Bruised Orange

John Prine

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 8, 1989)
• Original Release Date: 1978
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Oh Boy
• ASIN: B0000005XV
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #47,997 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  Music > Indie Music > Folk > Singer Songwriters

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

It took John Prine seven years to make his peace with the "New Dylan" expectations that accompanied his critically hailed 1971 debut. Which isn't to say that the Illinois-born singer/songwriter didn't make some fine music in the years that passed between his initial recording and this, a comfortable-as-an-old-shoe collection that signals the start of Prine's settling-in period. Folk-circuit fellow traveler Steve Goodman's sympathetic production suits Prine just fine. The songs, meanwhile, are sprinkled with wise and witty wordplay. "Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone" chronicles a misbegotten movie promotion. "If You Don't Want My Love" is an oddly unrepentant exercise in self-pity copenned with reclusive pop producer Phil Spector, while "Aw Heck" is its polar opposite--a sing-it-from-the-rafters celebration of passion ("I could get the electric chair for a phony rap / Long as she's sittin' in my lap"). It's not faint praise to note that Bruised Orange is thoroughly likable. --Steven Stolder

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars JOHN PRINE'S GENTLE WIT & WISDOM, January 18, 2002

By	Larry L. Looney (Austin, Texas USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This album is filled with examples of the wonderful songwriting, easy delivery and comfortable performing style that define the greatness of John Prine, one of America's finest singer-songwriters. The production, by long-time Prine pal Steve Goodman, is excellent -- clear, uncluttered and unpretentious. Every song on this collection is a gem, and the mood varies like a soft breeze from track to track -- the journey is over far too soon.

There are great examples of Prine's strengths here. His famous humor nudges us in 'Fish and whistle', 'That's the way that the world goes round', 'There she goes', 'Iron ore Betty', 'Aw heck' and 'Crooked piece of time' -- and his incredible poignancy graces 'Sabu visits the Twin Cities alone', 'Bruised orange' and the lovely, haunting set-closer 'Hobo song'.

I once saw Prine appear on the wonderful PBS program 'Austin City Limits' -- and I noticed he was chewing gum on stage during his set. He was probably the kid who chewed it in class as well -- appearing to spit it out when the teacher caught him, then commencing to work on it again when authority's back was turned. Everybody loves a clown -- and this one has a sensitive side as well. This album -- along with Goodman's JESSIE'S JIG (from the same era) is a great example of the genre. Don't miss it.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Prine at his warm and loopy best, November 6, 2001

By	Christopher Zayne Reeves (Columbus, OH) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Bruised Orange stands alongside The Missing Years, Sweet Revenge and his eponymous debut album as John Prine's strongest collection of original songs. And, aside from In Spite Of Ourselves and the criminally underrated Sweet Revenge, it is also his best sounding record. All credit for the supple production values go to Steve Goodman, the albums' producer. Anyone reading this probably knows about what close friends they were and Bruised Orange goes a long way to show that, other than Jim Rooney, Prine has never had a better friend in the studio as well.

The album kicks off with a perfect Prine composition, Fish And Whistle. Everything that Prine fans love about the man can be found in this song. It praises the common man without ever stooping to cornpone, it is loaded with bittersweet, richly observed details "on my very first job I said 'Thank you and please'/they made me scrub a parking lot down on my knees/then I got fired for bein' scared of bees/they only gave me fifty-cents an hour" being an excellent example, and it swings with a gentle country-folk rhythm that makes you daydream about back porches and denim overalls.

Other Prine songs that have gone on to be staples in his cannon are the priceless title-track, Sabu Visits The Twin Cities Alone, Aw Heck and That's The Way That The World Goes Round. Bruised Orange is also packed with lesser-known gems such as The Hobo Song and There She Goes. The only misstep is, as the amazon.com reviewer pointed out, If You Don't Want My Love. The song is an unfortunate anomaly in Prine's career, a mean spirited and one sided number that he co-wrote with genius/unreliable madman Phil Spector.

One relatively weak track aside, this is a wonderful, wonderful album filled to the brim with catchy melodies and brilliant, "Only In John Prine Land" lyrics. It also serves as the high water mark of his many fruitful artistic collaborations with Steve Goodman, who also plays on several tracks. Prine & Goodman was a truly rare friendship of two quirky talents that could meld together so beautifully and still retain their individuality.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Prine's Best, August 7, 2005

By	David Zimmerman (Baton Rouge, LA USA) - See all my reviews

Folk legend John Prine's albums are all somewhere between good and excellent, and "Bruised Orange" is one of the best. The opener, "Fish and Whistle" and "That's the Way the World Goes Round", have been played countless times at open mike shows in my hometown of Baton Rouge and many other places I would imagine. "If You Don't Want My Love" certainly sounds a lot different from the other more folksy selections, but I still like it--it just presents another side of Prine's songwriting ability. My other favorites are the title track, which as another reviewer noted features a poetic refrain about the wages of anger "for a heart stained with anger grows weak and grows bitter, you become your own prisoner as you watch yourself sit there wrapped up in a trap of your very own chain of sorrow."--unmatchable lyricism--and the closing "Hobo Song", which features another great chorus "could it be that time has gone and left them tied up in life's eternal traveling sack," sung by the "Hobo Chorus", which in producer Steve Goodman's able hands sounds very much like you'd expect a chorus of hobos to sound.