Bright Eyes: I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning [DEAD OCEANS]

Why you'll love it

This Dead Oceans edition comes with a vinyl-sized booklet of lyrics and musician credits. The album peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard 200, scored 85 on Metacritic and was ranked No. 50 on Rolling Stone's list of the top 100 albums of the decade.

This edition

• Vinyl-sized lyric booklet

About the album

Conor Oberst put out two Bright Eyes albums on the same day in January 2005, one electronic and one acoustic, which is either admirably efficient or a very good way to make the shop staff's week. I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning is the folk one, and it's the one people keep coming back to.

Mike Mogis produced, recorded and mixed it and plays mandolin, pedal steel and 12-string guitar, and Nate Walcott's trumpet makes its first Bright Eyes appearance here. "Lua" is a hushed late-night confession that, with a track from its sister album, took the top two spots on Billboard's Hot Singles Sales chart. "First Day of My Life" got a lovely video from John Cameron Mitchell, "Old Soul Song (For the New World Order)" and "Land Locked Blues" carry real weight, and "Road to Joy" borrows Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" and gives the album its title.

The Los Angeles Times heard the simmering glow of a masterpiece, and by 2014 it had sold 522,000 copies in the US. For anyone who likes their folk songs with a little dust on the boots and a lot on their mind, this is the place to start.

Also at Kops: more Bright Eyes on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Saddle Creek / Dead Oceans (cat# DOC290LP), a reissue of the 2005 album.