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John Doe
Forever Hasn't Happened Yet
Yep Roc Records
By Marianne Ebertowski
 Somewhere back
in 1977 songwriter and bassist John Doe met his sweetheart Exene
Cervenka at a poetry workshop in Venice, California and soon
after a band was born that rocked not only the L.A. punk scene,
but found an eager audience everywhere young kids were hunkering
for exciting music: X. In the early eighties Doe and Cervenka
teamed up with Dave Alvin to form a side project, the rootsier
Knitters. Later in the nineties, the fun seemed to be over. The
bands split, Doe and Cervenka divorced. But, luckily, that is
not the end of the story. Cervenka continued to make solo albums
and concentrated on poetry, whereas John Doe became an actor
(remember Boogie Nights?) and continued his musical career as
a solo artist as well.
Forever Hasn't Happened Yet is Doe's fifth and best
solo-effort. It's a spooky blues album with a shot of country
and rock'n'roll that is spiced with the vocal (and in some cases
also instrumental) presence of Dave Alvin, Grant Lee Philips,
Neko Case, Kristin Hersh, Cindy Lee Berryhill and Smokey Hormel
(Johnny Cash, Beck, Tom Waits). Doe's 16-year-old daughter makes
her singing debut on "Mama Don't" and she does it with
style, the sort of style, actually, that is reminiscent of a
young Exene Cervenka. The album is about sex and drugs and life
and death and, most of all, the road and the songs sound like
X's songs sounded all those years ago; as if they come from at
least six feet under the floorboard.
Doe handed the bass over to David J. Carpenter who already
performed on Dim Stars, Bright Sky and concentrates on playing
acoustic, electric and slide guitar. What surprises most, however,
is his singing performance. No longer the punk rocker (he never
really was at least not as a vocalist), his voice sounds
warm and versatile. Highlights of the album are his acoustic
duet with Grant Lee Philips, "Twin Brother," an eerie
childhood memory of the sort you rather forget once you're an
adult, "Hwy5," a fast and ferocious road song co-written
with Cervenka and co-sung with Neko Case and the closer "Repeat
Performance," a heartwarming duet with Cindy Lee Berryhill.
FHHY is hard and fast at times, gentle and slow at
other moments, passionate and challenging throughout the entire
31 minutes and eleven seconds it lasts. It is an intriguing album
that grows on you every time you listen to it. It is the sort
of album you want to play as loud as possible whenever you are
desperately in need of goose bumps and you are keen to share
them with your neighbors.
www.yeproc.com
Contact Marianne Ebertowski at ebertowski-at-rockzilla.net
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