30th Anniversary De Luxe Edition out next month, with a first ever re-mastered vinyl version. Our occasional series salutes the Prine Family for this album reissue, and for unearthing alternate takes and an unheard song that give context to this iconic album.
John Prine was an artist so loved and admired, so respected and cherished that he finished 4th in Americana UK readers’ list of Greatest Americana Artist of All Time – pretty impressive considering the competition. Of course, AUK readers (and writers who voted him number 6) were only reflecting the esteem in which Prine was held, not only as a songwriter and performer but as an all-around nice guy. Stories abound of his generosity of spirit and his friendly disposition. Sadly, Prine had a series of problems with his health, possibly not helped by being a 30-year smoker. He developed squamous cell carcinoma in 1996, the treatment for which somewhat affected his singing voice, though fortunately not his songwriting ability. In 2013, he was treated for lung cancer and underwent surgery. His voice changed, but survived both. In 2020, an outpouring of grief and tributes attended his death from COVID complications, one of the first major artists to succumb to that pandemic disease. Luckily for us, his legacy lives on, and you can read any number of tributes online, including on AUK.
He was the songwriters’ songwriter, a writer of some of the most wide-ranging and moving songs about the human condition, about love and loneliness, about ordinary people and the working class (where he used real names to empathise with their hardships, creating characters that listeners felt drawn to); he was not afraid to write social and political commentary. Other writers were in awe – Dylan stated that Prine was one of his favourite writers, Kris Kristofferson ‘discovered’ him in a Chicago folk club and invited him to open for him, later saying that “by the end of the first line we knew we were hearing something else!”. Roger Waters of Pink Floyd described his music as “incredibly eloquent“, which is a nice way to describe his songwriting, the ability to produce magical tales from great lines, with an economy of words.
My room at home has on the wall a treasured canvas given to me by my son, with the words of ‘Hello In There‘ (from Prine’s first album) written over the body of an acoustic guitar with his facsimile signature beneath the bridge, a beautiful reminder of a road trip he and I made (starting by air from the UK, naturally) through Colorado to Telluride for the Bluegrass Festival in 2016, where icons of advanced years Peter Rowan, Del McCoury and John Prine appeared on stage within hours of one another.
Oh Boy Records, run by the Prine Family, has chosen to remind people of Prine’s genius, and in celebration of its 30th Anniversary, with a deluxe remastered version of “Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings”, Prine’s 13th album from 1995. And, for the first time, the album will also be available on vinyl. The choice of this particular album is significant – the Prine Family unearthed from the archives not only some alternate takes on some of the songs, including the iconic and firm favourite ‘Lake Marie’, but also found a previously unreleased and unheard track ‘Hey Ah Nothing‘, which has also been added to the new digital version. Furthermore it is an album probably dear to Prine’s heart, as he was at the time in a particularly happy place for a number of reasons – he was rejoicing in a relationship with Fiona Whelan who became his third wife, he had just become a father for the first time, he was going through a rich vein of songwriting especially after “The Missing Years” album, which had just won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album.
Collaborating with Howie Epstein (one of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers) for the second time as producer, the album is a great mix of styles, with almost perfect track pacing between heartfelt love songs, swinging rockers and a couple of more bluesy offerings. Epstein decided on a fuller sound for most of the album, but the addition of the five alternate takes and demos highlight, in even starker form, the charm of the songs without embellishment. As usual, Prine moves between some surreal writing and some so straightforward that you don’t realise until the second or third listen, quite how clever and empathetic the songs are.
‘New Train’ kicks off the album in upbeat acoustic americana territory, in almost singalong fashion; in a song about change, Prine seems happy and at peace with his life “And when you look out your window you’ll see / Your home, your baby and your family” and then “The friends that greet you will be simple and plain / When you step down from that new train”. There’s not another track like it, with a totally acoustic backing of three acoustic guitars, dobro, banjo and mandolin (courtesy of the brilliant John Jorgenson), accordion (Phil Parlapiano) and keys of Benmont Tench. And underpinning this and virtually every track with some stunning bass lines is Epstein himself.
The other tracks vary between harder rockers (one or two even pop-infused), a number of beautifully simple and effective love songs and the album’s masterpiece, the largely spoken verses of ‘Lake Marie’ with its lovely captivating chorus “we were standing / standing by peaceful waters / standing by peaceful waters / whoa wah oh wah oh” that blends beauty and the spoken pain of a failing marriage plus the tragedy of a murder mystery. It is a Prine fan’s favourite, and very highly regarded by Bob Dylan himself, no less. The style of the verses is not dissimilar to some of Dylan’s. It has subtle harmonica, marxophone and accordion in the mix, whereas the demo version has just Prine with acoustic guitar, which in some ways is more emotive.
The love songs are just gorgeous. ‘All the way with you’, an exhortation to a lover for a lifetime partnership, with just simple lyrics seeking commitment (the alternate take is just Prine on acoustic guitar). ‘Day is Done’ is just Prine with acoustic guitar in a love song tinged with sadness as it is clearly about two lovers in a forbidden relationship: “we shared some things / and had some fun / now we’ll say goodbye / and go back home when day is done”. ‘This love is real’ features Prine sharing lead vocals with Marianne Faithfull in another love song with a raft of acoustic guitars in the backing, including a beautiful turn by Jorgenson on nylon strings. The feeling in the title is heartfelt, but the song could be interpreted as a failed relationship. The third verse goes “someone should tell our dreams when love is gone / while still in slumber memories linger on / sometimes I lie awake in bed till dawn / Thinking of you / now you’re gone”. And the final ballad is an old Floyd Tilman song, ‘I love you so much it hurts’ – and there is little doubt about the meaning of this one—just Prine on vocals and Tench on piano – delightful.
The more ‘produced’ tracks are the ones with the alternate takes that provide some interesting context. ‘Ain’t hurtin nobody‘, a mid-paced rocker, has some scorching electric guitar from Waddy Wachtel, underpinned by organ, especially in the fade out, while the alternate take is almost entirely piano driven (presumably Tench). It’s a great song, by the way. ‘Quit hollerin’ at me‘, a slow bluesy number, also has Wachtel playing really fine electric lead, also in the alternate take, but that version has the organ and keys virtually absent.
The remaining songs are somewhat lighter lyrically, but not without some great lines. The lilting ‘He forgot that it was Sunday’ is full of images – eg “on a dusty pew in a vestibule / sits the devil playing pocket pool / he’s waiting for the next poor fool / who forgot that it was Sunday”. ‘We are the lonely’ is a catchy heavy-driving rocker with chorus lyrics that might resonate today “we are the lonely all together, all together we’re all alone”. Prine’s humour comes out in ‘Humidity Built the Snowman’, a very metaphoric song about the impermanence of relationships using the fragility of a snowman in the face of warmer weather. Gary Riley’s hurdy gurdy swirls in the mix, but the outtake is more arresting with just Prine and his melodic guitar.
And to cap it all off is a song that has never been heard before, ‘Hey Ah Nothing‘. Recorded at the same time as other tracks on the album and featuring, in particular, Tench on piano, this is Prine in playful mood with a song that has the same feel as ‘Quit hollerin’ at me‘. It only continues to demonstrate the quality and enigma that is Prine – the song has some fun images in the verse then pronounces the following in the chorus: “if you concentrate just like you can’t control your appetite, real good / be careful of the things you do and make sure no one’s watching you, feel good / if anyone can reassess the sum of this entire mess, we could”. And there is a wonderful video to go with the song.
And there you have it– what a joy to welcome the reissue of this album and compliments to the Prine family for not only unearthing both the new track but also the alternate takes which add so much to this venture, but also for recognition of a special period in John Prine’s life which made this album so special – it was even nominated for a Grammy just a few short years after his previous album won. Those of us with the appropriate hardware can look forward with great anticipation to the vinyl version in all its glory. And maybe the Prine Family will be able to replicate this achievement if they can unearth more gems going forward.
“Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings” is released by Oh Boy Records on September 12th.
