Nanci Griffith Album: “Little Love Affairs”

"Gulf Coast Highway" is reason enough to buy this disc. Add to it songs like "I Wish It Would Rain," "Never Mind," "Outbound Plane," and the title track, and you've clearly got yourself a Nanci classic.

This album is a songwriting tour-de-force and the performances are fine by me. I have many of her recordings and this is the one on which I rarely skip a track. In spite of the fact that I have several compilation CDs, I'm buying this CD to replace a well-loved audio tape that is past ready to retire.

I'm surprised at the reviews that make much of the artist's apparel, and supposed "immature" worldview. You were expecting Mick Jagger? Aretha Franklin? Leonard Cohen? Steve Earle? What?

Though it's got the synth-sound of all of Nanci's MCA recordings, "Little Love Affairs" isn't grating...it's adorable. I think the other reviewer here who suggested little Nanci in her bobby sox would never stop being childlike really nailed it, especially where this album is concerned.

It's got classic Nanci tunes on it -- "Outbound Plane" and "Gulf Coast Highway" are both Hall of Famers -- as well as some less well-known, but equally terrific tracks like the twangy short story "Love Wore a Halo" or the young-love retrospective "So Long Ago."

Overall, this cd's got a little-girl country music sound, simple and earnest and sometimes heartbreaking. She calls this her "concept" album -- tales of little love affairs, naturally -- and it really is, closing with a fabulous rocker duet on John Stewart's "Sweet Dreams Will Come."

"I'm lookin' for some love, I guess that's why people buy dogs..." or "Little Love Affairs."

Musical tastes differ, but I do not see how any ranking of Nanci Griffith albums does not include Little Love Affairs toward the top of the list. One Fair Summer Evening represented love at first sight (or should I say first listen), but it was Little Love Affairs that set me on the path from infatuation to a deep, mature, abiding love for Nanci Griffith's music. She remains one of my favorite musical artists.

What interesting materials can be found in this album! The stories in Never Mind, Love Wore a Halo (Back Before the War), and So Long Ago have a certain poignancy to them, as well as extraordinary and interesting characters. Anyone Can Be Somebody's Fool and Gulf Coast Highway express some beautiful emotions. The album includes some of Nanci Griffith's best album performances, including Gulf Coast Highway, I Wish It Would Rain, and I Knew Love. Overall, there is not a bad song on the album, and the musical performances and lyrics are extraordinary. This is one of Nanci Griffith's best albums.

As part of the "new country" movement (or Country and Eastern, as MCA called it) of the late '80s, this album was a breath of fresh air. Ulitimately country music radio branded their music "alt country" and abandoned artists like Griffith, Lyle Lovett, Dwight Yoakum, etc. But, that doesn't diminish their quality, and this album is a standout. The songs here harken back to one of the gifts of country songs -- they are STORIES that tell it like it is. "I Wish It Would Rain" is one of my favorite songs of all time, and is the perfect song to mourn lost love. Too bad that country radio only wants "upbeat positive" any more ...