Arlo Guthrie

First, take a look at the cover of the album. Seated at a dining table, set with candles, three
glasses, cigarettes and three plates for an elegant dinner is Arlo Guthrie. Arlo, incredibly
dopey-looking, wearing a black formal derby hat on top of his sloppy long curly hair, is
holding a fork and a knife in each hand like a hillbilly, and has no shirt on but for a napkin
pasted to his chest. If you don't dig the cover, which is incredibly funny looking,... More >

The only sin of the title tale is kindness, but even in that, Arlo presents a fetching argument for hippie unsentimentality--for he's also funny, sly, intensely moral, and quite unmoralistic. The six tunes on the other side aren't bad as tunes, but they were recorded before Arlo learned how to sing. One-sided masterpiece. (Grade: B-)