DQE & Jad Fair - DQE and Jad Fair (CD)

All Music Guide

DQE's collaboration with Jad Fair makes sense considering frontwoman Grace Braun's alignment with Daniel Johnston early in her career, but Jad Fair sounds like he only came along for the ride. Like many Half Japanese recordings, a lot of the music consists of quickly-conceived vamps over which Fair reads from his notebook, which occasionally yields interesting results, as on "Poems." Braun and Fair's styles don't fit together very neatly, particularly on the inept duet "Alice Friday," but perhaps they just needed more time to practice. Braun brings to the table her burgeoning interest in roots music with an arrangement of Tampa Red's "Travel On" that Fair probably wouldn't have selected on his own. She also performs a mutant polka on the organ ("Midget Strippers") with Fair nowhere in sight. The best cuts are "Johnny Cornfed," on which Fair recites ridiculous lyrics while Braun's crazy upside-down acoustic guitar picking shifts into overdrive, and "Blue Blue," which, except for Fair's ...vocal, anticipates the sound of Braun's solo debut. A hidden bonus (following a minute of silence) is a charming alternate take of "Blue Blue." DQE Jad Fair sounds like it was hastily written and recorded, and is far from its participants best work. - Greg Adams, All Music Guide Read more Less