John Doe

John Doe: Forever Hasn't Happened YetForever Hasn't Happened Yet (2005)
Yep Roc Records

Reviewer Rating: 5

Contributed by: BrandonSideleauBrandonSideleau
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on September 4th 2005For those of you not familiar with John Doe, he was the bassist and fellow lead singer (along with, of course, Exene Cervenka) for leading late 70's / early 80's L.A. punk band X. He has also, since the end of X's recording career (they still tour), released many solo albums, which for the most part.

For those of you not familiar with John Doe, he was the bassist and fellow lead singer (along with, of course, Exene Cervenka) for leading late 70's / early 80's L.A. punk band X. He has also, since the end of X's recording career (they still tour), released many solo albums, which for the most part are much less "punk rock" than X, but no less powerful. I may be flamed for saying this, but John Doe's incredibly unique and beautiful voice has no equal, past or present. The only vocalists that can come close are perhaps Jim Morrison and Roy Orbison. And his latest effort, Forever Hasn't Happend Yet, is in my opinion his best and most focused work to date. His songwriting is sharp and poetic; each of these songs will be lodged in your head for weeks.

The opening track, "The Losing Kind," is one of the best on the record, bearing some similarities to the classic Doors song "People Are Strange," but with an intensity and honesty that is purely John Doe. "Hwy 5" is a beautiful, almost funky, X-like duet (happening to be co-written by Exene Cervenka) with the wonderful Neko Case contributing vocals. "Ready" is the most "rockin'" tune on the record, featuring an aggressive, driving rythym and Throwing Muses vocalist Kristin Hersh on backing vocals; Doe almost bears a vocal similarity to Joe Strummer on this song. "She's Not" is a very melancholy, beautifully sung acoustic tune; it's another standout track. Other album collaboraters include Cindy Lee Berryhill, Dave Alvin, and Grant Lee Philips.

This is easily one of the best and strongest albums of the year thus far; it should not be passed up by any of you, especially fans of the Doors or X.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

joeg (September 20, 2005)

i just picked this up. love it.

Anonymous (September 8, 2005)

damn u bitch i was gonna say that

justatango (September 7, 2005)

is this better than "jane doe?"

Anonymous (September 7, 2005)

After Sleater-Kinney's "The Woods", this is album of the year. I love anything John Doe does, especially X, but this album is his best besides the X albums.

Anonymous (September 6, 2005)

I think Will has a point......The Doors have become something that they really weren't. Nowadays people label them as overly pretentious and corny.....but really Morrison was the first frontman to have a physical stage presence. Up until then what did we have? Elvis and the Beach Boys? Yeah, Morrison was the first to bring a certain amount of darkness and mania to classic rock....even if it was only a small amount. I will say that, however, from what I've seen Ray Manzerek was the one who turned the Doors mainstream. I may be wrong (I'll admit, I'm only judging from the "Lizard King" book I've read and Oliver Stone's film), but Jim seemed (when he wasn't blasted out of his mind) to be focused on the music. Drugs, like so many great bands, killed any real arguments I can make in his favor though.

Anonymous (September 6, 2005)

Morrison was more than a lyricist, though, he was a poet... You can blame the Doors for waves of pretentious garbage to follow, but then you'd also have to trashtalk the Velvet Underground.

"The End" is a masterpiece itself, and the Doors' first two albums are among the most influential to punk you could imagine. Without Jim Morrison, who knows who would have been around to up the ante? Iggy Pop didn't just copy his beat lyrical style, he copied his stage moves and made them more extreme.

-Will

Anonymous (September 6, 2005)

I blame the doors for art-rock and emo.

-Ken

rkl (September 6, 2005)

no, im not kidding. morrison's lyrics are horrible. either repetetive or completely lacking in sense.

toads dont squirm, freebsd.

Anonymous (September 6, 2005)

"heres the difference between x and the doors.
doe/cervenka[sp] wrote meaningful lyrics."

Gah... Are you kidding? X are great, but they were fucking schooled by the Doors. Ray Manzarek was practically in the band. Jim Morisson had a huuuuge influence on X's lyrics, especially being one of the first to use beat poetry/Rimbaud as a basis for what he wrote.

The Doors were an influence to every band whose lyrics meant as much to them as the music.

-Will

lushj (September 6, 2005)

Knitters first album is a classic. I've never liked a John Doe solo record all the way through- though I've tried. "The John Doe Thing" has some good tunes and "Beer, Gas, Ride Forever" is a way of fucking life!

Anonymous (September 6, 2005)

I was actually thinking about picking this album up yesterday.
Are the other John Doe albums good too?
Also, is The Knitters first album good?

Best X song: The Have Nots

rkl (September 6, 2005)

heres the difference between x and the doors.
doe/cervenka[sp] wrote meaningful lyrics.

lushj (September 6, 2005)

Knitters new record will be in my top ten of the year, no doubt about it. Haven't more than the Neko Case duet here, I seem to remember she basically imitates Exene on it (which would be hard to resist, since it's 1) John fucking Doe and 2) Exene co-wrote the tune).

SkolarX (September 6, 2005)

i know i'll end up picking this up but i someone always end up dissapointed by his solo releases. i think he has an incredible voice but there is always something lacking from the solo albums

Anonymous (September 6, 2005)

X>taking back sunday

john doe>from autumn to ashes

adam (September 6, 2005)

"Hwy 5" is such a good song. I really need to pick this up.

-adam

Anonymous (September 6, 2005)

I really want to hear this record. I agree about John's singing, if you watch the X live DVD that came out this year, he got so fucking good over the years. His vocals are fucking spectacular (especially on White Girl) and it all just makes Exene look like an idiot, haha, but yeah. I need to check this soon.

etwiels88 (September 6, 2005)

Haha the album cover reminds me of George Michael for some reason

Score is for George Michael

gladimnotemo (September 6, 2005)

This is really, really good. I got a copy of it from my library, surprisingly. There's one song that's really great, but I can't remember it now.

How do people feel about the Knitters?

thefirstfive (September 6, 2005)

wow. That review was totally worth all of those comments you left these last few weeks bitching about how it wasn't posted. The score if for Brandon. Everything makes sense now. The punk as been restored to the sites name. Wooo it was getting bad there but Brandon has saved us from ourselves.