Daniel Johnston
's ability to craft songs that were somehow simultaneously simplistic and profound made him the ultimate outsider artist, and his almost unbelievable vulnerability was never more fully on display than in his live performances. Usually with just a barely tuned acoustic guitar and a voice that was shaky but unafraid,
Johnston
sang with naïveté, wonder, depth, and awe, in basic patterns that tried to mimic
Beatles
-styled pop but landed somewhere far stranger.
Alive in New York City
is an exemplary document of the quiet power in
's live performances, recorded to cassette by producer
Kramer
at an unremembered venue sometime in April 2000 and quickly forgotten about until it was unearthed years later.
zips through quick songs of his own about an eternal search for love and acceptance, with moments like "Silly Love" and previously unreleased song "Memory of Love" laying bare beautifully raw feelings of yearning and regret. A few reworked
-adjacent tunes show up in the set list ("Live and Let Die" is fun and "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" is crushingly sweet), and renditions of fan favorites "Casper the Friendly Ghost" and "Funeral Home" are played as well.
's telltale reverb and delay sneak into the recording at times, but for the most part,
sounds like a small room of devoted fans watching a fringe artist bare his weird and loving heart song after song. In addition to the live material from the April 2000 date, the album also includes a snippet from an interview with
around the same time and closes with "The Telephone Demos," an 18-minute track of extremely lo-fi songs, skits, and other sounds he recorded around the time of his
1990
album. Anyone who's already a
fan will delight in the spirit that courses through both the live songs and the noisy home recordings. Like all of his creations, they're likely too rough for most mainstream tastes, but they hold untold beauty for those who can see the gold beneath the patina. ~ Fred Thomas