Johnston, Daniel: Artistic Vice/1990 LP

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This vinyl 2LP reissue features two of Daniel Johnston's one of a kind releases in one double gatefold package. Daniel Johnston spent over 30 years exposing his heartrending tales of unrequited love, cosmic mishaps, and existential torment to an ever-growing international cult audience. Initiates, including a healthy number of discerning musicians and critics, have hailed him as an American original in the style of bluesman Robert Johnson and country legend Hank Williams.

When several albums of Daniel's homemade recordings appeared in the late '80s, it created a significant buzz in music circles. Studio owner Mark Kramer was quickly on the scene, bringing Daniel to his own Shimmy-Disc label for his fine album 1990. 1990 is a collection of extremely polished and staggeringly honest odes to love, comic book heroes and music. Steve Shelley and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth accompany Johnston on “Spirit World Rising,” but most of the set finds Daniel alone at the piano or guitar. His version of Lennon and McCartney's “Got To Get You Into My Life” has never been covered with this degree of conviction, streamlined down to its essential rhythmic core.

1991's Artistic Vice was the first album on which Daniel Johnston fronted a band. The record is a testament to Daniel's own innate musicality that the songs lend themselves so perfectly to the casual accompaniment heard here. They can shift easily from quiet country balladry to punkish rave ups. As always, his songs are direct, honest, hookladen and imminently coverable.