Conor hasn’t had the best six months of his life, going from indie misfit has been to rapist in public opinion, his worst selling record ever, and finally purged from all misgivings back to indie misfit and losing his boyish good looks somewhere along the way.
He can’t blame bad publicity on the sorry state of Upside Down Mountain, compared to his stunning self named first solo album, it isn’t very good at all. It deserved an ignoble fate. And the last time I saw Conor live, solo at Carnegie Hall, he made the ridiculous decision to play the set sitting down.
Conor’s career seems to be a reflection of Costello’s: he has become a dilettante.
Let’s see if the setlist will set him free.. No, no it won’t. Saddled with a dog album he seems to have picked the worst songs in his catalog. Awful charges saved a little towards the end. For fuck’s sake “Danny Callahan” when you’re not playing “Sausalito”??
Time Forgot – First song off the newbie is exactly what Conor has done for decades: “I wanna walk in the howling wind till it scatters all my thoughts…” The verse is lovely – B+
Zigzagging Toward the Light – The best song off the new one and while it might be as great as he can get, mainly because his lyrics are too diffused here, “”oh, how the circumstances change” sings better than it reads and it reads well – A
We Are Nowhere and It’s Now – The hugely popular second song off the Bright Eyes masterpiece, maybe it implies more than it says but maybe the side effects they don’t advertise is the final word on the 00s – A
Old Soul Song (For the New World Order) – I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning doesn’t have a bad song on it, but if it did this would be it – B+
Hit the Switch – I’d like to congratulate Conor on reminding us he wrote crappy songs before the turn of the decade as well – C-
Artifact #1 – God almighty, stop whining – D+
Governor’s Ball – I remember hearing this earlier this year with sense of impending doom, as though, now, fifteen years later, I was done with Conor – C-
No One Would Riot for Less – Worst Setlist ever – C+
Bowl of Oranges – Country folk off a real good album – B
If The Brakeman Turns My Way – A turn of the Conor masterpiece, finally he levels out. Bullet train? (gone) – A
Lover I Don’t Have to Love – This is the maudlin side of Conor I’ve never much gone for – C
Double Life – Typical Conor, I mean typical ordinary Conor – B-
Danny Callahan – This is uncanny, the worst song on one of his best albums – C
Firewall – First track off last Bright Eyes album, a warning for what was coming – C-
Desert Island Questionnaire – Atrocious Conor; he has gone from being deep to believing he’s deep – D+
You Are Your Mother’s Child – This should have broken him indie again, very pretty – B
I Got the Reason #2 – Debatably his greatest song of all time, somewhat fucked up in recording, but still one of the most brilliant rockers he has ever put his name. It deserves a harder recording, with that Doorsy keyboard way up in the mix – A
Encore:
Cape Canaveral – what is it about? Sabrina Duim? – A+
Another Travelin’ Song – Great country rocker, but really this set makes the case for Conor being the most over rated musician of all time – A
Lua – I’ve told this story before but in 2005 I was dating this girl and I insisted she listen to this song and she refused and finally she said OK fine. And at 3am she called me and sang the entire thing over the phone – A+
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