John Prine
Fair & Square (Oh Boy)
Bruce Springsteen
Devils & Dust (Columbia)
Surely it’s just a coincidence that John Prine and Bruce Springsteen released new albums on the same day. After all, 30 years ago they were both described as new Dylans, and the former’s Fair & Square and latter’s Devils & Dust offer inviting contrasts in one another’s musical visions. The Boss has ventured close to D&D‘s sonic territory on Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad, and while this solo excursion is a relatively low-key effort in many of the same ways those discs were, it’s dense and dark underpinnings are at times offset by upbeat moments like “All the Way Home” and “All I’m Thinkin’ About.” Fair & Square is Prine’s first album of solely new material in nine years. His vocals are a notch deeper and rougher after treatment for throat cancer several years ago, but the Nashville-based songsmith is still as wise and whimsical as ever, whether he’s feeling romantic (“Glory of True Love”) or caustic (“Some Humans Ain’t Human”). On the latter, Prine gives some concise political commentary with the couplet: “You’re feeling your freedom and the world’s off your back, then some cowboy in Texas starts his own war in Iraq.” Meanwhile, Jersey’s favorite son speaks from the POV of an uneasy soldier in the Middle East with “I got my finger on the trigger, but I don’t know who to trust. When I look into your eyes, there’s just devils and dust.” The freewheeling spirit of Fair & Square makes it more immediately entertaining, but repeated listens to Devils & Dust reveal some of Springsteen’s most pensive, if difficult, work.
(Prine) 
(Springsteen)
This article appears in May 6 • 2005.