John Prine Album: “Great Days: The John Prine Anthology”

I love John Prine. I love nearly every song on this compilation. But I would NOT recommend that anyone buy this. Why? Because while this album selects out many of the wonderful songs on John Prine's first 10 studio albums, it leaves out almost as many great songs from those same albums, including "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You into Heaven", "Diamond in the Rough", "Mexican Home", "Often Is A Word I Seldom Use", "Accident (Things Could Have Been Worse)", "Way Down", "Hobo Song", "Chinatown", "Ubangi Stomp", "Bottomless Lake", "Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiian", and "Jesus the Missing Years". An album with just those songs might be my favorite John Prine album. My point: buy the original studio albums--they're so strong throughout that it's pointless to try and pick the best songs. Any attempt to do so is highly subjective. If you like John Prine you'll see that virtually every one of his songs has something to recommend it.

John Prine's songs first got my attention way back in 1971 when I first heard "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore" on KSAN-FM radio in San Francisco. I had to buy the record. Since then, John has written and performed many clever, humorous, insightful, and heart-wrenching songs that are every bit as good as "Your Flag Decal ..." This anthology displays most of the best of these songs. As most John Prine devotees will understand, it is frustrating that more people haven't seen in Prine's music the special talent that we have seen. Oh well, sometimes it takes special people to recognize unique talent.

This anthology is getting dated now that John has released "The Missing Years," "Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings," and "In Spite of Ourselves." Still, a must buy for Prine fans, especially if you prefer his early stuff.

I can honestly say that I have had more pleasure through this album than any other I have ever owned.Any comparison between Prine and Dylan has to be taken with a grain of salt,and seems a little convenient. My children aged 12 and 8 seem to appreciate much of his dry humour. I have gradually bought many of his other albums scared to miss any gems not included in Great Days,and have not been disapointed yet.

OK, it is true--as many reviewers have stated--that a major problem with this collection is that it is only 41 songs from Mr. Prine's first ten albums, and once you fall in love with this batch, you will undoubtedly have to go out and buy all of those albums anyway. Nevertheless, Prine is marvelous, and Great Days is a wonderful (though by no means exhaustive or complete) introductory collection of (some of) his better songs.

JP is a truly wonderful singer/songwriter, funny, warm, clever, lovely, meaningful, and smart. He's got a voice that is slightly Dylan-nasalish, slightly country, slightly folky, and very charismatic. His songs range from sad, forlorn, lonely, and make-you-wanna-cry kinda stuff like "Angel From Montgomery," "Sam Stone," "Hello in There," (which if it doesn't make you tear up then you are lacking either humanity or tear ducts), to comic songs like "Fish and Whistle," ("Father forgive us for what we must do/you forgive us/we'll forgive you/we'll forgive each other till me both turn blue/then we'll whistle and go fishing in heaven") and "It's A Big Ol' Goofy World" which is undoubtedly the simile-est song ever written ("someday you'll own a home that's as big as a house...).

If you don't know John Prine, buy this album! If you know him and only have a couple of his albums, buy this album. The ONLY reason not to buy this reason is if you already own most of his other albums.

Rhino Records certainly hit one out of the park with this compilation of singer-songwriter extrodinaire John Prine. GREAT DAYS does an amazing job of hitting the highlights of Prine's career. While there are omissions (there could have been a third disk!) such as YOUR FLAG DECAL.. and GRANDPA WAS A CARPENTER that are missed, Rhino has assembled 41 reasons why John Prine is considered a great songwriter. While some have mentioned that the quality drops off on disk two, I feel that side two contains the same high quality of disk one. This is a great introduction to anyone wishing to explore John Prine and great way to plug the gaps if you're already a fan.