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I have pals who are big fans of his early albums, which are very well done and literate and a bit folkie/country flavored, a la the early Jayhawks. Lotsa Upper Midwest prairie atmosphere blowing through there. I like 'em fine, but they don't do that much for me.
That said, I love, love, love his album Trampoline. On it, he makes a break with his past equivalent to the one Tom Waits made with Swordfishtrombones. In fact, there is a lot of late-period Waits to his work since--clanking, organic sound; wasted late-night ambiance; inscrutable tall tales, etc. Anyway, Trampoline boasts several great character-driven weirdo songs, especially "Ohio Air Show Plane Crash" and "Flower Girl," and the whole thing is produced so beguilingly that the just-okay tunes go down quite nicely too. And Helmet's Page Hamilton plays a bunch of the guitar, which is more appealing than it sounds, honest. Really and truly a slept-on gem.
His two albums since then have been much more difuse, much less engaging, at least for me. The melancholy troubadour pretensions are way up and the memorable song quotient is way down. That said, his most recent release, Scar, features Henry's very different version of "Don't Tell Me" (entitled "Stop") and Ornette Coleman soloing on a tune called "Richard Pryor Addresses a Tearful Nation," both minor selling points to be sure.
That help?
― Lee G (Lee G), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 16:57 (twenty-one years ago) link
i like "Trampoline" and "Don't Tell Me" quite a lot. but I saw him play solo last year, opening for Elvis Costello, and he's simply the most dreary, unengaging performer I've ever seen try and pull off the voice-and-guitar thing, and both of those songs were rendered dull and bereft of all melody, dynamics or charm that they otherwise possess.
― Al (sitcom), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 19:21 (twenty-one years ago) link
"Stop" & "Richard Pryor..." (even the 4ish minutes before OC's solo) totally make _Scar_ worth owning, & the rest of the album is very agreeable in a laconic sort of way. If you like the sort of thing Lee describes up thar.
― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 00:29 (twenty-one years ago) link
ten years pass...
five years pass...
man...finally saw him perform here last year, just the greatest guy.
'I could dance when I was young'.
― campreverb, Saturday, 8 June 2019 17:57 (four years ago) link
Really sad about this. Up through Scar he's one of my all-time favorite songwriters and performers. (After that, I start to feel maybe I'm not middle-aged enough yet to really dig the material; something to look forward to perhaps.)
― mick signals, Saturday, 8 June 2019 19:43 (four years ago) link
I haven't been able to unlock his most recent albums either. Excellent players, what sounds to my ears like dull results, but it could be because they are so unadorned, almost austere, perhaps forcing you to focus on the lyrics, which is not always my thing.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 8 June 2019 20:11 (four years ago) link