Although not intuitively obvious from the title, Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings is an album of love songs. Ranging from the cynical We are the Lonely, derived from the "personals" craze of the 90's ("SWF with breasts so large, takes Visa, AMEX and Mastercharge") to the soulful Leave the Lights On, from the whimsical Humidity Built the Snowman to the gut wrenching This Love is Real, Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings is classic Prine. These songs are characterized by highly melodic undertones, crisp, intelligent lyrics and highly professional musicianship and production values. To be honest, I've never understood why Prine never mad it big. He produces songs that work, as exemplified by the huge number of covers of his work. He has an infectious personality and it a tremendous stage performer. He produces albums where you actually want to listen to every single song, as opposed to most albums where you spend as much time skipping through the junk as you do listening to the one or two halfway decent songs on the album. John Prine is a songwriter and storyteller of the first order, and this is one of his all time best albums. Take a pass on all the garbage out there and make John Prine one of your regulars-you'll never regret that you did.
