The Trouble Tree

Freedy Johnston | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 29, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Bar/None Records
• ASIN: B0000048CV
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #321,957 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #87 in Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > Alternative Folk

Track Listings

1. Innocent

2. Down on the Moon #1

3. No Violins

4. That's What You Get

5. Fun Ride

6. Gina

7. Nature Boy

8. Bad Girl

9. After My Shocks

10. Tucumcari

11. Down on the Moon #2

12. Little Red Haired Girl

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Raw but catchy early work from a great singer songwriter!, August 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Trouble Tree (Audio CD)

This CD is a lot different than Freedy's mellower, more introspective current work, but it's well worth a look. It's raw - his voice isn't as polished, and the feeling is generally more "rockin'" than anything other than a few tunes on "Can You Fly." But it gets under your skin - great songs like "Trouble Tree," "Nature Boy," "Gina," and "Fun Ride" are all great tunes by one of music's best songwriters. He sounds young and hungry and it's great to hear him "cut loose." If you've never checked out Freedy Johnston, "Can You Fly" or "This Perfect World" would be better introductions, but if you're already a fan you don't want to miss this formative early work!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Tunes, March 10, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Trouble Tree (Audio CD)

Sure the voice is raw and unrefined and the production is lacking--hell, you should have seen the first cover, it was a joke! But almost song for song this record contains material as good (Gina, Fun Ride, Nature Boy, Tucumcari, Trouble Tree...) as any of his other more mature and professionaly rendered albums.

Listen to 'Gina' and tell me you're not witnessing a lonely drunk at some seedy bar rambling on, almost inchoherently, about his lost love. Listen to 'Fun ride' or 'Tucumcari' and tell me you don't see a frustrated working class guy struggling to make it all work despite the odds--despite himself. Johnston's genius is not in just making great tunes but also his ability to bring to life flesh-and-blood characters-- all in a three minute pop song no less!

The truth is, if we continue on this 'American Idol' trend of only wanting to listen to voices trained for musical theatre, we are doomed to never hearing anyone as good as guys like Freedy (who, by the way, has been dumped by his label!). Remember all good voices ultimetly sound the same--it's the "bad" ones that are most capable of being unique. This album along with the rest of Freedy's oeuvre will live on long after all the 'American Idol' albums are relagated to the bargain bins of history.

Here's hoping Freedy finds a label with vision-- not just dollar signs--in their eyes!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars loose, gritty, moving and fun......, December 20, 2007

By 

J. Freeman (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Trouble Tree (Audio CD)

I'm a casual Freedy fan, I came across this jem when I was working at a used music store in college. I was hooked after my first listen. It's a very clean sounding record, not over produced. Freedy is a first class songwriter and it shows. I highly recommend this record to anyone considering it.