Though it does lean towards songs propelled by just Oberst's voice and acoustic guitar. And the more minimal the approach among these dozen tracks, the more pleasing the results. The country-rock efforts tend to undercut Oberst's image-heavy lyrical efforts with some fairly uninspired ambling, though the boogie-woogie rocker
I Don't Want To Die (In A Hospital)
suggests a Joe Strummer-Violent Femmes collision that is sure to pep up Oberst's live encores.
But's it's the simpler singer-songwriter stuff - like opener
Cape Canaveral
, the politically-minded
Lenders in the Temple
and the hushed finale
Milk Thistle
that remind best how good a song craftsman Oberst is, whatever name he's operating under. And just how he still deserves that "new Dylan" tag more than anyone of his generation.
Russell Baillie