Record Reviews: Okkervil River and Damien Jurado

Detour has two more of my reviews up. Damien Jurado's excellent new one Caught In The Trees is a continuation of the sad bastard music he has so perfected. If you like to cry for fun (like I do), check it out. The new Okkervil River is great - a bit more subtle than last year's The Stage Names but equally strong. "On Tour With Zykos" is one of my favorite songs of the year. This song is also the reason I now know who Zykos is. And it turns out they are really good. In a similar vein, "Bruce Wayne Campbell Interviewed on the Roof of the Chelsea Hotel, 1979" wins the prize for best song ever about Jobriath. I honestly don't know if there are any other songs about him. I am surprised that Morrissey doesn't have one, seeing as he is the whole reason I've ever even heard of Jobriath.

As a matter of fact, I became a Morrissey fan the same way Morrissey became a fan of Jobriath. As a maladjusted, shy youngester with music as his only true friend, Morrissey was browsing at a record store when he saw an album cover that just struck him. He had never heard of the artist before but felt compelled to get it. It was Jobriath's self titled debut. Morrissey obviously became a big fan seeing he penned the gushing liner notes to the Jobriath retrospective that came out a few years ago. Similarly, when I was browsing at the record store while still in junior high I saw the cover to Kill Uncle and something about it just stuck with me. I had no idea who he was, but a few days later, this skater kid a few years ahead of me who wore a Misfits shirt at least twice a week passed me in the hall, and I saw that same mysterious man from the album cover gazing back from his T-shirt. So I went back and bought a Morrissey album. They didn't have the Kill Uncle one I had seen, but seeing as I was going in blind, I figured I'd just get what they had. I got Bona Drag. A week later I went back and bought The Smiths Meat Is Murder. Still today I love everything the man has done. This is why I think Morrissey and I are destined to be best friends. Right? Right.