Search - Paxton, Tom :: 6

Long overdue on CD!

David A. Bede | Singapore | 07/03/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Excluding live concert recordings (which are what he does best), this is Tom Paxton's best album. It may be lacking in the folk classics that grace his first few albums, but most of the songs found here deserve to be in that company. It's about time we got it on CD!



It's not so much that there's anything unique here relative to Paxton's other albums; it's just that he stuck to what he knows best here and did so more consistently than elsewhere. Politics are front and center as usual: "Whose Garden Was This?", written for the first Earth Day, somehow seems even more sadly relevant in the global warming era than it did in 1970. It's set in a sort of environmental post-apocalypse, and like all the best political songs, it's poetic rather than preachy, but the point is loud and clear to anyone willing to see it. That's even more chillingly true of the closing song, "Jimmy Newman," one of the more gently devastating antiwar songs I've ever heard. Topicality rears its head again along the way in "Dogs at Midnight," about black lung, "Uncle Jack," about a boy being removed from his home by the courts for no good reason, "Cindy's Cryin'," about heroin addiction and a co-dependent relationship, and "Crazy John," a note of support for John Lennon at the height of his antiwar activism and the accompanying animosity from the press.



The funny songs are here as usual too. "Forest Lawn," a sarcastic tribute to the infamous California cemetary, is one of those often-covered songs that are loved by thousands who have never heard of Paxton and think somebody else wrote them. "Saturday Night," about a night at the bar with friends that goes awry, is one of his more delightfully quotable songs ("whoever is running her foot up my leg, I love you!"), while "Molly Bloom" offers not only wacky lyrics but a kazoo solo.



Also usual for Paxton is a batch of love songs, but there's nothing usual about "Annie's Going to Sing Her Song." It's the best unrequited love song of his career, bar none (and yes, that is saying something - he must have dozens of them to his credit). Anyone who has been in an unworkable relationship will identify immediately with this one. "I've Got Nothing But Time" is a bit more run-of-the-mill take on the same issue, but still nice enough. Last but not least, "Angeline is Always Friday" is one of his all too rare happy love songs, and it's beautiful.



Start to finish, there's not a dud in the bunch. No fan of any of Paxton's songs should miss this one."