Don't Be Scared

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Total Tracks: 18   Total Length: 60:36

eMusic Review

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Jeff Feuerzeig

eMusic Contributor

04.22.11
Daniel Johnston, Don’t Be Scared
2000 | Label: Eternal Yip Eye Music

After Songs of Pain and More Songs Of Pain, Daniel wanted to reassure the growing legions of fans in his mind that they shouldn't be scared of his raw, naked honesty and emotion; hence this album's title. What a truly beautiful and sweet sentiment from this truly beautiful and sweet man. "Going Down" takes an elevator ride south to depression, where songs like the gorgeous, tender ballad "I Had a Dream" reside in a state of dreamy melancholy. Just when Daniel has made us feel OK about the voyeuristic experience he's been dishing out, he pulls the cord on the guillotine with "And You Love It," an audio verité recording of his Fundamentalist mom yelling religious proverbs at poor young Daniel. This segues deliciously into "I Had Lost My Mind", a standout uptempo track where Daniel gets in the ring with Bob Dylan — and punches his fucking lights out.

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Don't get it

mcl-mixer

Sounds like it was recorded by a high school kid in his basement.

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Good Songcraft, Irritating Noisy Filler

OldPompous

Like most Daniel Johnston releases, Don't Be Scared is a mixed bag, but the songs on Don't Be Scared are probably more consistently of high quality than most of his releases, with the exception of Rejected Unknown, which hardly has any duds. Cold Hard World and Story of an Artist are both classic. Going Down, Evening Stars, The Sun Shines Down on Me are all good. Lost Without A Dame isn't bad once you get past the introductory noise. I Had A Dream is charming. Don’t Be Scared is charming once you get past the LONG intro. Mother Mom Said is goofy but still good. My Yoke is Heavy isn’t bad once you get past the noise intro. Many of the lyrics are laugh out loud funny. The most irritating aspect of Don’t Be Scared is that it is heavily padded with conversations, monologues and just plain noise. In fact, I Was Alone is ENTIRELY noise. But if you can get past that, Don't Be Scared contains plenty of good to excellent songcraft delivered in that inimitable Daniel Johnston style.

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