| Product Summary | | Label: FONTANA | | UPC: 00854882200344 | | Release Date: 12/18/2007 | | Buy.com Sku: 205866531 | | Item#: M3TSVT | Format:  CD |
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Song Listing
| Disc 1 | | Song Title | Sample | | 1. My Life Is Starting Over Again ~ (with Teenage Fanclub/Jad Fair) | ------ | | 2. Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Your Grievience ~ (with Clem Snide) | ------ | | 3. Impossible Love ~ (with Gordon Gano) | ------ | | 4. Living Life ~ (with Eels) | ------ | | 5. Walking the Cow ~ (with TV On The Radio) | ------ | | 6. Good Morning You ~ (with Daniel Johnston) | ------ | | 7. Sorry Entertainer ~ (with Calvin Johnson) | ------ | | 8. Devil Town ~ (with Bright Eyes) | ------ | | 9. Dream Scream ~ (with Death Cab For Cutie) | ------ | | 10. True Love Will Find You in the End ~ (with Beck) | ------ | | 11. Go ~ (with Sparklehorse/Flaming Lips) | ------ | | 12. Blue Clouds ~ (with Mercury Rev) | ------ | | 13. Love Not Dead ~ (with Thistle) | ------ | | 14. Like a Monkey in a Zoo ~ (with Vic Chesnutt) | ------ | | 15. Dead Lovers Twisted Heart ~ (with The Starlight Mints) | ------ | | 16. Story of an Artist ~ (with M. Ward) | ------ | | 17. Sun Shines Down on Me, The ~ (with Guster) | ------ | | 18. King Kong ~ (with Tom Waits) | ------ | | Disc 2 | | Song Title | Sample | | 1. My Life Is Starting Over Again ~ (with Daniel Johnston) | ------ | | 2. Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Your Grievience ~ (with Daniel Johnston) | ------ | | 3. Impossible Love ~ (with Daniel Johnston) | ------ | | 4. Living Life ~ (with Daniel Johnston) | ------ | | 5. Walking the Cow ~ (with Daniel Johnston) | ------ | | 6. Good Morning You ~ (with Daniel Johnston) | ------ | | 7. Sorry Entertainer ~ (with Daniel Johnston) | ------ | | 8. Devil Town ~ (with Daniel Johnston) | ------ | | 9. Dream Scream ~ (with Daniel Johnston) | ------ | | 10. True Love Will Find You in the End ~ (with Daniel Johnston) | ------ | | 11. Go ~ (with Daniel Johnston) | ------ | | 12. Blue Clouds ~ (with Daniel Johnston) | ------ | | 13. Love Not Dead ~ (with Daniel Johnston) | ------ | | 14. Like a Monkey in the Zoo ~ (with Daniel Johnston) | ------ | | 15. Dead Lovers Twisted Heart ~ (with Daniel Johnston) | ------ | | 16. Story of an Artist ~ (with Daniel Johnston) | ------ | | 17. Sun Shines Down on Me, The ~ (with Daniel Johnston) | ------ | | 18. King Kong ~ (with Daniel Johnston) | ------ | | 19. Rock This Town ~ (with Daniel Johnston) | ------ |
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| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | Personnel: Daniel Johnston (vocals, various instruments, guitar). | | Daniel Johnston is a cult figure rather than an artist with a mainstream following for two important reasons: while Johnston is a truly gifted songwriter, his lyrics are often so painfully intimate and obsessively personal that much of his best work is difficult to listen to without feeling like a voyeur, and his skills as a performer are rudimentary at best, with Johnston's quavering, tuneless voice and primitive instrumental accompaniment enough to drive away most listeners unless they're determined to listen past the inept technique to hear the songs hidden within. In 1994, Kathy McCarty, a friend and admirer of Johnston, stepped forward to address the dilemma of his songs versus his recordings by making the album Dead Dog's Eyeball, in which she sang 19 of his songs, accompanied by imaginative and beautifully executed arrangements. The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered attempts to do something similar but with a more ambitious agenda -- disc one of this set features 18 different artists each covering a favorite Daniel Johnston tune, ranging from Tom Waits and Beck to Bright Eyes and Death Cab for Cutie, while disc two features Johnston's original recordings of the same songs in the same sequence. Presumably the idea is that new listeners, once they've grown to appreciate the songs in relatively sugarcoated form, will then be able to move on to investigate Johnston's songs in their pure form. | | There is a flaw in this thinking -- while the covers on disc one range from good to excellent and in the liner notes most of the musicians make brief but coherent arguments in support of their choices, the original versions on disc two don't make for an especially strong Daniel Johnston's Greatest Hits album, with a number of key songs missing in action. (Johnston himself has compiled a much stronger overview of his work, Welcome to My World.) But the tribute disc has enough pearly moments to compensate -- Tom Waits' full brio interpretation of "King Kong," Calvin Johnson's craggy voice merging with the angst of "Sorry Entertainer," Sparklehorse and the Flaming Lips joining forces for a grand-scale cover of "Go," and Jad Fair embracing "My Life Is Starting Over Again" with help from Teenage Fanclub. Disc two also includes song lyrics, samples of Johnston's artwork, and a video for the song "Rock This Town," all of which can be accessed via your computer's CD-ROM drive. As a testimony to the artistry of Daniel Johnston, Discovered Covered isn't quite up to the standard of Dead Dog's Eyeball, but as an all-star (or semi-star) celebration of an often marginalized artist, it's engaging stuff that never loses sight of the beauty and gravity of these songs. ~ Mark Deming | | Despite its title, this 2004 tribute/best-of collection finds singer/songwriter Daniel Johnston alive and relatively well. (Johnston has struggled with mental illness that sometimes leads to erratic behavior.) The first part of this two-disc set presents a remarkable array of admiring artists, including Tom Waits and Death Cab for Cutie, covering Johnston's songs. Some renditions--particularly Calvin Johnson's vocals-and-percussion-only "Sorry Entertainer," Beck's Dylan-esque acoustic "True Love Will Find You in the End," and M. Ward's gorgeous "Story of an Artist"--stick closer to Johnston's minimal arrangements. Other versions opt for a much fuller sound, particularly Mercury Rev's dreamy take on "Blue Clouds," and "Go," a wonderful Sparklehorse/Flaming Lips collaboration that highlights the notable similarities between respective frontmen Mark Linkous and Wayne Coyne. The second disc features Johnston's original recordings of every song on the first disc, along with a new tune, "Rock This Town." Although some may find Johnston's high-pitched yelp and rudimentary guitar and piano playing bewildering, his quirky, unaffected aesthetic is exactly what drew the aforementioned performers to contribute to this excellent compilation in the first place. |
Producer: Dick Johnston (Compilation) |
| | Compilation Appearances |
| | Associated Artists and Works |
| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 12/11/2007 | | Original Release Date : 2004 | | Catalog ID : 114 | | Label : High Wire Music | | Number of Discs : 2 | | Studio/Live : Studio | | Mono/Stereo : Stereo | | SPAR Code : n/a | | UPC : 00854882200344 |
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| | Professional Reviews | | Rolling Stone (p.96)
- 3 stars out of 5 - "[A] thoughtful tribute album....His songs stand strong and tall."Uncut (p.125)
- 4 stars out of 5 - "[T]his collection is near faultless..." Mojo (Publisher)
(p.95)
- 3 stars out of 5 - "[The album] ropes together Americana's finest to recast just 18 of Johnston's homemade originals." |
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