Sometimes there's a record you have to have IMMEDIATELY as soon as it's available, and you play over and over until you know it inside-out and are almost sick of it. The new Okkervil River certainly fits that bill for me. I've played it all the way through four or five times in the last two days (and nothing else).
Will Sheff continues his reign as the best lyricist in rock, and though I don't NEED compelling lyrics (Radiohead's are mostly fragmentary, and Sigur Rós's are completely incomprehensible), I do appreciate them. I also just love how Okkervil's albums are truly ALBUMS, always built around a concept. They're musical novels penned by one of the most literate guys ever to pick up a guitar.
The Stand Ins can really be considered the second disc of a double album, the first half of which we got last year with The Stage Names. I love the whole thing, and it was hard to pick a cut to post here, but I'm going with On Tour with Zykos, the follow-up to the lovely A Girl in Port. Here the groupie in question wants her rock star one-night stand to get lost once she's had him.
He gets close, but I choke
take your shit
take your clothes and get out of my home
well I want you to love me, or I want you long gone
you say your real name is John
Hey thanks John, go sing songs
go rock on
roll your crew on down the road to the next sold out show
MP3 Okkervil River - On Tour with Zykos (from 2008's The Stand Ins)
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