceptually. This last wave contains, in Noise Floor, early Bright Eyes songs so raw Oberst never even released them back in the day, as well as, in Cassadaga and The People's Key, the band's most polished and sophisticated albums. When Bright Eyes toured Cassadega they performed an epic 7 sold-out nights at NYC's Town Hall. What's more grown-up rockstar than that? And yet...InchThematically those early songs are not that different than the songs I make now,Inch Oberst says, shaking his head. InchThere's something affirming and disheartening about it. It's like, have I really changed or grown? But maybe it's just that I knew what I wanted to write about from the beginning.Inch Album Tracks 1. Clairaudients (Kill or Be Killed) 2. Four Winds 3. If the Brakeman Turns My Way 4. Hot Knives 5. Make a Plan to Love Me 6. Soul Singer in a Session Band 7. Classic Cars 8. Middleman 9. Cleanse Song 10. No One Would Riot for Less 11. Coat Check Dream Song 12. I Must Belong Somewhere 13. Lime Tree

It's the desire to celebrate their sonic bounty that first got Oberst and the band excited about the idea of comprehensive reissues. But this wouldn't be a Bright Eyes project if a moment devoted to appreciating the past weren't turned into an opportunity to connect with the future. That's where the nine companion EPs come in. Or as Oberst puts it, Inchthe supplemental readingInch for the primary reissues One six-track EP per reissued album, each featuring five reworked songs from that album. InchMy thing was they had to sound different from the originals, we had to mess with them in a substantial way.Inch Plus one cover that felt Inchof the eraInch in which that particular albums was made - a song that meant something to the band at the time. To help the EPs come alive in the fullest way, Bright Eyes called in lots of old friends, like Bridgers, M. Ward, and Welch and Rawlings, as well as new ones like Katie Crutchfield of Waxahatchee. Album Tracks 1. A Spindle, a Darkness, a Fever, and a Necklace 2. A Scale, a Mirror, and Those Indifferent Clocks 3. The Calendar Hung Itself 4. Something Vague 5. The Movement of a Hand 6. Arienette 7. When the Curious Girl Realizes She Is Under Glass 8. Haligh, Haligh, a Lie, Haligh 9. The Center of the World 10. Sunrise, Sunset 11. An Attempt to Tip the Scales 12. A Song to Pass the Time