by William Ruhlmann
John Prine's follow-up to his comeback album, The Missing Years, is more of the same in terms of freeing up Prine's idiosyncratic muse and marrying the result to Howie Epstein's top-flight production sound. Fans of the early Prine may find that sound over-produced, but the songs never get lost, and with Prine's typically humorous, off-center view of the world (song titles include &Humidity Built the Snowman& and &He Forgot That It Was Sunday&), it's the songs that count. Actually, this is not quite as strong a collection of material as The Missing Years, but it has its moments, and Prine and Epstein show it off in its best possible light.