Released in January 1998, A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995-1997 was technically the first Bright Eyes album, but really it was “a prelude”, Oberst says, a home for the songs that didn’t feel quite right for Commander Venus, the post-hardcore band he was fronting at the time. “That first record was just random stuff I was doing in my basement on a 4-track,” he says. “Bright Eyes was just a side project. It was basically a way to record my acoustic songs—Commander Venus was my main thing. It changed pretty shortly after that, because we broke up.” Its 20 songs are a raw and homespun introduction to Oberst’s wavering vocals and earnest lyrics. Despite having been just 15 when he wrote most of the album, he maintains that the essence of Bright Eyes songs was there from the start: “The themes are pretty similar, which is just trying to comprehend the human condition and my never-ending astonishment of being alive. I hope my ability to convey those ideas has gotten better, but don't get me wrong, there's definitely songs on those early records I couldn't sing with a straight face.” It was those songs that Oberst could sing that eventually became the album’s companion EP, with updated versions of “A Celebration Upon Completion”, “Falling Out of Love at This Volume” and “Exaltation on a Cool Kitchen Floor”. Elsewhere, on a cover of Simon Joyner’s “Double Joe”, he chose to pay tribute to a fellow Omaha native and singer-songwriter who had a huge influence on Oberst as a teen. “I loved him right away, like when I was like 11 years old and me and my brother used to go and watch him play,” he says. “Then I made my first cassette tape when I was like— it was just acoustic guitar and singing, very much in his style of his first couple records. He's been a great friend and huge influence, and really I can't tell you how much that made my heart bang when he asked if they could put out one of my cassettes. That was big-time for me.”