is very far any good?

[v]

...personally im very disappointed and cant really be bothered to listen to it. any thoughts from you hardcores?

[sweetdaddypop]

Keep listening. While there have been a number of albums I loved right from the first listen Black Sheep Boy is their only one that I would characterize that way. Most of their CDs are things that I like more and more with each repeated listen- and I'm firmly in the "they've never had a bad release" crowd. I also tend to crank the bass and found that I could understand the words much more clearly on this release when I turned the bass down a bot. The songs are as clever as ever, and the playing is still strong. I would say don't give up yet- and make sure you catch them live. Their show is only getting better.

[stevemuhkween]

i frippin' love it.

i have this malady with Okkervil, dating all the way back to "down the river of golden dreams," where, when a new record first comes out, i'm convinced it's not as strong as the record before. and that lasts about four listens, at which point the record opens up to me. ... in retrospect, the only album i think was less strong than its predecessor was 'stand ins,' and it wasn't a drop by much.

[stevemuhkween]

i also think that the album's b-sides so far -- 'weave room blues' and 'i guess we lost' (on the back of the new 'rider' single) -- stand as strong as the stuff on the album. here's hoping there are more coming.

[v]

agreed re live performances. not seen them yet this tour but all the new songs i have heard/watched live via youtube etc performed by the six piece sound pretty good. nothing wrong with the songs and the singing, and the new band just about pull it off. but the album sounds overblown and complicated and is thick with too many ideas. the orchestration and production are not great and distract from the song and the singing. some suggest this record is a better "band" album than previous efforts but for me okkervil river is sheff underpinned by a small group of highly accomplished players and a powerful rhythm section. i have never fully understood why indifferent guitarist gurgiolo was given a permanent place in the band - what does she bring? after all this time she still sounds like shes settling in and her playing has hardly improved. and i really do miss the enthusiastic, hard hitting nelson. he brought such a great energy to the band.

[sweetdaddypop]

Everybody loved Travis. He was a great guy, no doubt. Go see Cully. The dude is a beast and I think he improves their stage presence. There isn't anything he can't do with a pair of sticks. I don't ever want to trash Travis, but Cully makes them better. Lauren is a tougher nut. I think she's a very solid guitarist, but there are clearly people who disagree. My read is that she doesn't fit our expectation of a lead guitarist for a rock band. She's small and cute, and sits on the side and plays. She doesn't slash and dance and draw attention to herself, she just plays. This isn't a band that features its lead guitarist; it features Will (and now a bit of Patrick). Therefore the lead guitarist isn't asked to do much more than play. Brian was a wizard, but if you recall he basically stayed in one place and just ripped while Will did his thing.

[ThanksJohn]

i frippin' love it.

i have this malady with Okkervil, dating all the way back to "down the river of golden dreams," where, when a new record first comes out, i'm convinced it's not as strong as the record before. and that lasts about four listens, at which point the record opens up to me. ... in retrospect, the only album i think was less strong than its predecessor was 'stand ins,' and it wasn't a drop by much.

I'd agree with this. Put simply, Yes 'I am Very Far' is very good. In comparison with recent releases from their contemporaries e.g. The Decemberists etc. the band continue to set a very high standard. Whilst not beyond criticism and I'd agree that the production on some tracks is 1980s MOR which I wouldn't be a fan of, Okkervil River presently release better records than anybody else. For me the best tracks are 'We need a Myth' and 'Your Past Life as a Blast'.

Objectively the 3 big British music monthlies (Q, Mojo & Uncut) all score the album 4/5 stars. It'll be easier gauged as the album ages, but IMO the record will stand the test of time and come to be as well regarded as BSB and TSN.

[Bless This Tiny Alley]

I am Very Far is definitely a mood-piece. Way more than Black Sheep Boy. On BSB, the production was something that added to the feeling, it was the cherry on top of the sundae. Here, the production is almost like another band member. It's so upfront and important. If the production was treated differently on this album, I am Very Far would have been a completely different LP. Now, is it my favorite album of theirs? No, not by a long shot. But it's still good, a worthy member of the OR LP family. Some of my favorite songs were actually kept off the album (I Guess We Lost, Weaveroom Blues, Walked Out on a Line), but I guess I can see why they were abandoned.. they don't quite fit in with the rest of the album.

One thing that's certain, though: Sheff is still an incredible and imaginative lyricist. No doubt.

[mr. magpie]

I Am Very Far is pretty grand, probably my favourite out of the bunch. I still think Rider should have been shorter and The Rise should have been longer (lyrically anyways) tho.

[Arathas]

At first listen, I really didn't like it. But as this has been they way with all OR tunes, that didn't disappoint me very much. Gave it a couple more listenings. And then more. More. More & more. Still some more.

Sadly, still not liking it very much. There's a few songs I love now (Hanging from a hit, Piratess), and honestly, that's OK for me. Although I love other releases completely, it's just natural it can't be that way with every record.

What's different on this one, it's kind of ... well, shrill, piercing, or something. Can't find the right word for it, in german it would be "schrill". It's got so many high tones, or something in that way, that I can't listen to it in my car. OK, the soundsystem in my car isn't very good, but every other OR album sounds great in my car. "Very far" on the other hand doesn't. I have to turn the volume down to listen to it. Did anyone else experience this, too? Or is it just my ears that can't stand something in those songs? I can't name it. But it's there, preventing me from listening to it on full volume, which is the best way to experience music, in my opinion.