I’d long been a casual John Prine fan, which meant that I knew most of the songs on his debut self-titled album, plus a few others I picked up along the way: “Yes I Guess They Oughta Name a Drink After You,” “Please Don’t Bury Me,” “Dear Abby,” “Fish and Whistle.” Then one day in 1991 I picked up a new album of his, The Missing Years, and was absolutely blown away by it. (As were the critics and his peers, because it ended up winning a Best Contemporary Folk Album Grammy.) That got me thinking I should have more John Prine albums, so I got that first one, which is possibly the best debut album in history, and then Great Days: The John Prine Anthology when it came out a couple of years later.
So I was steeped and marinated in Prine when his next regular studio album came along in 1995. Lost Dogs & Mixed Blessings immediately caught my eye with its cover art by the great Portland, Oregon cartoon artist John Callahan. Unfortunately, within a few weeks I decided that cover art was the best thing about the record, and it has mostly sat on the shelf for the past three decades.
Now to mark its 30th anniversary, Prine’s Oh Boy Records is releasing a deluxe edition of Lost Dogs & Mixed Blessings with five previously unreleased demos and alternate takes, as well as a new song “Hey Ah Nothin’.” This release makes the album available on vinyl for the first time ever, newly remastered from original tapes.
So it’s time for me to reevaluate Lost Dogs & Mixed Blessings.
tl;dr: It’s still not my favorite John Prine album. But a lot of it is the fault of Howie Epstein’s overly cluttered arrangements and very ’90s production in search of a pop hit for his man. Some of the arrangements are truly bizarre, like the Georgia Satellites boogie of “Leave The Lights On” and the choogling Wang Chung funk of “Big Fat Love.”
Even though I was disappointed with this one when it came out, I stuck with Prine, enjoying 2005’s Fair & Square and absolutely loving his album of classic country duets In Spite of Ourselves from 1999. And I gave a rave review to his final album The Tree of Forgiveness in 2018, just two short years before he died in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. I was glad that I’d made it a point to go see him every time he appeared in my neighborhood, taking in his show at least four times starting somewhere around 2010.
Through those live appearances I came to better appreciate some of the gems on Lost Dogs. I’d always thought “Quit Hollerin’ at Me,” “Ain’t Hurtin’ Nobody” and “All The Way With You” were very good Prine songs poorly recorded. In that last decade of shows they were setlist staples, and “Lake Marie,” which I had always glossed over because of its lengthy spoken sections, was a show stopper.
Oddly enough, those four are among the five acoustic demos included on this new package, and along with the sublime “Humidity Built The Snowman” make it worth the price.
On the other hand, that all new, never before heard single “Hey Ah Nothin’ ” is solidly in the middle tier of John Prine songs. It’s mildly amusing and the keyboard-forward arrangement has a nice funky feel to it, with lots of piano (Phil Parlapiano) and organ (Benmont Tench) and the bass and drums finding a deep groove. But the reason anyone listens to John Prine is for his lyrics, which always feature some turns of phrase, whether wryly funny or deeply sad. And his delivery was always kind of mushy at best, so covering him up with all those keyboards and stadium worthy drum fills leaves me straining to catch a lot of words.
I don’t think I’m letting my bias for acoustic instruments and folk-centric arrangements cloud my evaluation here. It seems Prine maybe agreed that Epstein had outlived his welcome in the producer’s chair, as this was the last time they worked together. That said, if you’re in the right mood, this can be a fun album if the production doesn’t put you off as much as it does me. As with all Prine albums, the lyrics run the gamut from gut-punch sad to warmly loving to knee-slapping funny, often within one short stanza. My advice? Every Prine fan needs these new tracks, especially the demos. Then after you check those out, give the album a listen and see what grabs you. Vinyl fans should definitely grab this one if only for the full sized cover. And as you listen, raise a glass to both John Prine and John Callahan, two slightly twisted geniuses both gone too soon.
(Oh Boy, 2025)
