RSSAlthough some claim he grew up with 1992's History, its sensitivity smelled of Iron John-style posturing--a secret cover for the same old self-involvement, But the live cAREER mOVES (Virgin), which samples the highs of his over-30 output while eliding its numerous flubs, is a kind of summing up. It's amazingly consistent, probably his best album ever. Dotted with surefire stage patter and framed by two drolly unembittered accounts of how he makes his living, it has its heart-tugging moments--notably Your Mother and I, written to explain the inevitable breakup to his daughter by famous folkie Suzzy Roche. Mostly, though, it presents him as what he is--a very talented upper-middle class wag who never became a star. It should cheer any over-30 bad boy who can forget for the moment that his spotty sex life and adventures in substance abuse will never be as entertaining as this born entertainer's.
Fast Cuts: Nothing if not embittered, Van Morrison's Too Long in Exile (Polydor) somehow makes beautiful music out of the claim that the artiste's mistreatment at the hands of Bigtime Operators gives him the right to sing the blues. At peace with his small measure of success, The John Prine Anthology: Great Days (Rhino) is a two-CD overview of the New Dylan of 1971's career moves, more goofy than witty and longer on empathy than self-involvement.
Playboy, Aug. 1993
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