A Cult Artist's Cult Artist (Who's Jackie Leven? Ask Johnny Dowd, or Ron Sexsmith, or Pere Ubu's David Thomas.)

One of the few North American articles about Leven, published for the US release of Gothic Road (Vol. 39 No. 31 of the Chicago Reader). The critic Cliff Doerksen, who comes from Winnipeg, recounts how Doll by Doll found a small following in his home town in 1979 and defends the first three albums (Remember, Gypsy Blood, Doll by Doll) as the greatest lost rock albums; Grand Passion falls short. From the liner notes of the 2007 Rhino reissues he quotes that John Peel and Paul Morley loathed the band. Discovering the UbuDoll project with David Thomas (2000) led him to Leven's solo work; he considers Leven possibly the most underrated living songwriter. Gothic Road is the 13th solo studio album since 1994; mentioned are Chip Pan Fire, collaborations with Johnny Dowd, Ron Sexsmith and Ian Rankin, and a quotation from David Thomas from the DVD The Meeting of Remarkable Men (2004). Leven talks about touring (formerly 200 days a year, now fewer), about the genre label, and about the fact that lack of attention sometimes makes him angry but that he made his choice.