Solo performer: Daniel Johnston (vocals, piano).

Recorded between 1980 and 1983. Includes liner notes by Paul Leary and Louis Black.

Capping off a relatively prolific period in Daniel Johnston's career -- a period which saw the release his first studio album in seven years, as well as collaborations with Jad Fair and Mark Linkous -- Dualtone Records compiled Johnston's first two cassettes for a double-CD release in the summer of 2003. The Complete Early Recordings comprises Songs of Pain and More Songs of Pain and features new artwork from Johnston as well as liner notes by Louis Black, editor of The Austin Chronicle. Recorded in Johnston's parent's basement in West Virginia during the early '80s, the two collections introduce the lyrical themes, anxieties, and obsessions (and the piano-based, Beatlesque melodies) that would show up on nearly every subsequent album and form the basis for Johnston's renown. Most notable among these obsessions is "Laurie." Johnston fell in love with Laurie during a brief stint in art school, but she did not return his feelings and ran off with an undertaker. This disappointment took on a life of its own and has been Johnston's chief muse ever since. Songs of Pain and More Songs of Pain may be the most intense and direct of these outpourings to Laurie, but the songs are rarely maudlin or sappy, though they are often hopelessly naïve. Many are in fact wryly humorous and Johnston often seems to poke fun at his inability to "get over it." Listening to these early recordings, it's easy to see why Johnston won the hearts of so many listeners: Whether his songs are funny, sad, or simply weird, Johnston's lyrics carry a level of sincerity few artists would even strive for. Because of this, it's easy to forgive the rough-hewn, tossed-off nature of these songs: The lyrics and melodies are very obviously, even obsessively, constructed, but the performances all sound like first takes, which, of course, just adds to their directness and power. "Is it art? Or is it smart? Or is it just my heart?" Johnston asks on the barrelhouse piano tune "More Dead Than Alive," or in other words "Is it all a big put on?" People have been asking that question ever since these first tapes circulated around Austin. But the one person who might conceivably know, at his best, always seems to be asking himself too. ~ Jason Nickey