Freedy Johnston – My Favorite Waste Of Time

The Howard Hughes of literate singer-songwriters has to be Freedy Johnston, the poet laureate of depressive folk-pop of the 1990s, responsible for near-perfect song collections. This decade he’s been hard to catch, considering his last album came out a month before September 11 and his touring schedule since has been almost nonexistent.

Freedy fans, this is your year. A new album of originals is promised later, and the placeholder is this new studio album of all covers, most from a classic rock era when songcraft meant melody and heart, not constant beat and braggadocio.

Unlike his darker, more psychologically complex original material, Johnston’s cover selections tend to reflect his sunnier pop side — including compact rockers from Marshall Crenshaw (“You’re My Favorite Waste Of Time”), Tom Petty (“Shadow Of A Doubt”) and the Hollies (“Bus Stop”). Matthew Sweet’s signature hit “I’ve Been Waiting” is improved with horns from start to finish, while Burt Bacharach’s “Do You Know The Way to San Jose?” is jolted high with whimsy, blurred into dreamland by a pedal guitar whine.

Like Paul McCartney, Johnston has a voice of eternal youth, delivering vulnerable tremors on Cole Porter’s “Night And Day”. No surprise, then, that a Wings-era McCartney is represented twice: “Listen To What The Man Said” and “Let ‘Em In” are both breezy and bright, massaged by horn/woodwind interludes. Reverence keeps them from straying, but as far as loving tributes go, these hit the sweet spot.