John Prine

The unassuming cover of his 1971 debut gave no indication of the kind of narrative power John Prine exuded so effortlessly. With a gift for storytelling that rivaled that of his friend and supporter, Kris Kristofferson, Prine also offered up a series of vignettes that were as strong as anything Dylan ever wrote. "Sam Stone" is like the The Deer Hunter in song form.

This is a very good first album by a very good songwriter. Good songwriters are on the rise,
but John Prine is differently good. His work demands some time and thought from the
listener–he's not out to write pleasant tunes, he wants to arrest the cursory listener and
get attention for some important things he has to say and, thankfully, he says them without
fallinginto the common trap of writing with overtones of self-importance or smug... More >

You suspect at first that these standard riffs and reliable rhythms are designed to support the lyrics rather than accompany them. But the homespun sarcasm of singing that comes on as tuneless as the tunes themselves soon reveals itself as an authentic, rather catchy extension of Nashville and Appalachia--and then so do the tunes, and the riffs, and the rhythms. Anyway, the lyrics are worth accompanying--not the literary corn of the absurdly overpraised "Sam Stone," but the cross-generational empathy of "Hello in There" and "Angel from Montgomery," the heartland hippieism of "Illegal Smile" and "Spanish Pipedream." And Arif Mardin hooks up "Pretty Good" pretty good. (Grade - A)