Album Retrospective: Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst

Album Rating: A-

Conor Oberst had always written music for himself and not for a particular audience.   His songs had always been his deepest, darkest, and even most romantic personal stories: he told us the story of how lost a important person in his life in the beautiful country epic "Poison Oak," he told us the story of how he almost lost himself in "Let's Not Shit Ourselves," he told us the story of how he fell in love in the acoustic masterpiece "First Day of My Life," he told us stories of struggle and war in the digital driven "Easy/Lucky/Free," and he told us the story of heartbreak in the rock song "The Calendar Hung Itself."  Oberst's heartbreaking honesty, wit and "suffering" had given him a passionate almost cult like following, the admiration of critics who could not stop their cute Bob Dylan comparisons, and the envy of just about every other songwriter.  With Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst single handedly turned songwriting selfishness not only into a virtue, but into a powerful and influential career.