Peter C. Johnson – Yaka Yaka / 2007 Hi-N-Dry / 11 Tracks / http://www.petercjohnson.com / Reviewed 25 February 2007

The style created by Peter C. Johnson on “Yaka Yaka” is really interesting. While there is instrumentation throughout this CD, the amount of it is so sparse that individuals will barely notice it is present behind the talking style of Johnson. The easy comparison that individuals can make to Johnson would have to be Danny Cohen. Both individuals just pretty much talk, with harmonizing only occurring at rare points during their albums.

As such, it takes a long time to properly get behind Johnson. During a track like “Victims of the Flood”, it takes over half of the tracks’ four minute runtime to get an idea of what Johnson is attempting to do. The guitar solo is a strong addition to this track, but individuals need to give this disc all of their focus to see the beauty in Johnson’s approach. When there are moments where the instrumentation takes a more focal role, such as during the opening to “Goodbye Dear Friend”, the results are much stronger than during the times where Johnson or silence are the major players in the track. With the instruments taking the major role, there is more of a context in which to hear the talked-out vocals of Johnson, which moderates the harshness of Johnson’s vocals. The smokey, dusty vocals of Johnson during “Yaka Yaka” sound like Johnny Cash’s during the last few American discs, and also have hints of those created by Warren Zevon before ey passed on. Hopefully this is just a passing similarity and does not mean that Johnson should expect more of the same. Individuals are treated to most of an hour during “Yaka Yaka”, and while it takes a decent amount of time for individuals to warm up to the very nuanced sound that Johnson creates with this album, individuals will be happy that they purchased this album after a few listens.

Johnson has been around for quite a few years (around thirty, at my beast count), and these years in the business have allowed Johnson to make sure that this disc is solid. Of course, the title track is an outlier in the sense that it is weak, but the rest of the songs on “Yaka Yaka” hold up to repeated listening. This is not for the listeners who will put on the disc and do things around the house, but for those individuals that strap on headphones and give their albums their full attention. Give it a go, if you dare.

Top Tracks: California, Goodbye Dear Friend

Rating: 5.5/10

[JMcQ]