Recent Songs

The first thing 's music fans noticed about his sixth new studio album, given the typically open-ended title , was that, musically, it marked a return to the sound of his early records after the incongruous arrangements imposed on its predecessor, , only two years earlier. There were subtle musical developments, particularly a flavor of the American Southwest, courtesy of the band , which played on several tracks, but the acoustic guitars and violin recalled classic . Fans of the artist's poetry noticed something else. His writing had become increasingly bitter and angry during the 1970s in the books and as well as in his lyrics, but there was a new equanimity in these that began with the welcoming introduction of All was not suddenly well, of course, but "the open-hearted many" outnumbered "the broken-hearted few." 's usual mixture of religious and sexual imagery in the songs was elegant and evocative rather than painful. If he was conscious of the sacrifices he had made in vain in he was nevertheless able to make a sincere plea to a woman in mixing it with a prayer to "gentle this soul." The album was full of references to absence and dislocation, but deliberately countered them with humor. The cover of was enlivened by a arrangement, and the album ended with an allegory about a cowboy's search for a horse that ended with the suggestion that the pursuit was only a romantic game. Though often abstract, suggested had regained a certain equilibrium after a long dark period. ~ William Ruhlmann