JINX (1998) by Damien Youth

"Damien Youth, often acting as a one-man band, writes and records material at a far more furious rate than many a multi-platinum act. Jinx is a double CD of 23 songs he cut at his home in 1998, between the albums Bride of the Asylum and Sunfield. Elizabeth Black sings background vocals on "Melody," but except for that it's just Damien Youth, handling not only the standard vocals, guitar, bass, and drum, but also organ, piano, flute, and trumpet. It's not up to the same level of the albums it bridges, but it, like all of his output, maintains a pretty consistent level and tone: British-styled folk-psych-rock, perhaps not easy enough to differentiate from his other albums to convince all but the converted, but an easy sell to the converted. If you're looking for mild departures from his norm, there's the early punk-styled buzz of "I Hate You" (which sounds like it could well be a satire of all that Sex Pistols-styled nihilism), or the more successful "One Eye Blind, Broken Finger & Ghost Girl," a pretty close match for Donovan in his "The Fat Angel" period. More typical is something like "Crushed," which is what Paul McCartney would sound like if he had decided to make "Blackbird" the base approach for his entire career." - Richie Unterberger

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