Customer Reviews

A Year in the Wilderness

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although a long-time fan of X, I'd never bought any of John Doe's solo work before. I read a good review of this album in the LA Times, and thought I'd take a shot.....

I love it. The most commercial cut is "The Golden State", a great tune. I think my favorite song is "Unforgiven", and "Big Moon" seems to haunt my head. The whole album has this vibe that I can't describe, other than to say I find myself wanting to play it almost every day. It has a "deep sound", both musically and lyrically. The songs flow so well that listening is effortless, and leaves you wanting more when the album is finished.

I believe than John Doe is a great creative talent who seems to get better with age. You won't regret buying this release; on the strength of this one, I'm going to buy some of his previous releases!

I've loved having John's solo work all to myself...pop music's best kept secret...music to share with your most musically sophisticated friends...music for long road trips. I suppose that's all over now.

And it's about time.

Because this MF is too big, too smart, too rocking, too cutting, to be denied a wide audience. I would love to see this thing come out of left field and sell 6 million copies, and have John win 5 or 6 Grammy's next February. Not that awards mean anything, but every once in awhile it's nice to see an exceptional artist, at his best, get recognized.

Besides, John has the best hair in rock and roll. "John, see you in Denver (6/22). Yrs. George Tadich Jr."

A YEAR IN THE WILDERNESS marks the proverbial "return to form" for John Doe. After a string of great solo albums in the 1990s in between X reunions, culminating in the awesome FREEDOM IS... in 2000 (see my review), his last couple of albums have been sub-par. Last year he reissued a lost classic from 1998 -- originally recorded in 1995/6 and released as an EP called FOR THE REST OF US, now with additional tracks from the sessions, and renamed FOR THE BEST OF US (see my review), it sounded powerful and loose, like KISSINGSOHARD from 1995.

That's what Doe has recaptured with WILDERNESS -- it was written and recorded quickly, and has that EXILE ON MAIN STREET sort of spontaneity. Not quite as raw and punkish as the mid-'90s Doe, the standout rock tracks are "The Golden State," "Unforgiven," and "The Meanest Man in the World," but the pedal steel on the countryish "A Little More Time" and the beautiful slower numbers like "the bridge" and "grain of salt" add to the overall feel, making the whole album greater than the sum of the songs.

Great album! Don't miss it.

From the rollicking rhythm of "There's a Hole" to the breathtakingly soft intensity of "Grain of Salt," from the seductive and bluesy "Big Moon" to the "hauntingly" punkish "Hotel Ghost, "A Year in the Wilderness" contains all of the elements that have made John Doe one of America's greatest (although often underappreciated) singer/songwriters: poetic lyrics, vocal intensity, and well-chosen guests.

No one expresses the possibility, the longing and the loss of the landscape of love better than Doe. Like the wilderness, Doe's landscape is striking-- awe-inspiringly beautiful and able to make us feel connected to each other and the world while it resonates with a sense of isolation. This album features some of Doe's best writing to date, yet even when he makes use of a familiar phrase his delivery is transformative. No where is this clearer than in "The Golden State" where Doe uses phrases so familiar they have become clichés and transforms them in to a unique and powerful revelation about the complex nature of relationships through the alchemy of his delivery.

This album is a must have for long time Doe fans and a wonderful introduction to his work for those discovering him for the first time.

It's easy to forget about John Doe, what with all the artistic dead-ends in his resume, but this is a solid collection of songs that grows with each listening, the record we all knew he had in him. A number of fine female singers makes up for the hole left by Exene Cervenka, and the songs and production are top-notch, and very affecting. Well done.

I don't usually write reviews, but I am making an exception for this fantastic album.

BUY IT NOW! YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT.

I've loved John Doe since way back in the X days. I've had the pleasure of enjoying his music for decades. This is by far his best work and collaboration.

A true gem.

... that makes "A Little More Time" even more poignant in my opinion. Amazon's description says it's about love lost, but John Doe has stated in at least one interview that it was written about his daughters, particularly his oldest, which makes sense if you listen to all the lyrics. I love this album. Haha. I said "album".

I think this may be the best work that John has done. This is the embodiment of American music. Touches of rock, country, even folk, played by a really good band. Hotel Ghost blows the doors off early, A Little More Time is almost Dylanesque, Lean Out Yr Window is as hard as Hotel Ghost, and Meanest Man in the World is another acoustic number. Great variety of slow and fast, loud and quiet, electric and acoustic, solo vocal or duet, a little bit of everything. And the album closes with a Grain of Salt, which covers all of the styles, starting out slow and acoustic and building to some great guitar and piano work. His first solo CD was Meet John Doe, and I liked that a lot. His other solo CDs were solid. But this is so much better. Just classic American rock music. Perfect. Not many singers can still cut it in their fifties, but John is still strong. If you liked X or his other solo works you will love this.

If John Doe really did spend A Year in the Wilderness its impact on him fell short of Thoreau's time at Walden in a different century, but this CD doesn't fall short of much else. So how come it didn't overwhelm top ten lists last year, wasn't -- for that matter -- even broadly reviewed? I can't figure it out. I mean, here's the guy who was one of the drivers of X, a seminal group, and his work gets barely reviewed.

Oh, well, end of rant.

John Doe here has put together a collection of ballads (A Little More Time and The Bridge for two) and rockers (Hotel Ghost and Unforgiven for two) that in their wry intelligence, sometime weirdness and even cruelty (there's a no remorse murderer loose in one song), tenderness and regret recall the exuberant complexity of Warren Zevon. Doe even sounds a bit like Zevon on the very rocking There's a Hole. As with X, he's never afraid of playing loud, and that makes for a striking contrast to some of the sparely arranged loneliness that is prominent here in The Bridge and part of Grain of Salt.

This is a great record. For shorthand, call it roots rock, but at the close of its eleven cuts, as Grain of Salt transitions from spare to a soaring instrumental finale, it has smashed all such pigeonholes.

On the whole the album is mixed, but the highlights are well worth the price of admission. This is just great song writing. You'll get 1/3 of some of the best songs you'll own, 1/3 that are pretty good, and 1/3 you'll play a couple of times. 'Unforgiven' alone makes Ryan Adams look like a Simpson sister. If you own any X or John Doe, then you'll love it. If you respect the craft of the song, then you'll really love it.