Journey On is one of my most prized possessions; it's the highlight of my Jason Molina collection and one of the nicest - and now rarest - boxsets I own. Nearly a year after Jason died, it was announced that there would be a Songs: Ohia boxset as one of the Record Store Day 2014 releases; I got very excited. Details emerged that it was a nine 7" boxset containing songs from all of his 7" releases as Songs: Ohia. I still hadn't (and still haven't) heard all of the albums, but I knew I had to get this album. I'd been listening to so much of his music prior to his death, and even more following it that I couldn't resist the opportunity to hear even more of his music, especially given that the originals are so hard to come by.
On RSD itself, I set off to Truck Store very early (5-ish) with my friend Hugh. I'd just moved to Oxford (a few days total) but I was very happy to have a store within walking distance. The queue was blissfully short (we were numbers 6 and 7 I believe) but most important was that I felt Truck had a good chance of having got some the boxsets in - the guy who runs the shop is a huge Jason Molina fan too and has sold me many of his other albums. Banquet, my old RSD go-to, was less likely given that I'd never known them to stock any of his records (also the queues, for various reasons, are notoriously long). Luckily Truck had precisely one copy and I snatched it up. At £65 I think it may have put the five people in front of me off from picking it up on the off-chance. I don't know how many people who came in after me were disappointed that there were no more - I can't have been the only person after it. I'm not sure what I would have done had I not been able to get a copy that morning. It quickly sold out and sells for quite a lot now (possibly helped by the high starting price).
The boxset is lovely - the cloth-lined box contains the nine 7" records with sleeves and labels that match the cd sleeves from the Sojourner boxset, a 24-page booklet with details about all the original releases and a cd of all the songs. Most enjoyably, there is a special adapter for playing 45s (although all of these play at 33rpm) made from wood and has the Songs: Ohia logo carved into the top. It's a great thing to be included and sits very proudly through the stack of records. Unusually, here is a track-by-track:
The compilation starts with a bang on Boys, which has the sparse style of a lot of the songs on the self-titled "black" album, but with a huge chorus that allows Jason's voice to soar. Trans Am, from another early split release is fuller-sounding but dominated by Jason's cry of "Life" at the end. In comparison to those first two, Freedom Pt. 2 and Soul (from the first Songs: Ohia 7" release on Will Oldham's Palace Records, called Nor Cease Thou Never Now) are more traditional folk songs - there is no screaming, possibly a sign of Jason moving further away from his metal past. In fact, there is something quite Bonnie "Prince" Billy-esque to Soul and I think it is the stronger of the two.
The songs from One Proclamation of Glory are nice - I'm not too keen on the slide guitar on Waltham but Napoleon is a pretty heavy song, as folk songs go. Vanguisher, from a 1998 split 7", is a re-working of Crabwaylingo from the first album. Across my Jason Molina collection there are a number of instances of re-worked songs, or different versions; it's nice to hear these songs in different states, but I also like the idea that they continued to change after they were recorded a little. This version is a little more haunting, which is appropriate given the lyrics about "former ghosts". Nay Tis Not Death, from another split 7", is a beautifully simple song, slow and comprising just vocals, guitar and a very sparsely played drum-kit. There's a sadness in the way Jason sings it and it is one of the highlights.
7th Street Wonderland is a brooding number with more fuzz than anything that proceeded it but it's b-side, Darling You Are..., is less exciting. How To Be Perfect Men, from a split with Rex on Temporary Residence, somehow reminds me of Boys, both musically but also thematically; it's a great song. The b-side to that is the title-track, Journey On, from a split with Oneida. At nearly 7 minutes, it's one of the longer Songs: Ohia songs and plays at an appropriately slow pace for the sad lyrics. Fade Street, from a split with Glen Hansard, follows on in a similar vain - slow and moody but there's an angry way to how Jason plays guitar and a lovely "oooh-ooh" outro that could easily go on for twice as long.
All this brings us to The Lioness, which I fell in love with the instant I heard it. I'd not heard the album The Lioness at this point, so the song came out of nowhere and blew me away. The version here is the "Didn't It Rain Translation" (so I assume recorded sometime around the recording of Didn't It Rain) and appeared on another split. The addition of Jennie Benford's vocals on the chorus add so much to the song and somehow make it feel more frail. Given the nature of the song, the male and female vocals together work so well. The song instantly stuck in my head and I remember taking a moment after playing it for the first time before putting on the next record - I just wanted to let it sit for a moment to fully enjoy it. The lyrics are beautiful and the songs matches it perfectly. There have been many treats in Jason's music, but The Lioness is the finest and my favourite of his songs. I can't say enough good things about it.
The rest of the album always struggles to compare to The Lioness but The Gray Tower makes for a good way to follow (and also benefits from Jennie Benford's vocals). Black Link to Fire Link is one of Jason's heavier songs but still fits with the other material from that time. Keep It Steady and United or Lost Alone then finish the collection much as it began - sparse, solo, sad and raw.
Journey On is a real treat to own and play; I think the fact that I never bemoan the fact I have to get up 17 times to turn the records over shows what a wonder it is.
Format: Nine 7", boxset, 24-page book, wooden carved adaptor
Tracks: 18
Cost: £65 new
Bought: Truck Store, Oxford
When: 19/04/14
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: cd included
