DANIEL JOHNSTON Hand-Made Tape/Art "Songs of Pain" '80s

$

760

The item up for bids here is very precious and rare piece of Daniel Johnston history; it is an original HAND-MADE and HAND-ASSEMBLED audiocassette album, a prototype of what would become his first commercially released Stress Records cassette, "Songs of Pain". This unique tape is entitled "Some Songs of Pain" and, though undated, is considered to have been recorded at home by Daniel in 1981. It is being sold by its original owner, who received it from the artist nearly 25 years ago.

Daniel Johnston personally created & recorded this tape from start to finish entirely by hand; he drew the cover with black ink pen and colored it using blue, green, and red markers. He then signed and inscribed the cover with the note "To Not Daniel Johnston from Daniel Johnston" and presented it to a friend as a gift at the dawn of his musical career in the mid-1980s. The lyric insert and cassette labels are also personally handwritten by Daniel.

This beautiful, one-of-a-kind item, in terms of Daniel's talents as both musical and visual artist, has made it through nearly a quarter-century remarkably well, especially for a hand-crafted work that was not created with its long-term survival in mind. The acidic "mucilage"-type glue Dan used on his cassette covers has caused some "tanning" of the cover (as seen in the accompanying scan), but otherwise the cassette and its case both remain in very nice shape. Audio-wise, the tape plays clearly and without any drop-outs or other distractions.

Enhancing its status as a historical touchstone in Daniel's life story, this tape (as in this PARTICULAR tape, not another copy of a similar tape) can be seen clearly in the film "The Devil and Daniel Johnston" and is referenced by director Jeff Feurzeig on the DVD's audio commentary track. This item also comes with a certificate of authenticity signed by Daniel's former manager and "recognized Daniel Johnston expert", Jeff Tartakov.

I recently auctioned off an arguably "lesser" handmade Johnston tape entitled "Don't Be Scarred" (a prototype for Daniel's "Don't Be Scared") for well over a thousand dollars. This tape, being his very first and containing what Daniel calls his "song of songs", "Grievances" (which introduces many motifs that continue to resonate throughout his works today) is even more precious - making this perhaps the single most covetable Johnston collectible in existence. (Other Johnston classics on this tape include "Living Life", "Monkey In a Zoo", "An Idiot's End", and "Wicked World".)

An item this personal and unique does not often become available for purchase or auction -- as such, if you don't bid on this cassette, don't expect another chance to own such a precious item to come along any day soon. In addition, the entire series of Stress cassettes, long the backbone of the Johnston musical empire, recently went out of print, abruptly and presumably permanently. Already, even these once commonly available cassettes are beginning to command increasingly high prices on the collectors' market!

Postage and handling (and limited insurance) on this item will be paid by seller within the continental USA; buyer pays actual cost for mailing outside North America.