Consumer Guide Album

Loudon Wainwright III: Album III [Columbia, 1972]
In which the whiz kid relaxes with a pleasant folk-rock band and admits that the chief use of epigrammatic wit is humor, thereby consenting to be funny right out. He also allows himself a few moments of genuine lyricism, sees fit to steal a song from Leiber & Stoller, and also appropriates a melody from "Sweet Little Sixteen." His reward? "Dead Skunk," a song redolent of the pop success he seeks. The misanthrope grows older. Very encouraging. A-