...best memory of it....when I first played this CD for my niece, age 5 at the time, she told me "I love him! I want him to be in love with me!" She was actually jealous of the woman he song about...in the love songs... She also loved the burp!
I love this album, too.
Here are reveiw snippets from:
http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1097432/a/Fun.htmThe first three songs alone show the wonderful range of this collection. "Love Wheel" is propelled by an incessantly rocking combo, "Life in Vain" is gorgeously embellished with a rich string trio, and "Crazy Love" finds Johnston alone at a Fender Rhodes piano, singing about one of his favorite subjects. Leary had the good sense to recognize the core strengths of Johnston's powerful songwriting and he let nothing get in the way. FUN is both well-produced and directly honest. This is the Daniel Johnston album to start with.
To the surprise of nearly everyone who had followed his career, Daniel Johnston was signed to Atlantic Records, which released FUN in 1994. Produced by Paul Leary of the Butthole Surfers, the album is a perfect presentation of Johnston's music. He evolved from primitive self-recording, to working in a true recording studio, to finally finding a sympathetic and appropriate producer in Leary.
Live Recording
Personnel: Daniel Johnston (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Paul Leary (guitar, bass); Regina Carter (violin); John Hagen (cello); Bobbie Nelson (piano); Sandy Smallens (bass); King Coffey (drums).
Rolling Stone (12/29/94-1/12/95, p.176) - "...Recalling the spirit of the prelapsarian Pee-Wee Herman, it's an aural dada playhouse wherein `Kool-Aid flows like wine'....Johnson and his motley playmates...are the cat's pajamas in some surreal cartoons."
Spin (10/94, p.112) - Highly Recommended - "...it's good to hear Johnston backed by Paul Leary on FUN....Scrapping the lo-fi aesthetic, [Leary] finds the hooks that Johnston's technical limits had hidden..."
Entertainment Weekly (10/7/94, p.76) - "...Thankfully, his eccentricities--spare production, wavering pitch, erratic phrasing--have made the major-label transfer practically intact, only better recorded..."
- Rating: B+
Musician (11/94, p.92) - "...He tugs at your sleeve with such intensity that you figure he must be onto something even though half the time you can barely make the message out..."