Diamonds In The Rough

The fireworks that accompanied the appearance of John Prine's 1971 debut cast a long shadow over its deceptively modest follow-up.Diamonds in the Rough admittedly isn't as laden with contemporary folk standards in the making as its predecessor, but it stands with 1978's Bruised Orange as one of Prine's most unified collections. Working in an acoustic setting, the raw-voiced wordsmith explores a melancholy milieu with "The Torch Singer," "Souvenirs," and "Rocky Mountain Time." "Everybody" recounts a conversation with a down-to-earth Almighty while "Billy the Bum" and "Take the Star Out of the Window" focus respectively on a local character and a weary Vietnam vet. Those are all excellent songs, but Diamonds in the Rough's strength lies less in the tunes themselves than in how sympathetically they're performed and sequenced.