Customer Reviews

In Spite of Ourselves

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I've been a John Prine fan for years, and never considered not buying this CD.

After my first couple play-throughs, I still wasn't sure what to think: this wasn't exactly the John Prine I'd been listening to for years. His voice is certainly a little rough around the edges. And this IS a cover album (but is worth the price for the title track alone), which isn't the normal John Prine speed.

Then I realized that I never really like Prine for his voice, rather for his heart and his wit. And both are here in spades on this album. This is a GREAT collection of songs, sung by a fabulous man and some truly awesome women. There is more quality lurking in this album than many other artists can muster in a lifetime. I can't think of another performer with the real American soul of John Prine, and here he shows us a side of it that many have never seen before. It is a revelation and a blessing.

Buy this CD. After hearing it, you'll never regret it.

Listening to Dolores Keane, the great voice of Ireland, doing her solos and harmonies on "Its A Cheatin' Situation" and "In A Town This Size" is like discovering that there is finally someone who can sing in the slow-motion haunting style that once was soley the property of Pasty Cline. Then along comes Iris Dement's toe-to-toe duets with John, culminating in "In Spite Of Ourselves", in which she does the impossible - she steals the show! Fiona Prine's solo in "Till a Tear Becomes A Rose" makes me daydream of having a woman sing in such a way to me. You can tell she is singing to her husband!...And then there's Lucinda Williams' solo on "Lets Turn Back The Years"! She is worth the price of admission alone! Add to this the solos and harmonies of Trisha Yearwood, Emmylou Harris, Patty Loveless, Connie Smith and Melba Montongomery and you find yourself dazed and amazed at John Prine. This CD fits like a glove and each duet, so sublte and simple, is a homage to the lonliness we have all known, the love we have all longed for, the grand "honky-tonk days" when a few chords and a couple of great voices and uncomplicated lyrics accompanied a cold beer and a few tears. Then, just when we forget its our John Prine that is taking us on this journey, "In Spite Of Ourselves" comes along....and we realize the John we thought we knew is still amongst us!...Touche, ol' buddy....thanks for opening my ears to Iris Dement, Lucinda Williams, Dolores Keane and Fiona Price. Prine singing "country" with "country's best" and an Irish lady reminiscent of Patsy Cline - I'm gonna buy another copy of this CD in case anything happens to the one I have now!...5 stars?...No, how about 9 stars and and five ! for John Prine?....

I was all set to not like this record -- John Prine is hardly the type of singer you'd think anyone could harmonize with (much less for an album of duets), and when I heard "Til A Tear Becomes A Rose" (with wife Fiona Prine) on local public radio, I first thought "clunker." Surprise -- this collection of country standards about relationships is a charmer, and most of Prine's partners -- including Emmylou Harris, Connie Smith, Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, Melba Montgomery, and Lucinda Williams -- find ways to fit their voices with Prine's. Some liasons don't work, most notably with Irish singer Dolores Keane who phrases too straight to fit. Far and away, the best performances are with Iris DeMent; they click on George Jones & Melba Montgomery's "Let's Invite Them Over," the George & Tammy classic "(We're Not) The Jet Set," and the offhandly bawdy title track (the only Prine original). The recording and arrangements are stripped down to show the core of these country gems, and the results are as magnetic as a couple in love that's been together 20 years or more.

I discovered John Prine 25 years ago, while living in Hartsville, Tennessee. I heard Prine "wailin' away" from an open window and I knocked on the door of that house to ask who that singer/song writer might be.

Since then, I have spoken of Prine as my favorite singer/song writer ever and as one we should all consider a National Treasure.

Of course "In Spite of Ourselves" is great. It's John, is't it? Once again, he epitomizes the "Americana" we are so rapidly losing. There's only one Prine-written song on the album, and you'll know it when you get to it because you'll find yourself laughing out loud, but each song is selected to define who John is.

Buy this album. It'll cost you almost nothing and last forever and if you're a fan of the style of music Prine invented, there's no doubt that you should own it.

Keep 'em comin' John and thanks for the music buddy.

This is yet more proof of john Prine's gift for staggering, intoxicating impact of the sweet/rough, not quite serious country sound. He alone can enter into a Soho/w.Va low/high range that simmers as honky tonk high art. This voice that post-cancer surgery came out just right in its gruff contrast to those mighty fine females. You just know, just about any smart lady'll sing with John if he asks- dumb ones too. There's just that quality of modesty and those detours where sorrow and music don't otherwise cavort by the moonlight -and not get called names for being so sentimental- just John's magic for a story and a kick and the greatest wise cracks that he's just not held for suspicion. He's a true to your heart guy. This album is so much fun and in its complete lack of message-political intent and /or attempting to mark a newer and improved John, suits me just fine. Iris Dement is a meteor shower just phenomenal in a voice of light particles and Lucinda Williams sounded like a full-forced virtuoso. The music is hilarious, especially, We're not the Jet Set- and the one about Milwaukee. As they say, it's all good. When I listen it's as if he he never left places those southern places I've never been to, only that's where we are and it's home. -

To say that this isn't "real" Prine is like saying that "World Gone Wrong" isn't "real" Dylan or that "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" isn't "real" Byrds. Prine clearly loves these great songs - why deprive yourselves of the pleasure just because he didn't write them, or just because they're "country"? Who cares other than idiotic folk purists who want hear him sing nothing but "Hello In There" for the rest of his life (as if Prine's own songs aren't essentially country in the first place)?

Country music is as important an American invention as blues, jazz, etc., and this album is perfect evidence of it. It is a joy from beginning to end. Thank you, John.

This is a wonderful album - a must have for all John fans! It is impossible to get tired of this album, it just keeps getting better. The one song that he wrote, In Spite of Ourselves, is so funny and perfect. You'll listen to it over and over!

I hadn't taken much notice of John Prine before I bought this, and I'd tried to ignore Iris DeMent. This collection changed my mind about both of them. I was attracted to the album by the other guests - especially Connie, Trisha, Melba, Emmylou and Patty. Those excellent ladies lived up to my expectations - but I was surprised to discover that, of all the guests, Iris is the real star here. Iris sings four duets with John, and they seem to inspire each other. Connie, Dolores and Melba each do two duets, while the other five ladies do one each.

All the songs are country classics, several of them associated with George Jones and most of the others dating from the fifties and sixties. I see from the other reviewers that John's traditional fans do not all like this album. It is a departure from John's usual music, so that is inevitable. John recorded the album because he wanted to, and he obviously enjoyed himself. None of the ladies were contractually obliged to sing with John - they all agreed voluntarily when asked. Perhaps that's why this album works so well - it wasn't recorded to make a fast buck, yet it probably sold as well as any of John's other albums.

Fans of traditional country will enjoy this. John's loyal fans must make up their own minds.

My husband and I will never laugh at PBS again. They're the ones who broadcasted "Sessions" with John Prine and Iris Dement. It turned us on to voices we never had heard before, and prompted us to run out and buy the CD, which to my surprise had a lot of our favorite women vocalists singing duets with him. I wondered why I was the last person to know who he was. This CD is romantic, heartbreaking and hillarious all at the same time. I was disapointed to hear only 1 1/2 songs tht were originally from him, but he has great taste in classics, and even better taste in women!

Every, (yes every), person I have played this album for has gone out an bought it including my 21 year old son whose favorite music is hip-hop and urban rap. Even he found a song he wanted to play for his girlfriend. This is at the top of my list of John Prine Albums. The only bad thing is that the last song I hear each day is stuck in my head and plays over and over. Not a bad thing really.