Forever Hasn’t Happened Yet

Your lopsided heart emptied out on Hwy 99 as you drop down into the Central Valley of California. There is a pain, like shortness of breath or a catch in your throat. Flat land, rusty wire, dirt and dust blows in the open car window. You can smell the irrigation water and someone’s getting hurt out there. The skin is soft and bruises easily. Welcome home. Yrs, John Doe This is not punk rock but it uses all the same ingredients; sex, drugs, death, loss, longing and alienation. The difference is the speed and melody of the songs which are set in a beautiful but harsh landscape. This is Americana like the scariest blues and the saddest country can be. This is a record made the way Muddy Waters would make records, all thrown into a very small and sweaty room until the song squeezes through the cracks. Neko Case, Kristin Hersh, Cindy Lee Berryhill and Veronica Jane (Doe’s 16 year old daughter) provide the female foil that was Exene’s role in X and Exene contributes by co-writing “Hwy 5,” a duet with Neko. Grant-Lee Phillips and Dave Alvin lend their unique talents in beautiful, heart-wrenching and savage electric songs respectively. Not for the faint of heart, this album was recorded in ultra black and white. This is the first time John Doe’s critically-acclaimed 2005 record Forever Hasn’t Happened Yet has been available on vinyl. In celebration of the album’s 20th anniversary this year, the album is being pressed on clear teal colour vinyl and features the previously unreleased bonus track “Burning House of Love.”