Central Library
Where Are They Now, G-ville Edition
In 1992, Freedy Johnston released one of my all-time favorite albums. Can You Fly (Bar/None) remains a watermark of his career with its blend of guitar jangle, exhilarating melodies, and vivid, if slightly obscure, lyrics. He never quite repeated that brilliance, although his major label debut, 1994’s This Perfect World (Elektra), comes close.
Except for a live recording, Johnston’s been absent since 2001. But the Nashville resident's just released My Favorite Waste Of Time (Singing Magnet), a collection of cover songs that allows him to have some fun while displaying admirable interpretive skills and that marvelous, reedy voice. Of the disc's ten tunes, the power pop stances work best, with the Marshall Crenshaw-penned title track and sugary take on Matthew Sweet’s “I’ve Been Waiting." A smoke-filled bossa nova version of Cole Porter’s “Night And Day” shows the other side of Johnston.