ALBUM REVIEW: John Doe Returns to Roots on ‘Fables in a Foreign Land’
Jim Shahen
Posted On May 17, 2022
John Doe of the legendary punk band X has carved out a nice career as a solo singer-songwriter. It’s easy to forget that, though, because it’s been six years since he’s released a solo record. Between the recent 40th anniversary of X’s seminal Los Angeles album and Alphabetland, the first X LP in over 30 years, he hasn’t had as much time to indulge in the roots-based folk-and-country tunes he’s issued over the past decade.
This changes with the release of Fables in a Foreign Land. With the help of his folk trio and a few notable friends, Doe has put together 13 stripped-down, story-driven tales of life in 1890s America.
Opening track “Never Coming Back” sets the tone for the entire affair. It’s about escaping from a troubled past to find a new way forward. The song’s melody is sweeping and dramatic, establishing the album’s themes of loss, escape, and survival in a hostile time.
While sticking to one consistent time period, Doe presents characters and vignettes from across the United States. The playful “El Romance-O,” featuring lyrics co-written with Los Lobos’ Louie Perez, lampoons a blustery personality and teams up nicely with the boom-chicka-boom of “The Cowboy and the Hot Air Balloon” to present vivid stories of the Southwest.
Photo by Jim Herrington
Elsewhere, Doe repurposes some material to fit the overarching concept of Fables in a Foreign Land. “Destroying Angels” was co-written with longtime X bandmate Exene Cervenka and Garbage’s Shirley Manson as a single for the latter band. That version is a hybrid of Gothic murder ballad and Garbage’s synth-based alt-rock. Doe’s rendition is more straightforward folk-rock, the song’s drama coming more from the tension of the up-tempo pace than in the doom-drenched vocal performance of the original.
The penultimate track, “Sweetheart,” is one of the highlights from Doe’s 2011 Keeper album. It’s a pretty little love song, and here it serves to set up the emotional climax of Fables in a Foreign Land. Along with closing song “Where the Songbirds Live,” it positions the listener into a place of hope. After the perilous travails of the prior 11 songs (and, you know, of the past few years of American life), the optimistic conclusion shows that even the most fraught journeys can culminate in something beautiful.
Fables in a Foreign Land is out May 20 on Fat Possum Records.
