John Prine

In the course of making an album of deceptively slap-happy folk-rock songs. John Prine has
managed to slip in some of the most delicate, compressed wordplay of his career. Indeed.
Storm Windows strikes a stunning balance between the artist's last two radically different
releases. Bruised Orange (1978) featured Prine at his contemplative best, forcing a
confrontation with his frustrated ambitions as a performer who'd never achieve... More >

Finally Prine has fun in the studio without falling bang on his face like he did at Sun. Unless you count the spy at the House of Pies, the closest the lyrics come to existential absurdity is "Living in the Future"--"We're all driving rocket ships/And talking with our minds/And wearing turquoise jewelry/And standing in soup lines." But he's not throwing them away; you can tell because he's no longer slurring like 8 A.M. on the Tuesday of a lost weekend. And with Barry Beckett in control, his latest band negotiates the changes between happy and sad like 11:30 on a Friday night. Not stunning, but real smart, real relaxed--one to play. (Grade: A-)