Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings
alt-country, Americana
LabelOh Boy
ProducerHowie Epstein
John Prine chronology
A John Prine Christmas
(1994) 		Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings
(1995) 		Live on Tour
(1997)

Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings is the 12th studio album by American folk singer John Prine, released in 1995. The cover artwork is by John Callahan.

Recording

Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings was produced by

Nashville veteran Gary Nicholson and includes contributions from guitarist Waddy Wachtel and Marianne Faithfull. It was recorded, as The Missing Years had been, at Huh Sound Theater, Los Angeles and Pacifique Recording Studios, North Hollywood – which was really Epstein's house – and featured many of the same musicians that played on the previous album. However, Prine told the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel in 1995, "I didn’t want to try to come up with The Missing Years II. Sure, it came out big and shiny, but it won’t help if you put horns on it if the songs aren’t good."[1] Prine also admitted that he and Epstein had come to the end of their working relationship: "We kinda overextended ourselves on Lost Dogs...I think we were pretty tired of each other. At the end, we shook hands and said, 'OK, we did it.'"[1]

Composition

"Lake Marie" is arguably the album's most popular track. The song was inspired in part by Prine's crumbling marriage and a series of grisly murders the singer remembered the

The Huffington Post, Bob Dylan
commented, "If I had to pick one song of his, it might be 'Lake Marie'."

"Ain't Hurtin' Nobody" was inspired by one of the singer's childhood trips to the beach and would be chosen to be Prine's second music video (the first having been "Picture Show"). The optimistic "New Train" seems to celebrate a new lease on life while "Humidity Built the Snowman" is a commentary on the impermanence of relationships.[2] Several of the songs have a harder edge than many might expect from Prine, largely due to the presence of guitarist Waddy Wachtel, such as "Big Fat Love", which producer Howie Epstein referred to as “the Aerosmith number”,[2] and the ominous "Quit Hollerin' at Me", which reveals Prine's frustration with consumer culture and the need to escape. Regarding the album's slick and occasionally "commercial-rock" sound, biographer Eddie Huffman speculates, "After the success of The Missing Years, Prine and Epstein may have thought they could do no wrong, and the cheesier songs sound like calculated attempts to get Prine on the radio."[3]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
The New Rolling Stone Album Guide
[10]
Spin6/10[11]

Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings received favorable reviews upon release and was nominated for a

Allmusic, critic William Ruhlman wrote of the album "Fans of the early Prine may find that sound over-produced, but the songs never get lost, and with Prine's typically humorous, off-center view of the world..."[4] Music critic Robert Christgau wrote "Prine's waggish pathos and lip-smacking Americanese have been whetted by the divorce that keeps nosing in where it's not wanted."[6]
Biographer Eddie Huffman takes a dim view of the lyrics to several songs, such as “We Are the Lonely” and “Leave the Lights On,” the latter of which was credited to Prine, Howie Epstein, Phil Parlapiano, and drummer Joe Romersa: “Prine seemed to be aiming at
Cowboy Jack Clement-style whimsy, but it’s a wonder no one convinced him it was a terrible mistake to rhyme ‘telephoney’ with ‘Rice-A-Roni’ and ‘forty-two-inch Sony’ with ‘Twilight Zoney’.”[2]

Track listing

  1. "New Train" (John Prine) – 3:24
  2. "Ain't Hurtin' Nobody" (Prine) – 5:01
  3. "All the Way With You" (Prine, Gary Nicholson) – 3:52
  4. "We Are the Lonely" (Prine, Nicholson) – 4:28
  5. "Lake Marie" (Prine) – 6:00
  6. "Humidity Built the Snowman" (Prine) – 4:27
  7. "Day Is Done" (Prine, Nicholson) – 3:33
  8. "Quit Hollerin' at Me" (Prine, Nicholson) – 4:16
  9. "Big Fat Love" (Prine, Nicholson) – 3:58
  10. "Same Thing Happened to Me" (Prine, Nicholson) – 3:18
  11. "This Love Is Real" (Prine, Lee Clayton) – 3:18
  12. "Leave the Lights On" (Prine, Howie Epstein, Phil Parlapiano, Joe Romersa) – 3:28
  13. "He Forgot That It Was Sunday" (Prine) – 5:38
  14. "I Love You So Much It Hurts" (Floyd Tillman) – 2:32

Personnel

  • John Prine – vocals, guitar
  • Marianne Faithfull – backing vocals
  • Johnnie Fiori – backing vocals
  • Sass Jordan – backing vocals
  • John Jorgenson – guitar, slide guitar, dobro, mandolin, banjo, vocals
  • Doug Hamblin – background vocals
  • Benmont Tench – piano, organ
  • Patti Brooks – background vocals
  • Howie Epstein – guitar, slide guitar, bass, banjo, piano, harmonica, percussion, marxophone, vocals
  • Bob Glaub – bass
  • John Hobbs – piano
  • Vicky Levy – vocals
  • Jay Dee Maness – pedal steel
  • Gary Nicholson – guitar, piano
  • Phil Parlapiano – mandolin, accordion, harmonium, keyboards
  • Juliette Prayter - percussion
  • Joe Romersa – drums, percussion
  • Vince Santoro – percussion
  • Sarah Taylor – background vocals
  • Waddy Wachtel – electric and acoustic guitar
  • Gary Riley – hurdy-gurdy, percussion
  • Rock Deadrick – drums, percussion
  • Carlene Carter - autoharp, percussion
  • Carol Leffler – backing vocals

Chart positions

Year Chart Position
1995 Billboard Top 200 Albums 159

References

  1. ^ a b Huffman 2015, p. 160.
  2. ^ a b c Huffman 2015, p. 158.
  3. ^ Huffman 2015, p. 159.
  4. ^
    Allmusic
    . Retrieved July 9, 2011.
  5. ^ Dretzka, Gary (1995-05-04). "Prime Prine". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
  6. ^
    ISBN 9780312245603
    .
  7. ISBN 9780857125958
    .
  8. ^ Cannon, Bob (1995-05-05). "Music Review: 'Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings'". Entertainment Weekly.
  9. ISSN 0458-3035
    . Retrieved 2018-01-29.
  10. ISBN 9780743201698
    .
  11. ^ Weisbard, Eric (August 1995). "Records". Spin. SPIN Media LLC. p. 95.
  12. ^ "Lost Dogs & Mixed Blessings". Rolling Stone. 1998-02-02.

Bibliography

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