Freedy Johnston - Never Home (1997)

From the propulsive opener "On the Way Out" to the lilting closer "Something's Out There" (about, of all things, a UFO abduction), the sparkling Never Home is Freedy Johnston's most musically and emotionally expansive outing to date. Finding a sympathetic ear in producer and guitarist Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar, Johnston's songs transcend their dark themes to reveal unexpected and heretofore unseen moments of warmth and sentimentality; even edgy, Randy Newman-like character studies such as "He Wasn't Murdered" and "Gone to See the Fire" offer moments of tenderness which their subjects (suicide and arson, respectively) can't suppress.