The Devil & Daniel Johnston

manonthemoon

Just saw the Devil & Danial Johnston movie last night and was blown away by it. The story was really tough going at times especially when you see the effects that his disease (bi-polar/Manic depression) had on his family.

But his Music is just amazing at times. So honest and beautiful melodies. I know he has loads of tapes/ albums. So does anyone have any? What do you recommend. What his first one like? “Hi, how are you?”

MrJones

i missed it in the cinema. did you see it on dvd?

honru

Favourtie DJ album has to be 1990. Such a painstakingly beautiful album. I think most of the tracks you hear in the film are from this one. Highly recommended.

Next, I would go with Fun. It's way more upbeat than 1990 and, being on a major label, it's a polished beast. But there's some really great pop songs here.

Most (all probably) of the 80s stuff like Hi, How Are You? was recorded on a tape machine so if you can get past the aging quality, you can't go wrong. However, I'd definetly consider the previously mentioned albums at some stage if you like his music.

manonthemoon

MrJones wrote:

i missed it in the cinema. did you see it on dvd?

Saw it in Kino cinema in cork

elduggo

same here Mr.Jones. I missed it in the cinema and am dying to see it. Hopefully it'll be out soon enough to buy.

As a good starting point get the recent collection they put out - The Late Great Daniel Johnston. It has a pretty decent covers CD with it too with some excellent cover versions of the songs that are on the main CD.

This CD gives a good idea of the spectrum of DJ music. Some of the stuff is very poor quality, but all of the tunes are amazing.

damien

Anyone got a tracklist for the soundtrack? There's one piano tune that they played throughout and I want to know what it is.

HarryHoudini

I really didn't think much of the movie or Daniel Johnson's music for that matter.
The people comparing this man to the likes of Brian Wilson seriously need their heads checked.
Its seems like a case of the emperors new clothes to me, the latest bandwagon to be jumped upon by the indie kid faithful. He can't sing, his lyrics are dreadful and don't get me started on his "art". I mean Jesus, an eyeball with legs fighting a captain America that looks like it could have been drawn by a five year old...woo.

honru

The thing that I love about DJ's music is that it comes from the heart. He may not be the greatest singer in the world but his radical honesty and simple lyrics set him apart from all the mundane singer/songwriters you'll constantly come across.

smackbunnybaby

right im going to sound like a complete music snob here but here goes......

the early stuff ;-) is his best.his original tapes recorded on tape recorder show his real selling point, the absolute lo-fi of the lo-fi.
he is completely unadulterated by what record companies think he should be producing.
I was listening to the compilation discovered covered and the stand out songs are the ones from the yip/jump(sp?) recordings.
all of the early tapes can be ordered from here

www.museumoflove.com

i understand what you are saying Houdini about the emperor etc, but DJ does have a magic about him.he creates songs which sane musicians would never write and says things about love which others would be too afraid to write.this is all down to his illness.

elduggo

smackbunny, well said. Hes certainly not for everyone but to those he does appeal to, DJ is well appreciated and totally revered.

Listening to him sometimes reminds me of listening to The Madcap Laughs by Syd Barrett. Not for the style of music, moreso because both are fairly disturbed souls when recording and I think you can sense that in the music. It touches you in a way conventional, middle-of-the-road music never could.

WetDaddy

I was really looking forward to seeing this, but I didn't hear of it showing anywhere in Dublin... Does anyone have any idea if it's due to be screened again or if it'll be on DVD soon?

John

The IFI had a big poster for it but I think it's finished screening.

legologic

deathfunk wrote:

I was really looking forward to seeing this, but I didn't hear of it showing anywhere in Dublin... Does anyone have any idea if it's due to be screened again or if it'll be on DVD soon?

It was in the UGC for a while but that was a good while back, thats where I seen it. Dunno if anywhere's gonna show it again.

Tyrrial

it's been out of the ifi a long time now. but after i saw it i went and got
discovered and covered really liked the album..
for peope who don't know it's a double cd album one cd has a load of DJ songs
the other cd has the same songs coved by some great (and not so great) bands the eels do a fantastic cover, and bright eyes isn't TO bad.
Death Cab For Cutie are there and so are Sparklehorse With The Flaming Lips. so if your interested in getting the music. i'd say it's a good one