Birdman 
Greg Ashley : Medicine Fuck Dream (US, 2003)**°°
-with a song from John Johnson-
Greg Ashley’s music sounds like a personal diary, slightly worked out from a distance from what he writes/wrote about, with many (afterwards added?) musical ideas, which makes the songs like miniature aspects of a picture book. Half of the songs have a drugged feeling, with a bit lower energy in the singing. There the pretty musical arrangements extend the musical content, and make the songs often sound more like some kind of acid-folk.
After the introductional “Karen Loves Candy” we can hear already that several melodies, surely in the first half to be followed, sounds so familiar, like adultery lullabies, like “Medicine Fuck Dream”, which has something of the early Velvet Underground ? or something, but also with the beautiful underlying emotional "Mona Rider" which sounds like a lost track from “Songs of Love and hate” from Leonard Cohen. Quote from this song : “You were married by the church, you were murdered..”, with this underlying essence coming over emotionally very well). I also really like the guitars, percussion and piano on "Deep Deep Down" which has also the earlier mentioned kind of lullaby mood, as if here it’s a song NOT to commit suicide, because the energy of the lullaby is too beautiful, it will surely calm the psyche. It is about drugs, but it works much more than in an escapist way; perhaps it’s even a song where the true nature of psychological motherly care.. The only song I personally don’t like is a stoned, perhaps cynical version of Hank Williams “Lost Highway”, with a tin pan rhythm, and fine harmonica, and of course a sleepy stoned voice and more lazy energy. “I said, “these are lonely days” (by John Johnson) is more humoristic, like a 30’s song, with a banjo-like guitar. This sounds like some kind of funny (or self-cynical) blues, or what is this? In that way “Apple pie and genocide” perhaps is even more cynical. It appears like some kind of drugged headed idea that made this combination of a being-at-the-wrong-place kitschy bar-karaoke kind of singing to a rock’n roll band, which sounds too much like being recorded far away and elsewhere. It’s one of my least favourites, although the idea could have been fine, and within the “book” concept it still speaks for itself. Also “Legs Coca-Cola” is more stoned, also in inspiration, on the edge of the pathetically stoned. Last, stoned track, “Lisa Lisa”, is a more romantic song, with acoustic guitar fingerpicking meanderings and some reverb effects, and some bells like percussion, which seem to sound like chapel bells calling for Lisa in the next village.
This is a fine and enjoyable release, and within the “weakness” of stoned inspirations it still succeeds in creating a strong, rewarding document. Repeated listening will reveal all the aspects.
