Customer Reviews

German Afternoons

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a fan of Prine. I own all the discs. I've seen him a number of times. This album is good - just not as good as some of his others. I don't hear a connection between Prine and the album. Most times it sounds too glossed over and produced. The first three tracks are fine. "Linda Goes to Mars" and "Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiian" are very good. "I Just Want to Dance With You" (recently covered by George Strait) is o.k. but lacks something. "Bad Boy" may well be the best song on the album with lyrics like "I got a way of / Fallin' in love / With angels / That don't shove / You into thinking / That you are committing a sin, / I've been a bad boy again" The version of Prine's own classic "Paradise" at the end of tha album is not the best recording of the song and leaves me wondering why it was included. If you are a fan - get it. If not, you would be better served by trying some of his better albums like "John Prine" , "Common Sense" , "sweet Revenge" or "The Missing Years".

Although some of the songs were co-written, there is no doubt that 'German Afternoons' is unmistakably John Prine. His are short stories set to music...like O Henry, there are the twists of phrase, the surprise choruses....the thumbnails of funny and sad lives told by a confirmed optimist.

With A.P. Carter's 'Lulu Walls', Prine reaffirms the roots that influence not only his phrasing, but also his upbeat and melodic guitar. As a 20th-century man, he is bewildered by women in "Linda Goes To Mars", and loves them in "Lets Talk Dirty in Hawaiian". The latin-flavored 'I Just Want To Dance With You' makes you want to do just that. And in "Speed of the Sound of Loneliness", possibly the capstone of the album, he is surprised by, yet seemingly resigned to, a love gone wrong.

There is something strikingly different about a John Prine song. When you are listening to it, it seems to say so little. And when you are done listening, you are confounded. Because when you start to think about what you have just heard, you know you have heard a gem.

This is my all-time favorite John Prine album, and I'm a long-time fan. How can you top a line like "You've broken the speed of the sound of loneliness"? The backups are just right for these songs, too. Listen through headphones to get all the subtleties. Like another reviewer, at first I prefered other takes on Paradise, but now I think I like this one at least as well.

This album is one of the greatest accomplishments of western civilization! It's up there with the White Album. Prine is this planet's greatest living songwriter, and they're all here on this one. The bluegrass-flavored band he uses throughout the recording is a top notch bunch of fellows. This is the best thing he's ever done, and if you don't agree, you can come to my house and I will personally apologize to you in my front yard.

Man, this is good stuff by the master songwriter John Prine, backed up by New Grass Revival, a tight bluegrass group that mainstreams on progressive bluegrass, giving Prine an added touch to this album. This album kicks off with A.P. Carter's "Lulu Walls", a good upbeat bluegrass song and then on to Prine's classic "Speed of the Sound of Loneliness". Some added favorites are, "oh,my stars,my,Linda Goes to Mars", "Out of Love,and I'm out of you" and "Sailing Around, and I can't get back to you", and Who else none other than Prine would write a song like, "Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiian", the man is a genius. Kristofferson once said, "John Prine is God's favorite songwriter" and that's not entirely unbelievable, although Kristofferson ain't no slacker in the songwriting department. Most of these songs are Prine originals, except for Lulu Walls and They'll Never Take Her Love From Me, a Leon Payne composition, and an ol' Hank Williams standard. German Afternoons is laid back John Prine, and is also one of his very best.

I have looked and looked for this album in Hawaii because of our all-time favorite "Let's talk dirty in Hawaiian."
Amazon.com is the ONLY place to go when you are looking for a particular song, but don't know what album.

I enjoy this CD very much especially the song "The speed of sound of loneliness.

This is a great CD with many good cuts but does not measure up to the soulful melancholy that I find so soothing in his "Fair and Square" album. It has some funny tunes tho.

I once heard John Prine described as a lesser Jimmy Buffet. I don't know if that holds true, as I don't really life jimmy buffet, but the vein of music is roughly the same...I suppose...If Jimmy Buffet lives in margaritaville, John Prine probably lives in whiskey-sourville. Anyway, I like it.

It arrived in a million pieces. So far, I have not found any damage to the CD, itself, but who knows?