reviews / 2010

DANIEL JOHNSTON - The Story Of An Artist

Name: DANIEL JOHNSTON – The Story Of An Artist
Item: The Story Of An Artist
Rating: 8
Author: Lorenzo Righetto

2010 (Munster)

songwriter

by Lorenzo Righetto

Listen up and I’ll tell a story

‘Bout an artist growin’ old

Some would try for fame and glory

Others aren’t so bold

E’ la Munster, etichetta di Madrid, che ci permette di tornare a guardare dallo spioncino i primi vagiti del cantautore di Sacramento. “The Story Of An Artist” è un titolo che pare rifarsi scherzosamente alla magniloquenza di un greatest hits di un qualche crooner sul viale del tramonto.

In effetti “crooner” appare davvero Daniel Johnston, anche se in uno spettacolo allestito non su sfavillanti navi da crociera o in serate in frac di beneficenza, ma nello stanzino di casa propria – uno spettacolo inframezzato da dialoghi, telefonate, litigi. Come se il sipario calasse per un attimo sullo show, scoprendo le vicissitudini quotidiane che tanto Daniel vorrebbe scacciare nel premere il tasto rec del proprio registratore a quattro tracce, rintanandosi tra le vibrazioni risuonanti del proprio strumento, il pianoforte – impersonando i grandi che vorrebbe imitare, dai Beatles in avanti.

The initiative behind this reissue, which brings back Daniel's first six records (those distributed on "homemade" cassette at the start of his career), looks like one of those Hollywood-style rediscovery operations for peculiar yet, in their own way, winning characters: it's hard to deny that part of Johnston's appeal stems from his "Americanness" - from the fact that, despite everything, talent and self-belief are enough to help someone rise above.

Whether it's his harrowing dreams of love ("I Had A Dream"), or the even more touching statement of intent that is "Story Of An Artist" (a masterpiece!), Daniel's piano touch — at once childlike and fully self-aware — gracefully sketches the painful discovery of an inescapable solitude. A human condition that becomes tangible in Johnston's music, through the never-obvious equation — in terms of results — of translating one's own pain into song. Sometimes even with irony, as in "When You're Pretty".

E’ per questo che non è mai troppo tardi per riaccostarsi all’opera del Nostro, che ci sentiamo di consigliare senza riserve, nella certezza che nel riprendere questi nastri rimarrà sempre una testimonianza intensa di un’inaspettata e totale apertura al mondo, registrata attraverso un registratore Sanyo da 59 dollari – prima ancora che il termine lo-fi facesse la sua comparsa.

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21/06/2010

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This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Lorenzo Righetto, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition

Tracklist

Disc 1: Songs of Pain
1. Grievances
2. A Little Story
3. Joy Without Pleasure
4. Never Relaxed
5. Brainwash
6. Pothead
7. Wicked World
8. Lazy
9. I Save Cigarette Butts
10. Like A Monkey In A Zoo
11. Wicked Will
12. An Idiot's End
13. Wild West Virginia
14. Since I Lost My Tooth
15. Urge
16. Living Life
17. Tuna Ketchup
18. Premarital Sex
19. Don't Act Nice
20. Hate Song
Disc 2: Don't Be Scared
1. Going Down
2. Lost Without A Dame
3. Harley Man
4. Evening Stars
5. Something More
6. Cold Hard World
7. I Had A Dream
8. The Story Of An Artist
9. My Yoke Is Heavy
10. Stars On Parade
11. And You Love It
12. I Had Lost My Mind
13. The Sun Shines Down On Me
14. Loner
15. I Don't Want To Be Scared
16. Lullaby
17. I Was Alone
18. Mother Mom Said
Disc 3: The What of Whom
1. Man Obsessed
2. Peek-a-boo
3. Never Before/Never Again
4. The Goldfish & The Frog
5. Scuttle-butt
6. Heart, Mind & Soul
7. Blue Clouds
8. Surely You Don't Work All Night
9. I Can't Think Anymore
10. Excuse Me
11. Polka Dot Rag
12. Why/Without You
13. An Incoherent Speech
14. Wicked World
15. To Go Home
16. Scrambled Eggs
17. Peace & Tranquility
18. When You're Pretty
Disc 4: More Songs of Pain
1. Phantom Of My Own Opera
2. Man At War
3. Only Missing You
4. More Dead Than Alive
5. I Will
6. Poptunes
7. You Put My Love Out The Door
8. You're Gonna Make It Joe
9. Theme For Grievances
10. Never Get To Heaven
11. Follow That Dream
12. POW
13. For The Love Of Pete
14. Blue Cloud
15. Grievances Revisited
16. True Grief
17. My Baby Cares For The Dead
18. Mabel's Grievances
Disc 5: The Lost Recordings I
1. Take A Little Walk
2. Before It's Too Late
3. Oh What A Wonderful Feeling
4. I'd Like To Say Goodbye
5. That's Silly
6. There Ain't Much You Can Do
7. I'm A Song
8. You Should Have Been My Wife
9. You Ruined It For Yourself
10. Once Upon A Dream
11. I Love You
12. Scattered Like Birds
13. More About Wicked Will
14. Good Luck
15. Got To Go On
16. It's Real
17. If You Were Here Today
18. Girlfriend
19. Void (Space For The Memories)
20. Sad And Lonely
21. I'm Nervous
22. Cosmic Kid
23. Never Die
24. Kiss Me Again
25. I Wish I Could Call You
26. Love Is Weird
27. Burn Baby Burn
28. No Fun
29. Art Peace
30. Instrumental
Disc 6: The Lost Recordings II
1. All Around The World
2. You're Not Laura (After You're Gone)
3. I'm Gonna Buy Me A Car
4. Out West
5. The Undertaker's Assistant
6. Dreams Come True
7. Mean To Me
8. Fly Me To The Moon
9. Love Defined
10. Love
11. How I Love That Organ Music
12. We Could Be Together Again
13. Happy Talk
14. The Miracle Of Love
15. Who Killed The Monkey
16. The Wedding
17. Unfinished Symphony
18. Blue Cloud
19. I Never Meant To Be Spooky
20. Dream Lover
21. What's A Matter With Me
22. If I Kissed You Once
23. I Give Up
24. Lonely Orphan On The Run
25. The Goat Show
26. You've Got A Funny Sense Of Humor
27. Last Song For You

DANIEL JOHNSTON sul web

Scheda di Daniel Johnston

Official website

Daniel Johnston on OndaRock

Monograph

Daniel Johnston

The Van Gogh of rock'n'roll

He was the greatest outsider of the last generation of American songwriters. In the fervor of post-punk, he reinvented the term lo-fi, adapting it to the great names of pop songcraft. The story of a child who dreamed of becoming the Beatles, and instead became Daniel Johnston