This Perfect World

Freedy Johnston | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 17, 2011)
• Original Release Date: June 28, 1994
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Elektra
• ASIN: B000002HFN
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #64,860 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The latest in an illustrious series that includes Elliott Murphy, Marshall Crenshaw, Paul Kelly, and John Hiatt, Freedy is an exquisite singer-songwriter for the critics to champion and the masses to disregard. Butch Vig's crisp sonics and the restrained, almost old-fashioned rock and folk caress of the music make Johnston's deceptively easy-going tunes easy to fall in love with. "Evie's Tears," "Two Lovers Stop" and "Bad Reputation" are favorites. --Jeff Bateman

Product Description

This Perfect World by Freedy Johnston

This product is manufactured on demand using CD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Perfect CD, June 1, 2000

By 

lulubella (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: This Perfect World (Audio CD)

Haunting is really the only word to describe this CD. Freedy writes amazing lyrics about love and loss that stick in your head and just don't leave. Bad Reputation is probably the most well known song, and even though it has a harder sound than some of the others it is a good introduction to his work. The best of his songs are dreamy with an undercurrent of bitterness and anger. His beautiful guitar work masks the real venom in some of his lyrics until the 4-5 listening. This is a CD that continues to grow on you, and you discover new meanings and words each time you listen. Characters reappear within the CD and you are never quite sure who is telling the story, but you want to hear more. Oddly enough most of this this album is also the soundtrack for the movie Kingpin.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MAYBE THE MOST UNDERRATED ALBUM OF ALL TIME, March 9, 2000

By 

Craig (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: This Perfect World (Audio CD)

Wow is all I can say. Each of Freedy's albums are great, but this may very well be his best. Every song on this album is excellent and different from one another. "Bad Reputation" is Freedy's best known song and for good reason...he's never sung better and the lyrics are amazing. Moreover, many people aren't aware that some of the songs are linked to others. For example, the person in "Gone Like The Water" is the same person Freedy sings about a few songs later in "Disappointed Man." Freedy himself has admitted as much in interviews. Moreover, "Evie's Tears" (another unbelievable song) obviously has a connection with "Evie's Garden" which appears later in the album. I cannot say enough good things about this album. The title track and "Delores" are other standouts, but then every song on here is a standout. However, if this really were a perfect world, an album such as this would be at the top of the charts instead of the Backstreet Boys!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another overlooked gem., January 31, 2004

By 

KG (Cincinnati, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: This Perfect World (Audio CD)

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.