Search - Johnny Dowd :: Pictures From Life's Other Side

Is There a Grammy for "Scariest Album Of The Year"?

Christopher Zayne Reeves | 09/15/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Johnny Dowd comes across as the strange reclusive psychopath in Tom Waits' "What's He Building In There?" and with any hope, they will one day work together, somehow. His first album was a five-star, and this even improves upon it. Choice cuts are "Worried Mind", "Bad Memories", "God Created Women" and the psychotic love song "I Hope You Don't Mind". And of course, "No Womans Flesh But Hers", which gains creepiness due to whatever is playing in Dowd's studio as he records it. There's even one of them damn "Hidden CD tracks" at the end that is worthwhile. Definately my favorite album since Jim White's "Wrong-Eyed Jesus". Perhaps one day we will see a new band in the Wilburies/Highwaymen tradition consisting of Waits/Dowd/White and Cave. And Dylan can come if he wishes..."

This warped record is a certifiable masterpiece

crazyeye | Manalapan, NJ USA | 05/01/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Good stuff. Really good. Brittle, quirky songs about violence and sex and murder. Oh it's good. I'd like to say that Johnny Dowd is a cross between Tom Waits, Captain Beefheart, and Richard Buckner. Actually I will say it. Johnny Dowd is a cross between Tom Waits, Captain Beefheart, and Richard Buckner. Such a recipe for pretension, and dare I say - commercialization? No sir, this baby works. This warped record is a certifiable masterpiece and I say that without restraint.A quick glance at the CD cover shows a pensive, introspective Dowd glancing down in deep thought. It is a gentle image. Without any knowledge of depravity crammed onto the little silver saucer inside, one might conclude that this mature looking fellow has put out a mellow album of sedate folk musings. By the time the CD player has passed the 17-second mark it's obvious that little Johnny is a wee bit more tormented than his lugubrious portrait leads on. A picture from life's other side sounds like some weird polka parade on bad acid that quickly morphs into a bluesy, deranged window into something that most would rather avoid. Somehow I don't think this is what Hank Williams had in mind when he penned the tune back in 1951 - and let me tell you, it's absolutely beautiful.Worried mind is an odd combination of Mansonesque lyrics (that would be Charles, not Marilyn) married to a Lou Reed like vocal, a Portishead arrangement all somehow slithering over a merengue beat. Dowds favorite subject, death and destruction is a recurrent theme throughout. What makes this recording so intriguing is the way it sinks it's teeth into you. On the first casual listen one doesn't know what to make of Dowd's inaccessibility, but it is the very aspect that makes this work so sustaining. While one might enjoy "Hungry Heart" on the very first listen, get back to me after the 12th go-round or so. These songs move beyond formula to explore the undercurrent of frustration, alienation, and paranoia running through working-class America. This is not fun but I don't remember that being a criterion for greatness. The rest of the album balances brilliance and dementia as effectively as the first two tracks. I absolutely adore "God Created Woman". Kim Sherwood-Caso's demonic imploring, "meet me up on level three, there's something you gotta see" coupled with Dowd's low growl is utter perfection. The band plows through gritty countryish blues numbers with a murderous aplomb. (I had to sneak that in here somewhere)Throughout "Pictures", Dowd effectively delivers horror movie imagery in his uniquely minimalist alternative country manner. Wackjob? Yes. Original? Absolutely. Who else could draw from the blues and folk genres without being limited by them and do it against such spare musical backdrops than Dowd? He growls, rumbles, whines, and brays lyrics in which death and destruction are the most common ingredients. He combines Biblical mythology and a rural American frame of reference with his own dysfunction, and by doing so redefines the blues, physical hardship is replaced with cynicism and neurosis. Now that this review is ending go log onto ... and purchase this disc. What are you waiting for? Go get it!"

Remarkable.

G. Moses | Men...Of...The...Sea! | 01/21/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Dowd's first album, Wrong Side of Memphis, is good, but this, his second, is positively a revalation. Eschewing the determinedly low-fidelity nature of that affair, here he comes out swinging with a full band and a warped, creative production. It isn't perfect--the second half is, it must be noted, somewhat less consistent than the first--but it nonetheless represents another triumph for Our Man Johnny. One of the most striking components of this album is the incomparable Kim Sherwood-Caso. She did backing lyrics for a few songs on Wrong Side of Memphis, but they weren't very prominent, and, although they did their job perfectly well, one didn't get the impression that any similar singer couldn't have done a comparable job. Here, however, she plays a much more prominent role, to dazzling effect. The first time you hear her bursting in on the choruses of 'Worried Mind' and 'God Created Woman,' it's like the end of the world, and her atmospheric contributions to other songs, if less immediately striking, are no less skillful.But that's not all this album has to offer. Elsewhere, there's the unhinged raving of 'Butcher's Son.' There's the ethereal atmospherics of 'Vietnam.' There's the quiet, unsettling 'hidden' track. And of course there's 'Just Because.' You may at first think is just sort of goofy, but when you have the chorus stuck in your head for days on end, you'll be singing a different tune. And it features the line "woman loves a man like morphine loves pain." Right on.Amazingly, it would get even better on Dowd's third album, Temporary Shelter. Nevertheless, Pictures from Life's Other Side is a remarkable piece of work. If you like a bit of ominous weirdness in your music, it's a sure thing."