Freedom Is... The John Doe Thing spinART **

"Singer-guitarist John Doe has said in interviews that he hates it when
he's referred to in the context of his past with the seminal L.A. punk band
X, which he co-founded in the late '70s and with which he continues to play.
Yet it's hard to imagine that Doe, who has recruited X drummer D.J.
Bonebrake and Aimee Mann bassist Drew Ross to back him on this, his third
solo record, would draw much attention for the modestly named John Doe Thing
if it weren't for X.
His voice, a gruff approximation of elder statesman such as Lou Reed
and Leonard Cohen, is so ragged, it sounds either constipated or
indifferent. The material here vacillates between acoustic lullabies
("Totally Yours") and roughneck rockers ("Someday/NoDay"), but through it
all, Doe wallows in self-absorbed pity and depression." --Jeff Niesel