This last wave contains, in Noise Floor, early Bright Eyes songs so raw Oberst never even released them back in the day, as well as, in Cassadaga and The People's Key, the band's most polished and sophisticated albums.
The Hate Yourself Change works best as an innocuous bedtime record; including them, it's a snapshot of a band taking a tentative step toward the next echelon of recognition and accomplishment. RIYL: Bright Eyes, Saddle Creek
"While King of California was often lumped in with the then-fashionable unplugged craze, in retrospect it was the album where Dave Alvin's abilities as a performer began to catch up with his gifts as a songwriter..." --Mark Deming