Can You Fly
"Well I sold the dirt to feed the band," sings Freedy Johnston the opening track, "Trying to Tell You I Don't Know." It turns to be the truth: to finance this album, Freedy, a gifted but struggling songwriter living in N.Y.C., sold the family farm in Kansas he'd inherited from his grandfather. Not many have given that much to their music, and you can hear that fervid and passionate commitment on every song on this wholly fantastic album. While it was a risk worth taking--Can You Flyput Freedy on the musical map--the sense of loss and even betrayal haunts the album. "I left town with a hardcore band/ ...Mother, dear, will you remember me?" he sings on "Remember Me." And on "Sincere" he asks, "Mister, can you tell me where I've come from?" And on "Down in Love," a stunningly beautiful duet with Syd Straw, he sings, "No more dreams for me." This is a man who knows the exact cost of dream.--Tod Nelson