John Idan’s “The Folly” is a solo album in the true sense of the word. Not only did Idan write all the songs, he also played all the instruments – except for the strings.  “The Folly” is also a solo album in the sense that the music has nothing to do whatsoever with the sound of the groups he has played in, like The Jim McCarty Band, The Yardbirds and The Natural Blues Band.

Now, how does “The Folly” sound then?  Easy question, complex answer – because John Idan’s song-writing pretty much covers most variants of present-day popular music: singer-songwriter, pure pop, psych, soul.  Style and  genre are, in fact, closely linked to the lyrics and their message, because this is an album with a message.
Before you start listening, we advise you to have look at the cover and the booklet that find John Idan sitting in pensive mood with a temple and a garden for background. John signs his foreword with ‘Peace’ – a rare word nowadays and John’s not a sixties child. Finally, Idan’s production company is called The Garden of Idan. When you listen to the music and the lyrics with those words and images n mind, the message will become clearer. Imagine yourself in the Garden of Idan.

The cd opens with the beautiful “Ballad Of Myself”, in which Idan tells you the story of his life. Nothing too surprising there, except for the line “Well, there must be some design in the connection in our lives”.  Nothing  just happens like that. But whose design is it then? That is revealed in the last refrain: “It is only by the Grace of God  do I live and tell my tale” – mind the capital letters. You  might  remark that that so many American artists (John Idan is from Detroit)  refer to God, since religion is an integral part of everyday life there, much more so than in Europe. Such, however, is not the case, since “God” here clearly refers to a spiritual feeling, a bond between all human being but not by the hand of those human beings. I find a holistic approach here,  but I’m not sure Idan would agree. At any rate, “We all belong in this wondrous life”, though it’s not  directly clear how or why.  Some mysticism is to be found here too.
Above all, this is e massage of love. Love brings enlightenment.  John Idan wants to share, he hopes that people with different opinions will at least agree “to live in peace”.  John Idan isn’t a saint. There are moments of frustration and sadness, probably even despair or hopelessness, though he doesn’t say that aloud. Sadness is a probability, and so is madness, no less. Armed with love, peace and belief, John Idan has the strong will to overcome and pleads his god to help me in this endeavour.

The psychedelic song “The Kali Yuga’s Getting Hot”, refers to Hinduism, the Kali Yuga being an age that is about to end, the period  in which mankind fought, killed, plundered, burned and moved away from god. A new age is coming. In the sixties, that was the Age of Aquarius.

How about the music? Well, you will find plenty of reviews going into that. Just check them out on John Idan’s website: www.johnidan.net.  And listen to this show, of course.

© Eddy Bonte 
FIrst published on www.radio68.be for my show Free Speech