"We're not the jetset."

June 2, 2006 12:29 AM

I like what I've heard of John Prine. What albums would be a good place to start? Is there a decent "greatest hits" out there?
posted by bardic to Media & Arts (11 answers total)

The anthology is excellent - pretty much everything you need.
posted by oh pollo! at 12:56 AM on June 2, 2006

The entirety of Lost Dogs & Mixed Blessings is awesome. You can't go wrong there.
posted by ODiV at 1:17 AM on June 2, 2006

The great days anthology is good.

But the first album, Bllue Umbrella, and Bruised Orange are the three essential John Prine disks. I'd get those three and skip the anthology, myself.
posted by Rumple at 1:26 AM on June 2, 2006

I'd recommend starting with "The Missing Years". it's just excellent.
posted by about_time at 4:35 AM on June 2, 2006

John Prine Live (his first live album, as opposed to the recent Live Sessions disc) is a great quasi-anthology all its own. And if you've never seen him in concert, it'll give you a great sense of his stage personality.
posted by j-dawg at 5:29 AM on June 2, 2006

My favorite albums are his first, and the one which is all country duets. Can't remember the name, but that one's great.
posted by selfnoise at 6:40 AM on June 2, 2006

Well, I think that Souvenirs is a fantastic "Greatest Hits"-y thing, and they're different versions, so you can buy the albums later and not get duplicates.
posted by transient at 7:56 AM on June 2, 2006

His first is the only.
posted by Rash at 8:43 AM on June 2, 2006

I like the Great Days anthology but also have the first, eponymous album because it has songs like "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You into Heaven Anymore" on it that were inexplicably left out of the anthology.
posted by TedW at 9:10 AM on June 2, 2006

i haven't kept up with him, but the first album is a must
posted by pyramid termite at 11:07 AM on June 2, 2006

Ditto what selfnoise said. You might want to check out Todd Snider, as well. He has recorded on Prine's Oh Boy! label.
posted by Frank Grimes at 12:22 PM on June 2, 2006