Saturday Spins Vol. 31
Saturday Spins Vol. 31
Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows (Songs Of John Prine) Vols. 1 and 2
Every Saturday I use the Discogs Randomizer Gizmo to pick a record from my collection and write about it here.
I was shaking the Discogs randomizer today to pick this week’s Saturday Spin, and wouldn’t you know it, the second volume of Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows popped up. Since the late great John Prine would have been 78 years old on October 10, I thought doing a double feature of these two tribute albums would be a good way to mark that occasion.
Both of these LPs are chock full of a who’s who of musical talent—I plan on hitting the highlights for you fine people. Prine, like Dylan et. al. was a prolific songwriter who had a particular talent for writing down to earth and humorous lyrics. He was one of the great storytellers, and it was a complete travesty that he was taken from us early.
Many of the artists included on these tributes are favorites of mine, which means they get a lot of plays here. There’s even a few I wouldn’t normally listen to, but have changed my feeling and perspective on after hearing their work on these albums.
Vol. 1
Volume 1 was released whilst Prine was still among the living in 2010. It features some real heavy hitters in the Americana and neo-folk genres. Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band recorded an excellent version of the cheeky “Wedding Day in Funeralville”, while Old Crow Medicine Show did signature Prine track, “Angel From Montgomery” justice—evoking the same feelings as if the man himself was fronting the band. Justin Townes Earle recorded an underrated cover of an underrated Prine Song, “Far From Me”, about love for a long lost waitress. Drive-By Truckers did a rollicking version of one of my personal favorite Prine songs, “Daddy’s Little Pumpkin” as did the Avett Brothers on “Spanish Pipedream.” Finally, My Morning Jacket, Deer Tick, and Bon Iver add decent cover performances all around.
This OG pressing is pretty simple black wax and a single sleeve jacket—nothing too fancy. There is an insert featuring the red heart art and the names of the various artists that make up this spectacular release. It really is a joy to listen to and means even more now that Prine is gone.
Vol 2.
Despite what the critics said about the first volume, I have to say I like it a lot better than this one. However, this one does feature the ultimate Prine cover by the man himself, Johnny Blue Skies/dick daddy/Sturgill Simpson/Sunday Valley. His cover of Prine standard, “Paradise” is done so well that I think I wore out the grooves I listened to it so much. Margo Price’s cover of “Sweet Revenge’ is done quite well. “Sweet Revenge” was the song that got me into John Prine in the first place. Frequent collaborator, Iris DeMent, does a sorrowful cover of “One Red Rose.” I was super happy to see her included on this volume. Another collaborator, and legend, Bonnie Raitt performs a cover of “Angel From Montgomery”—a song she performed with Prine himself at times.
Probably the best overall performance on the album is by Tyler Childers covering “Yes I Guess They Oughta Name A Drink After You.” There are some middling performances by Jason Isbell and his then wife Amanda Shires—both disappointing considering their close relationship to John Prine. Feels like they inserted themselves here just because. That Nathaniel Rateliff cover performance is pretty damn faithful to the original, which is PRETTY GOOD, NOT BAD, CAN’T COMPLAIN—if you follow my meaning *wink *wink.
I have two copies of this LP. Both OG pressings on transparent blue wax to match and continue the heart artwork theme. Once again the it is a single sleeve jacket with a s small insert and inner sleeve. Nothing too fancy.
Enjoy listening to these two LPs this weekend in memory of John Prine and I guarantee you’ll be listening to Prine all next week, cause the singing mailman always delivered a lot of earworms.