Freedy Johnston’s second major-label release and fourth overall, 1997’s Never Home, features the most concise balance between Johnston’s literate singer-songwriter-isms and his keen pop sense. “On the Way Out” and “I’m Not Hypnotized” immediately come barreling out of the gate with tight, tough harmonies and even tougher guitar hooks ready to pounce. Producer Danny “Kootch” Kortchmar (Jackson Browne) keeps Johnston in check, punching up the band sound throughout and adding additional menace (“One More Thing to Break”) without losing the songwriter in an ensemble haze. “Western Sky,” “He Wasn’t Murdered” and “Gone to See the Fire” serve as brilliant character sketches about reunion and loss, suicide, and arson that neither sacrifice their strong narratives nor lose the thread of the song. Johnston might consider a second career as a short story writer. However, here he’s still writing with acoustic guitar in hand, as he studies UFOs (“Something’s Out There”) and finds a deep disturbance watching a new girlfriend dress up in his old girlfriend’s clothes.