THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Alive In New York City features a full concert from legendary American artist Daniel Johnston, captured in front of an audience of his most devoted fans in New York, the city of Daniel’s dreams. Daniel is at the very height of his performing powers here, with his poignant voice and exquisite heart beating in full bloom, and the audience is with him all the way. Daniel gave it all on this very special night.
Recorded and live-mixed by Kramer in April of 2000, the long-lost tape was found by Kramer 20 years later, marked solely with the words “NYC April 2000”. Despite best efforts (and adding to the mystery of this recording), it has been unable to determine with 100% certainty where or when the performance took place, since Daniel played several gigs in NYC at this time.
The LP contains one brilliant Johnston performance in its entirety, unedited, unaltered, and unforgettable. The recording captures him at an unusually happy point in his life. We are given a rare, uncensored glimpse into the art of Johnston, as the physical rendering of his lyrics transcends the music and works as a beacon into the tender soul of a genius.
We also hear him grappling live onstage with his enduring struggles of how to love himself and how to find his place in the world, as he experiences it. In his songs, Daniel shows us that it is a universal struggle shared amongst all of us. He reminds us (as perhaps no other artist ever has) that we are all just human, and that the only hope we truly ever have in finding Love, is to just keep trying.
Perhaps the most exciting feature of this LP is the fact that it contains two songs that appear on no other Johnston release: Memory Of Love and Super Love. These two standout tracks are sure to become classics in Daniel’s posthumous repertoire, and they make Alive In New York City indispensable to fans and collectors alike.
The album concludes with a brief excerpt from a street interview Daniel gave in New York City that was recorded during the same explosively creative period in his extraordinary life. It’s a real time capsule for Daniel’s fans and a real tearjerker. As he says: “You’re never really gone.”
