in these rather few and far between times.

From the rambling, Delaware-flavored "School Days" through the moody "Hospital Lady" to the wryly confessional "I Don't Care," Wainwright moves in a highly personal, often allegorical fashion through what seems to be the late afternoons of his memory and out again. At times his reliance on rhyme becomes a trifle over-much ("Uptown" and "Movies Are A Mother To Me"), but mostly he conquers stunningly with the choppy-rhythmed, cleverly moving "Glad To See You've Got Religion" and the terse, to-the-point portrait of "Black Uncle Remus" that gets more incisive every time you hear it: "When you've got the whiskey habit/You don't talk about Brer Rabbit/You really recall the catfish catches/When you're living your life in the briar patches."

Other high points on this album are Wainwright's pastiches and evocations of The City that stud his "Ode To A Pittsburgh": ("You were smokestacked/You were laid in cobble-stone/You were trolley-car-tracked/And for you the red skies shone") and the confusing yet compelling "Four Is A Magic Number" that is a study in the wonder of hesitation, in lyrics as well as in Wainwright's guitar playing and vocal approach. Not to forget his gripping, wail-laden performance of "Central Square Song"—the story of Mary McGuire and Big Frank Clark who "got drunk again last night." This cut alone is worth the album price—it's a short story in song, a novel in a few lyrics, a lifetime full of cause and effect, love and loneliness—the true anthem of what life in America is like these days—watch out, Studs Lonigan. Finally, Wainwright's closing, melody-crippling tale of life at "Bruno's Place," with its oiled rhythms and total cast of characters, is addictive and, besides that, lets you know that Wainwright is a vegetarian.

Usually artists of Wainwright's obvious genius write and play out their lives and songs on old friends' back-porches, in local smoke-stung coffeehouses or on anonymous sidewalks and park benches. Somehow Wainwright found his way onto a record. I just hope it's not a one-shot affair—he's got some things to say. (RS 69)

GARY VON TERSCH