Consumer Guide Album

Bobby Bare: Sleeper Wherever I Fall [Columbia, 1979]
In case you were wondering what Bill Graham's been up to, here he is directing the career of a Nashville veteran with a great ear who's never fulfilled his great expectations. His CBS debut, Bare, was a Shel Silverstein collaboration that offered its fair share of pleasures, but it didn't sell, so this one goes rock-schlock, befouling good songs with strings that aren't up to Parton and Byrdsy cadences that aren't up to McGuinn, Clark & Hillman. Fortunately, the new one hasn't sold either. C+