Loudon Wainwright III

On his early albums Loudon Wainwright III was a master of the tangibility of wonder,
sketching the humor and help-lessness of cosmic adolescence. His first words on record
were: "In Delaware when I was younger/I would live the life obscene/In the spring I had
great hunger/I was Bran-do, I was Dean."<SUP>*</SUP> But something has surely happened to
him. The Wainwright who performed with energy and conviction such masterpi... More >

Since most people can't absorb the head-on impact of Wainwright's conjugal details--how do you confront an accusation like "You told me that I came too soon but it was you who came too late"?--the second side of this album, recorded live, tends to sound a little yockier than it should. On side one, however, the mockery has just the right edge of self-flagellation and is balanced off by a gentleness without which he might seem a little spoiled. In other words, the balance of pleasure and pain he's been seeking for five years. (Grade: A-)