Search - Freedy Johnston :: This Perfect World

A further comment

Craig | 04/15/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"with all due respect, it appears that a lot of folks--fans and critics alike--just have't listened carefully enough to this cd. these are sly and, well, CREEPY songs. Did someone die in "This Perfect World?" Yeah, the only question is whether she was a suicide or murder victim. And therefore whether her daughter is being warned by the killer, her father, at the end of the song. How's that for your typical pop song? Your spirituality? Anybody bother to figure out the allusions to James Mason in "Delores Was Her Middle Name?" Anybody notice how the beloved in "Across the Avenue" passed on to the after life? A pretty cruel joke. An endlessly rewarding cd for fans of poe, hitchcock, or dahl."

Another overlooked gem.

KG | Cincinnati, OH United States | 02/01/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The music industry is a funny place. There is often no commonality between true musical talent and record sales. Often the music found at the top of the charts is not the best music available, but instead the most widely played, the most overtly commercial. It's reasoning like this that a fine singer-songwriter like Freedy Johnston is routinely overlooked. Depending on one's perspective - it's a large shame, because Johnston is worth checking out. A record with a title like "This Perfect World" can likely only be two things: a complete celebration of life, or a piece of art steeped in irony. In Johnson's case, it's the latter. He's written twelve accounts of peaceful melancholy, most often found in the form of detailed character sketches of folks whose lives are anything but perfect. One anonymous narrative voice muses about having a "bad reputation/and it isn't just talk talk talk." Another character, Evie, garners two nods with "Evie's Tears" and "Evie's Garden." Johnston's sound is very understated, similar to that of a Neil Young or Bob Dylan record. It's not a happy record, but in terms of sound, it's very relaxing and peaceful. Given its timeframe (mid 1990's) it's an interesting footnote to a modern sound which never broke through like a grunge, ska, or bubblegum pop did. One can only wonder if such a songwriter would have been given his due acclaim. In the end, like all art, it's an artifact of particular time period and mood. In the context of the 1990's, it's some of the best music available from that decade, and some of the best music which unfairly never received its due praise. In a perfect world, an artist like Freedy Johnston isn't overlooked. In this one, it makes for a fine story of a fine singer-songwriter, and a fine album overlooked by so many."

AN ASTONISHING CD

KG | 06/20/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you haven't heard Freedy Johnston, you're missing one of the most extraordinary artists working today. Imagine Raymond Chandler and Sherwood Anderson teaming up with Lennon & McCartney and you'll get some idea of his sensibility. And I think this is his finest collection to date. Repeated listenings reveal an interweaving of stories, frequently disturbing, of loss, lonelines, and our darker selves. Consider lyric like "Did you fill this rented room with guilty words?/Your white piano hands flutter like poisoned birds." All of it set to some of the most infectious pop tunes you've heard in a long time--in a league with Lucinda Williams, Sam Phillips, and Steve Earle. A gem."