The unfettered observer: Freedy returns 'Home'

FREEDY JOHNSTON

Never Home (Elektra)

It's difficult to imagine Freedy Johnston (or, for that matter, most musicians) ever recording a better album than 1992's Can You Fly. From the opening line, "I sold the dirt to feed the band," the album's confessional tone was set--the year before, he had sold the family farm in Kansas and moved to Hoboken in an attempt to jump-start his career. The songs were all shamelessly tuneful and had that Midwestern thing--the sort of pensive, road-weary feeling everyone between the coasts gets from driving on flat interstate too long. The tunes were so damned earthy you could plant them tomorrow and have a harvest by fall.

The follow-up, This Perfect World, had a few gems and got Freedy Rolling Stone's Songwriter of the Year crown. But it was too polished by a half; it was his major-label debut, and it showed. Producer Butch Vig gave the album a Mr. Clean shine, which was a bit unexpected after Vig's previous production work (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth).

So what do you do when Sonic Youth's producer gives you an album that's too polished? Well, hire Danny Kortchmar, he of Billy Joel, Don Henley, and Spin Doctors fame, for (of course) the follow-up. But, believe it or not, it works--on the excellent Never Home, the sound is looser and much more natural. And the songs are still great.

Unlike a lot of singer-songwriters out there, the balding Freedy doesn't have an ax to grind. His songs don't come out of anger--they're just the product of a watchful eye. "A pilot's son won't fly / So it's a two-day drive / His conscience waits for dark / Like an AM radio song / Fades in reflected off the clouds," he sings in "Western Sky." It's not Yeats, but it's more poetic than most rock today.

There are a lot of antecedents to the sound, from the 70s folk of James Taylor and the alt-country of Uncle Tupelo to a serious Replacements vibe on several tracks ("On the Way Out," "One More Thing to Break"). There's nothing very original , but that's not the point--Freedy takes what others have done before him and makes better songs. There aren't any message songs or anthems; he just understands each song's dramatic potential and uses it to his musical advantage.

Plus, "Gone To See the Fire" is one of the only paeans to an arsonist you're likely to find yourself humming.

Listening to Freedy Johnston is like listening to an old friend of your uncle's, who's really far too cool to be hanging out with your uncle. He writes these great songs and, if you go to visit, he'll take out his guitar and play a few. He's worth a listen.

--Joshua Benton

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