It's hard to imagine legendary songwriter John Prine crooning "I love you so much it hurts" and "I want to hold you my dear forever and ever." To a piano, no less.
Isn't this the same Prine whose repertoire of songs has scratched at the darker underbelly of societal ignorance? The poet whose deft play on words has delivered classic sermons on the forgotten elderly ("Hello in There"), the human side of drug addiction ("Sam Stone"), the hidden shame of teenage pregnancies ("Unwed Fathers") and environmental awareness ("Paradise")?Isn't Prine the one who wallows so beautifully in the self-pity of loves lost and memories past?
Yep, that's him. But there's a whole new John Prine on his just-released "Lost Dogs & Mixed Blessings." This Prine is one reveling in the unbridled love that comes from a happy marriage and the optimism surrounding the birth of his son, Jack, born Dec. 1.
Not surprisingly, "Lost Dogs" is different from any other Prine recording in his 25-year songwriting career. And not just lyrically. Producer Howie Epstein has injected an uptempo pace, coupled with delightfully seductive bass tracks that pervade most of the 14 songs. The effect certainly creates the impression that Prine is having an awful lot of fun making music.
The album starts off with the simple little rocker "New Train," a tune that relishes the simple pleasures of home, friends and family. There's also a sense of acquired wisdom as he sings "collected volumes of history say/man makes mistakes most everyday/the half pound of chopped ground round/is still a burger when it goes downtown/no faded photographs of yesterdays/are in the books that I read these days."
"Ain't Hurtin' Nobody" is a Dylanesque rocker that offers catchy commentary on everything from Little Richard to the death penalty and farm machinery. It is also the most melodically satisfying of the new cuts.
Other gems include "We Are the Lonely," a deliciously wicked send-up of personal ads. "White divorced swinging male/seeks company to no avail/worthless ruthless toothless man/wants wealthy woman with a plan/SWF with PHD/seeks TLC at the A&P," and so on. You'll be humming this one for days.
Prine also takes a body shot at television advertisements in his "Quit Hollerin' At Me." Certainly not as angry as Neil Young's "This Note's For You," Prine's diatribe concludes with the insightful "Ain't it great at the end of the day/when there ain't no sound around/just me and the fence post/staring each other down/nothing but a big bunch of nothing/driving me insane/cause there ain't no voice that's louder/than the one inside my brain."
Perhaps the best cuts on "Lost Dogs" are "Lake Marie" and "Humidity Built the Snowman." "Lake Marie" is a wistful, traditional Prine song that looks inward while watching events unfold around him. Partly spoken and partly sung, Prine takes the listener on a bizarre but captivating journey, from the time the American Indians named the twin lakes to his watching the evening news as police recovered two bodies from the lake.
"Snowman" is a classic Prine tune, about being haunted by memories but forging ahead. "Does he still think about her/why there was never really any doubt/every time he lights a candle, or blows a candle out/the scientific nature of the ordinary man/is to go on out and do the best you can."
Prine is still trying to get a handle on the love song thing. Some of them work, others don't. One that does is "This Love Is Real," on which a worshipful Prine sings "I have tasted other lips I thought were true/I have looked into the eyes I thought were you/now touching just to touch/and feeling just to feel/I know that this love is real."
"Lost Dogs" is occasionally brilliant and always solid. It is not a classic in the same sense as "John Prine" or "Bruised Orange" or "Common Sense." But it certainly ranks among the best of Prine's career, a worthy sequel to his Grammy-winning "The Missing Years."
And for those hard-core Prine fans who may be disconcerted with all this love and optimism stuff, not to worry. There is plenty of gritty soul-searching and razor-sharp commentary here. In Prine's case, new directions are not necessarily bad directions.
RATINGS: four stars (* * * * ), excellent; three stars (* * * ), good; two stars (* * ), fair; one star (* ), poor, with 1/2 representing a higher, intermediate grade.