Daniel Johnston – Discovered Covered:The Late Great Daniel Johnston
What makes the music of “outsider” singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston so singular is that unlike most outsider art, which is deemed such because it blows apart or bypasses traditional forms and structures, Johnston’s songs are in fact often remarkably solid models of classic popular song. He stands above those who would be weird just for the sake of being weird because there are instantly memorable melodies and hooks buried within the rudimentary musicianship and clackety background noise on the cheap cassettes he made in the 1980s that eventually turned him into an underground legend.
As such, a Johnston tribute album featuring artists who operate on the fringes of the contemporary rock/pop realm may not really be the best way to illuminate his gift. Which is not to say the participants here don’t belong; on the contrary, it seems clear that everyone on Discovered Covered — from big names such as Beck and Tom Waits to lesser-knowns such as Thistle and T.V. On The Radio — genuinely appreciates Johnston’s music.
And, by and large, they deliver worthy interpretations, applying their own warped aesthetics to Johnston’s twisted confessional ruminations. Death Cab For Cutie’s “Dream Scream” is a thing of beauty, seven minutes of cinematic streaks and swirls of sound. “Go”, a collaboration between the Flaming Lips and Sparklehorse (whose leader, Mark Linkous, is co-executive producer of the disc) is particularly rich in its careful layering of vocal echoes and string accents. Bright Eyes imbues “Devil Town” with an infectiously swinging sing-along charm.
Several solo artists deliver equally effective shots in their own way. Best of these is M. Ward’s “Story Of An Artist”; Ward writes in the credits that he picked the song because “it says the most with the fewest words,” and his brilliantly moody rendition supports that instinct. Another fine match of song to performer is “Sorry Entertainer” by Beat Happening leader Calvin Johnson, whose deep voice is a natural fit for the song’s deadpan lyric.
But two of Johnston’s finest numbers — “True Love Will Find You In The End”, performed solo acoustic by Beck, and “Living Life”, cut in a simple pop arrangement by the Eels — fall short in a way that underscores what might have been. The Eels, to be fair, had the onus of competing with the definitive cover of “Living Life” recorded by Kathy McCarty on her 1994 Johnston tribute disc Dead Dog’s Eyeball (and used over the closing credits of Richard Linklater’s film Before Sunrise).
McCarty’s version, in fact, suggested some of the possibilities passed over here. Her “Living Life” worked because it set Johnston’s idiosyncrasies amid pure and simple sweetness; she sang it straight, without any pretension to an alternative or outsider perspective, thereby personifying the song’s reference to “an unlikely couple — Doris Day and Mott The Hopple” [sic, per Johnston’s peculiar pronunciation].
The implication was that many of Johnston’s songs could stand up to essentially mainstream interpretation, given the chance. “True Love Will Find You In The End” is another prime example; Beck’s monotonal voice flattens its potential, but it might have been a revelation in the hands of, say, Emmylou Harris. And elevating Johnston’s music above the alternative realm could ultimately be the most subversive act of all.
Nevertheless, Discovered Covered is wholly welcome if only because it fills such an obvious gap in Johnston’s legacy. Though McCarty’s disc was a personal masterwork, a multi-artist tribute has long been mandatory. Perhaps best of all, this disc does something all tributes should aspire to — it includes a second disc featuring Johnston’s formative versions of all eighteen tracks. For those who grumble about tribute albums that you’re better off just listening to the original songs, well, this one’s got you covered.