| |
Whiskyfun
Home
(Current
entries)
Concert
Review
Index
(All Reviews
Since 2004)
Leave
feedback
 |
Copyright
Nick Morgan and crew
|
|
|
Concert
Review by Nick Morgan |
|
 |
JOHN
PRINE
Shepherds Bush Empire, October 31st 2005 |
 |
| The
last thing I want to do is cause offence, or be
thought to be disrespectful. But you know, it has
to be said, and it can’t be gainsaid, John
Prine has just got the haircut from
hell. And it’s not a new thing – take
a look at the tonsorial confections that adorn most
of his album covers, from the eponymous John Prine
of 1971, to the just released Fair and Square, and
you’ll see what I mean. And just watch out
for 1978’s Bruised Orange, which apart from
featuring two of tonight’s classic Prine numbers,
‘Fish and Whistle, and ‘That’s
the way the world goes round’, shows a Prinesque
rug that would frighten the pets far more than a
whole night’s worth of Guy Fawke’s fireworks.
And the children naive creatures that they are blessedly
are, obviously thought it was a seasonal thing.
“Is it the Bad Halloween Man Mommy?”
asked a little girl (eyes covered by her mother’s
trembling hands) who sat close by us in the Bush’s
exclusive upper-deck Executive Class 5/9s, “Tell
me Daddy’s hair will never look like that”. |
| Well
who cares? There’s a Shepherd’s Bush
Empire full of Moms and Dads, kids, suited after-office
workers, old men with their sandwiches, new-age
punks, west London media types, and me and The Photographer,
who’ll tell you that this is a man who can
in all probability walk on water, and as such the
presence of the sad remains of a seventies mullet
is nothing. This is John Prine back with his first
album of new songs for nine years, a period during
which he’s survived major surgery for cancer,
and the subsequent chemotherapy (“the doctor
said, ‘John, we’re worried about damaging
your throat’, I said, ‘Doc, have you
ever heard me sing?’”) which saw his
voice drop several points on the scale. |
 |
He’s
just won some big shot Nashville award for Musician
of the Year, and Fair and Square may well have Grammy
written all over it. And haircut notwithstanding,
he’s just such a nice bloke. He smiles, grins
with pleasure at his own lyrics, seems genuinely
overwhelmed by the warmth of the reception, and
just seems to be having a wonderful time. And he’s
got a cough almost as bad as mine and spends much
of the night swigging back Benylin from the bottle
as if it was Jack Daniels. Even the little girl
gently removes her mother’s protective hands
from her eyes and gawps with undisguised admiration
and affection.
John Prine has that sort of effect on you. His clever
little songs sneak up on you when you’re least
expecting it – wit, melancholy, wry observation,
regret, stoicism, anger, guilt, all played out in
little domestic vignettes of American life. |
 |
Of
course he’s no friend of the powerful. He
came to fame partly through the songs he wrote that
were inspired by Vietnam – ‘Sam Stone’,
‘Your flag decal’; well, what goes around
comes around, and thirty or more years on (“I
got this song out of the attic for George Bush and
his friends, I hope they all go to jail”)
they’re no less relevant than they were then.
If anything even more poignant. |
| And
reinforced by ‘Some humans ain’t human’
from the new disc. Which features a lot during the
evening, so we get ‘Crazy as a loon’,
‘Long Monday’, ‘Taking a walk’
‘Bear Creek’ and ‘She is my everything’
(“This is a song about my wife. It’s
a nice song. It’s good to have a nice song
about your wife, ‘Cos you can just go ‘round
the house humming it when things ain’t too
good”). All sung as well as can be expected
from a man on a Benylin binge, with support vocals
from Mindy Smith (she was dressed for Halloween
too) and backed by his superb band of several years:
David Jacques on string and electric bass, and the
outstanding Jason Wilber on mandolin, lead and slide
guitar. |
| And
of course the new material was spiced up with the
best of Prine’s back catalogue, not easy to
choose from such a vast collection of impressive
work. But we got ‘Souvenirs’, ‘Fish
and Whistle’, the gorgeous yet resentful ‘Angel
from Montgomery’, ‘Dear Abbey’,
‘Donald and Lydia’, ‘Sam Stone,
‘Ain’t hurting nobody’, ‘Hello
in there’. ‘Lake Marie’, and to
finish ‘Paradise’. It’s remarkable
that any writer can have such a strong body of work
to call from, and to be frank even more of a surprise
that after a considerable gap he can come back with
vibrant new material that equals the old. |
 |
|
But then I suppose, as his haircut signals, Prine
is no ordinary person. Like some other artistes
we’ve reviewed on Whiskyfun he gets the ‘national
treasure’ treatment from the juvenile critics
who don’t quite get it. But for once they’re
almost right – but please don’t put
John in a Museum, put his haircuts there instead,
and charge all the people a dollar and a half just
to see ‘em. - Nick morgan (concert photos
by Kate) |
Check
the index of all reviews:
Nick's Concert Reviews
|
|
|
|
|
There's nothing more down there... |
|
|
|
|
