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By DALE ZAHN Ever find yourself in this situation. You walk in to the record department of one of the big department stores look ing for something different and you wind up buying a disc with a striking jacket or perhaps simply another ‘name star’ LP? It is hard to find something in the way of a record that is really different these days unless you get a chance to hear the performer or his record first. there is a new album now available by a 24-year-old fel low who hails from the north west Chicago suburb of May wood. The title of the disc, sim ply “John Prine.’ No earth shattering record jacket to grab your eye and so, unless you caught John at the 6th Peg in Chicago where he played for five months or unless you are so inclined to pick up this record and read the four paragraphs of liner notes on the back which were written by Kris Kristoffer son, you probably would not be overly excited about buying this record by a young man who has not yet ‘made it” big on the music scene. JOHN PRINE is a talented performer both as a singer and as a writer. In fact, in the opin ion of this writer, he is a better writer than singer. Put this re cord on the turntable and your first thought is ‘Oh no, another one of those run of the mill country-western records that contains songs about Saturday night barn dances, lost loves in the Tennessee hills and good ol’ mountain dew.” John’s LP may have the country sound, but it certainly does not contain those stereo typed country sounds. It is quite evident that John thinks about what he writes. His songs are timely, they deal with life, death, love, people and things as they are in today’s world. His record is meant to be listened to for its lyrical content, and after the first few notes, the average listener finds himself wrapped up in what John has to say. He is not a great singer but he writes very fine material. His opening song “Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore’ is clever, easy to un derstand and well presented. ‘The tune about “Sam Stone” could be applied to any war veteran who has come home to loving arms only to have his life ruined by drugs which became an integral part of his life. ANOTHER interesting song is ‘Spanish Pipedream” which is about a young man who meets up with “a level-headed dancer on the road to alcohol.” The two get together, under stand each other, have a family, look at life realistically and eventually find Jesus on their own. T could go on and explain what each of John's 13 cuts deals with, but that would not do the record justice. It wouldn’t be fair to the future listener. John is on his way to bigger things musically, as he is currently appearing at the Bitter End in New York, which has been the stepping stone for many a name star. Perhaps John will be one of them.
Newspaper Details
Park Forest Star
Park Forest, Illinois, US
Sun, Nov 14, 1971
Page 42
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