I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning

Infobox Album
Name = I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Type = studio
Artist = Bright Eyes


Released = January 25, 2005
Recorded = February 2004: Presto! Recording Studios - Lincoln, Nebraska
Genre = Indie folk
Length = 45:41
Label = Saddle Creek LBJ-72
Producer = Mike Mogis
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|2|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:a01gtq7zxu48 link]
* Drowned In Sound (10/10) [http://www.drownedinsound.com/articles/11128.html Link]
*Pitchfork (8.7/10) [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/15674-im-wide-awake-its-morning-digital-ash-in-a-digital-urn 24 Jan 05]
*"Mojo (magazine)" Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/brighteyes/imwideawakeitsmorning Link]
*PopMatters (8/10) [http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/b/brighteyes-imawake.shtml 9 Feb 05]
*"Q Magazine" Rating|5|5 [http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/brighteyes/imwideawakeitsmorning Link]
*Review-Christgau|A-|album=12893
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|4|5 [http://rollingstone.com/reviews/album/_/id/6822323 27 Jan 05]
*"Uncut (magazine)" Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/brighteyes/imwideawakeitsmorning Link]
*Yahoo Music UK Rating-10|9 [http://uk.launch.yahoo.com/050215/33/1xiqi.html review]
Last album = "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn" (2005)
This album = "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" (2005)
Next album = "Motion Sickness" (2005)

"I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" is one of two Bright Eyes albums (along with "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn") released on January 25, 2005, by Saddle Creek Records.

The album is the 72nd release of Saddle Creek Records.

ongs

The single "Lua" reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Sales Chart.

The music video for "First Day of My Life" was directed by John Cameron Mitchell.

Road To Joy contains an interpolation of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy".

"We Are Nowhere and It's Now" appears in the 2007 film "Knocked Up".

ocial commentary

Like the two Bright Eyes albums before it, "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" opens with a spoken recording, this time by Conor Oberst himself. The monologue is a short story about two strangers on an airplane that is about to fall into the ocean. Nearing the crash, one of the passengers begins to sing, "At the Bottom of Everything," the opening song of the album. The simple, three-chord folk song is one of Oberst's trademark sarcastic social commentaries on American ideals: "We must memorize nine numbers and deny we have a soul. And in this endless race for property and privilege to be won, we must run..."

This song made its television debut on the April 30, 2004 episode of "Late Late Show". The short story was replaced with a dedication to the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the President of the United States, George W. Bush. "Two men I admire a lot," declared Oberst, "for their biceps and for their creepy, fascist agendas," after which Conor counted the song in "1, 2, 666." The conclusion of the story during the bridge was replaced by Oberst shouting "M. Ward for president!"

A music video directed by Cat Solen and starring Evan Rachel Wood and Terence Stamp was later made for the song, based on the story in its introduction, which remained intact.

Critical response

"I'm Wide Awake It's Morning" received very positive reviews from music critics on both sides of the Atlantic. It was placed in the following best-of lists for the year 2005:

These opinions were not quite unanimous. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic criticized Oberst's "heavy-handed pretension in the words and [...] affectedness in his delivery," calling the album proof that "instead of reaching musical maturity, he's wallowing in a perpetual adolescence." A negative review from Keith Harris of "The Village Voice" also found the record to be "a mess, and not just sonically."

Track listing

All songs by Conor Oberst.

# "At the Bottom of Everything" – 4:34
# "We Are Nowhere and It's Now" – 4:12
# "Old Soul Song (For the New World Order)" – 4:29
# "Lua" – 4:31
# "Train Under Water" – 6:05 [http://www.npr.org/programs/asc/archives/lookahead05/index.html#eyes Listen]
# "First Day of My Life" – 3:08
# "Another Travelin' Song" – 4:16
# "Landlocked Blues" – 5:47
# "Poison Oak" – 4:39
# "Road to Joy" – 3:54

Personnel

Note: "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" and "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn" are the first Bright Eyes albums on which Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Nate Walcott became the three permanent members of Bright Eyes.

* Conor Oberst – guitar, vocals
* Mike Mogis – mandolin, pedal steel guitar 12 string guitar (tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10)
* Nick White – piano, organ, rhodes, vibraphone (tracks 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10)
* Jesse Harris – guitar (tracks 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8)
* Tim Luntzel – bass (tracks 1, 3, 6, 7, 8)
* Jason Boesel – drums (tracks 2, 3, 5, 7, 9)
* Matt Maginn – bass (tracks 2, 5, 9, 10)
* Nate Walcott – trumpet (tracks 2, 3, 8, 10)
* Clark Baechle – drums (tracks 3, 7, 10)
* Emmylou Harris – vocals (tracks 2, 7, 8)
* Alex McManus – guitar (track 3)
* Maria Taylor – vocals (tracks 3, 9)
* Jake Bellows – harmonica, vocals (track 5)
* Jim James – vocals (track 1)
* Andy LeMaster – vocals (track 3)

References

#http://billboard.com/bb/daily/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000723891, Todd Martens, L.A.