The Berlin Trilogy (And Other Collaborations) - John Kennedy: (I-94 Bar Records)
These days, when I hear the little box of CDs clunk into the mailbox, I react with a sense of awe. What, more people out there pouring their hearts and souls into a couple of handfuls of songs, putting them out in a physical format and launching them out into the world like coracles attempting an Atlantic Crossing?
How can this be? How can they be so determined, so optimistic?
Yeah, well. This time, I'm looking at the new release by a legendary Sydney “urban cowboy”, an architect/musician who just won't be forced off of the stage. Apparently, apart from a brief stint in Berlin (hence the title), he's putting his socks over the hearth in Spain these days.
Who, you ask? Why, John Kennedy, I reply. Ain't you ever heard of him? Uh-oh. Yeah, that's a bit of an issue, isn't it? Especially in these days of excessively lengthy instant search results, almost all displaying results for the wrong fucking bloke.
Okay, it takes a bit of whittling. No, he's not the American bloke who got shot because some other septics wanted a war in South-East Asia and he didn't. Nor is he the other American singer-songwriter who grew up in Nashville (unless the bugger was cloned whilst young). And, as you can imagine, there are innumerable characters who also apparently merit our attention, including a much-loved DJ, and I expect there's also an interminable list of portly housecats and slipper-chewing rug-soiling hounds who answer to the name "John Kennedy" or "JFK".
If I am ever gonna interview this chap, that'll the first question: Why the everloving fuck didn't you change your fucking name to something else? Surely "Arnold Snodgrass" would've stood out more? "Bertie Hurdygurdy"? "Bill Sniffling"? Hell, "Iggy Squeezevomit"?
Oh, well,. I suppose sharing the name with a US president whose head got famously splattered like a dropped punkin’ filled with grey and red goo would cause a certain amount of infamy - and therefore attention. Perhaps that was the reason. I mean, JFK & the Cuban Crisis was a band name that really would have been fairly confronting (or, decadently amusing).
I mean, you'll recall that, in the USA, The Dead Kennedys copped rather a lot more than media attention. JFK & the Cuban Crisis appeared less than 20 years since the rather more-famous JFK had been shot; imagine if some japester band were to call themselves 'The Bali Bombers' today. Or, perhaps, 'The TISM Killers', or 'Pauline's Pogrom', or 'The Cronulla Nullas'.
And, back in the early '80s, pop was stuffing all manner of influences into the blender; as I'm sure you also know, punk and new wave caused an extraordinary explosion of innovation and talent to walk the earth. Must've been an interesting, rather busy time for the man - particularly as I understand he had a day job - an architect. Useful, as I assume his work kept him in strings, amps, a crappy touring van and petrol.
If there's a style which folk like to hang around Kennedy's neck, it's "Urban and Western", but really ... despite all the US country-tinge, I find his songs more reminiscent of laid-back pop best suited to chillin' on the balcony with a few mates and a hearty supply of coldies. A classic example might be "Strangers Kiss", from the John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong LP "Always the Bridegroom".
Anyway, I'm sure the readers in Sydney are all familiar with John Kennedy by now: he's released records and CDs under his own name, but with other bands too, John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong, John Kennedy and the Honeymooners, John Kennedy and the Lone Gunmen, John Kennedy's '68 Comeback Special and more lately John Kennedy and the New Originals; the bands play his own songs but he's released at least three collections of covers ... and ... here we are today.
I suspect he's something of a culture junkie, as the Community Broadcasting Association describe him as "living, performing and recording in LA, Berlin, Hong Kong, Holland and London" for ten years before returning to Sydney "in the 2000's".
The record company's Bandcamp page explains that Kennedy had a stroke in 2025 before relocating first to Berlin - and then Spain. That this record exists at all indicates that not only is Australia's John F. Kennedy somewhat harder to kill off, in typical Australian tradition, he's clearly something of a determined bugger, if not a stubborn old sod.
The Bandcamp page further explains; "former bandmate Moe Jaksch challenged him to leave his familiar pop-rock territory behind ... the result is a fresh, contemporary take on Kennedy’s distinctive Urban and Western sound — adventurous, collaborative and, in [Jaksch's] words, “not the same old Kennedy shit”.".
"The Berlin Trilogy" was produced by Kennedy himself, and mastered by the increasingly infamous Ernie Oppenheimer, and features Moe Jaksch, Peter Loveday, Paco Peneranda, Frank Kearns, Paul Scott, Hybride Goldking, Peter O’Doherty and Hunting At Dawn.
There's a lot of languid, gently exploratory beauty here - "The Berlin Trilogy (And Other Collaborations)" is an LP for (older) lovers. Call it groovy, laid-back pop if you like, but essentially the man has sewn his heart onto his cowboy hat. If these songs are any indication, he's found love (again), which means the LP is positive, upbeat yet sensitive and ... yeah, where were we on the balcony? Ah, yes, someone special and a chilled light red.
For a stubborn old sod, "The Berlin Trilogy" is deceptive: on the surface it might feel light, but as you listen and as the songs get beneath your epidermis, you find there's real weight, strength and value to them. The tunes tend to grow on you, too; I found myself humming "I'll Wait For You" or "(I Won't Be) The First To Leave" at several inappropriate moments (the doctor was curious enough to pause mid-injection). Don't ask.
John Kennedy's memoir, "Have Songs, Will Travel", will be out soon, so he'll be playing a few select dates on the East Coast, starting in November.
1/2
John Kennedy
Australian Tour
20 November - Marrickville Bowling Club, Sydney
5 December - Yorkshire Stingo Hotel, Melbourne
12 December - Smith’s Alternative, Canberra
19 December - Side B, Blackheath (Solo)
9 January - The Cave Inn, Brisbane
