ANGRY JOHNNY

"OVERCOME WITH LONELY"


1. That's What We're Here For 2. Bad Dreams
3. Crying Shame 4. Long Lonely Winter
5. I Was So Sure 6. Three Questions
7. Satisfied 8. The Seeds We Sow
9. You 10. River
11. Losers, Junkies, Whores 12. Lonely Little Grave
13. Overcome With Lonely 14. The Last Song
15. I Don't Wanna Go Yet

 


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I am a big fan of concept albums, so even though this is just another bunch of songs that Angry found behind the couch, I think they could be reordered into one long chronology of heartbreak. Given the introspective subject matter, it is fitting that the Angry One is mostly alone with his guitar throughout.
 
CRYING SHAME is disarming in its frailty, the prettiest of Angry songs (I couldn't even name a second prettiest).  He actually SINGS on this one, with a great, somber organ backing him up.  I want the Moody Blues to cover this back in 1968.  
 
BAD DREAMS still holds a glimmer of hope for the relationship, but SATISFIED is clearly giving up, which leads to the threat -- some might say the promise -- of THE LAST SONG that he's ever going to write about her.
 
They don't call him Sad Johnny, and the anger sets in with the finger-pointing of YOU.  
I WAS SO SURE is like a late-night, self-pitying voicemail message.   In fact, the song -- the most "demo-ish" here -- might just have been recorded on an answering machine.
 
Things get ugly with THREE QUESTIONS, with the threat of suicide as revenge.  "I'll be the keeper of your nightmares, the one you cannot leave behind."  This is the point where restraining orders are filed.
    
LONG LONELY WINTER sees checking out almost as a victory -- "I'll be riding in that hearse, liberated from your curse" -- while RIVER just pleads for release -- "Muddy black water, swallow my soul." 
 
THAT'S WHAT WE'RE HERE FOR is the best of the death wish songs, the idea of the guy making his own funeral arrangements being the only "joke" we're offered.   If you don't find that funny, this may not be the CD for you.  Much of Angry's work is infused with knowing black humor, but these songs are hard-won and heartfelt.  For this set, he is truly a man of constant sorrow.
 
The LOSERS, JUNKIES, AND WHORES are totally out of place here, and should have been consigned to the Killville Auto Salvage yard. 
THE SEEDS WE SOW is a ray of hope, with our hero "learning how to breath again, rolling up my sleeves again" and then telling the Devil, "I DON'T WANNA GO YET."  I don't know that Angry should have never left New England, but hiding from Old Scratch in Louisiana is not the best of travel plans.
 
The two remaining tracks are stunners.  LONELY LITTLE GRAVE is a devastating visit to the resting place of a lost love.  "I would have gladly lay down for you, I would have gladly took your place." OVERCOME WITH LONELY is one hundred and fifty proof blues, with Angry rasping like an old man looking back on his life with no wisdom to offer beyond the final resignation that, "Nothing is as out of reach as yesterday."

DON ADAMS