Rating: 5/5
Review:
Just great
I think this is just great.
I approached The Tree Of Forgiveness with some dubiety because I wasn't
sure John Prine had another good album in him, but he certainly had. Within a
couple of tracks I was drawn in and completely won over.
It has no business to be as good as it is, really; the songs
are pretty basic country structures with familiar, simple chord sequences and Prine
sings of age-old concerns in what is now a battered, age-old voice – and he
does it brilliantly. His lyrics are thoughtful
with a deceptive simplicity and they vary from the witty to the very
evocative. He sings everything as though
he really means it, with the result that the songs glow with what is inside
them. For example, Egg & Daughter
Nite really makes me smile ("If they knew what you were thinkin', They'd
run you out of Lincoln…") and when he sings the three simple words
"Come on home" in Summers End it genuinely touches me every time.
John Prine has been a great songwriter and fine performer
for over 40 years now and he has undoubtedly still got it. The music here is just great, it's
excellently performed and I even love the humanity of the album's title and the
courage of the cover photo. I was
surprised and genuinely delighted by how very, very good this album is. Warmly recommended.
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