The John Doe Thing

For the Best of Us | Yep Roc
Rating: 3.5 stars

December 28, 2006 7:33:04 AM

HAPPY RETURNS: John Doe’s best solo disc has been revamped by Yep Roc.

In the wake of X’s first break-up, John Doe distanced himself from whatever punk he had left in him and pursued a rootsier, more singer-songwriterly muse. He had, after all, always been the better of X’s two singers, at least in a traditional sense. And he’d developed into a crafty songwriter. In fact, he was almost too well schooled: 1990’s Meet John Doe introduced a smart, soulful, world-weary crooner with every hook and bridge in exactly the right place. In attempting to create something with commercial potential, he’d become a bit of a bore, whereas his former partner in crime, Exene Cervenka, pursued first spoken-word collaborations with Lydia Lunch and then paint-by-numbers punk that lacked the grounding in Americana that had made X so special. It’s no wonder that fans of both have come out of the woodwork for X’s ongoing reunion as a touring band. But if there was one bright spot in Doe’s solo career, it was the For the Rest of Us EP he recorded for Kill Rock Stars in ’98, a gritty, punkish return to form that had Doe wondering “How can it be/I fucked things up so totally?” with a new-found passion and raucous backing from Beck’s buddies Joey Waronker (drums) and Smokey Hormel (guitar). “Fuck it,” screams a reinvigorated Doe on the liberating, slide-guitar-laced “Bad, Bad Feeling,” a tune that would be right at home on any of X’s first four albums. Now repackaged by Yep Rock as the 10-track full-length For the Best of Us, the disc is a more balanced affair, with tender tunes like the poetic “Zero” and the mid-tempo, contemplative rocker “Criminal” as well as a couple of other numbers from the original session, like an overdriven cover of Woody Guthrie’s “Vigilante Man” with a stinging slide solo that’s been liberated from the vaults.

John Doe | Orpheum Theatre, 1 Hamilton Place, Boston | December 31 | 617.542.1339