The Friday Morning Listen: John Doe - A Year in the Wilderness
Published July 20, 2007
The first thought that came to mind was, "How the heck is this not more popular?" I mean, you've got really great melodies, truly engaging stories being told, and characters that draw you right into the middle of it all. What's not to like? But somehow, folks would rather plunk down their cash on Transformers.
We drove home, floating on the emotional air.
So a couple of things have happened over the last 48 hours or so that have restored my faith in humanity. Hmmm... maybe that's going a little too far. It wasn't like I'd lost faith in humanity so much as I'd lost faith in my little corner of it. Something had set me off earlier in the week so that my mood had slid from daylight to dark to black. Not good at all.
While flipping through that newspaper's arts section, I came across a Buffalo Tom concert review. It occurred to me that over the years I'd read much about the band but never bought any records. Some retail therapy was in order. Now why I would have ever thought that going to Borders was a good idea? "Not thinking straight" is the obvious answer. People are no longer buying CD's at actual stores? Yes, and given the sorry and jumbled state of the inventory I was poking through, it's easy to see why. No Buffalo Tom. I probably should have asked somebody but my mood was so foul that that almost seemed dangerous. Just when I was about to give up and head back to the books, I came upon a copy of John Doe's A Year in the Wilderness.
Saved!
Last night, me and TheWife™ popped over to the old & comfy Wilton Town Hall Theatre to take in Once. My goodness... what a genuine, beautiful, and heartfelt little film. It was, as someone said recently, full of "really great melodies, truly engaging stories being told, and characters that draw you right into the middle of it all. What's not to like?" While we cried our way through the film's ending, I could feel that dark veil lift.
Saved!
This morning, I'm going back to this fabulous John Doe record. With the guitar of Dave Alvin and vocal aid of Aimee Mann, Jill Sobule, and Kathleen Edwards, Doe extends his already stellar solo track record. If "Americana" doesn't quite get at his thing, it's close enough. Rough around the edges, tender, passionate, and wistful, it's got many of the things that made last night's Once experience so moving.
Every time I listen to it, I think "How the heck is this not more popular?"
Mark Saleski is a writer and music obsessive based out of the Monadnock region of New Hampshire. On his best day, he hopes to channel the ghosts of Lester Bangs and Jack Kerouac. He spends the hours of 9:32PM to 1:37AM carving out music reviews and essays for Jazz.com, Blogcritics.org and other publications.
- The Friday Morning Listen: John Doe - A Year in the Wilderness
- Published: July 20, 2007
- Type: Review
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Rock
- Part of a feature: Friday Morning Listen
- Writer: Mark Saleski
- Mark Saleski's BC Writer page
- Mark Saleski's personal site
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oh, i'm workin' on that one. hey, did you get my email? if not fling one over to me (mark.saleski AT gmail dot com)
A question I often ask about this album or that artist. I feel bad for the millions who are missing out, but am comforted by the fact that greed and popularity ruins almost any good thing. You have one more unspoiled peace of beauty to cling to. Not a bad way to head into a weekend.
I'm listening to clips on Amazon right now, sounds very good. (Interesting that this is paired with Ryan Adams' Easy Tiger as Amazon's "Best Value" picks - a good pairing of albums, actually.) I am, however, going to see Transformers this weekend. ;-)
As for "the big question," I can understand how the masses miss out on great stuff because only the stuff with the biggest promotional budgets get noticed - airtime on Clear Channel stations, etc. But it's when I lend someone something that, knowing their tastes, they should like. And they don't. It's even more frustrating when that same thing gets some kind of media exposure (either through a TV show or movie, whatever) and suddenly they do like it. I think people need things to be "approved" by that kind of exposure. I'll never understand that.
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I like John Doe, too, but I must confess I was hoping your Friday Morning Listen was going to be the Mingus at Cornell thing. I was curious what you thought. :-)