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List Price: $12.98 | | Label: Oh Boy
Salesrank: 28577
Released: August 8, 1989 |
| Our Price: $8.46 |
| Used Price: $7.99 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Bruised Orange Track Listing:
1. Fish and Whistle
2. There She Goes
3. If You Don't Want My Love
4. That's the Way That the World Goes 'Round
5. Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)
6. Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone
7. Aw Heck
8. Crooked Piece of Time
9. Iron Ore Betty
10. Hobo Song
Editorial Review:
It took John Prine seven years to make his peace with the "New Dylan" expectations that accompanied his critically hailed 1971 debut. Which isn't to say that the Illinois-born singer/songwriter didn't make some fine music in the years that passed between his initial recording and this, a comfortable-as-an-old-shoe collection that signals the start of Prine's settling-in period. Folk-circuit fellow traveler Steve Goodman's sympathetic production suits Prine just fine. The songs, meanwhile, are sprinkled with wise and witty wordplay. "Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone" chronicles a misbegotten movie promotion. "If You Don't Want My Love" is an oddly unrepentant exercise in self-pity copenned with reclusive pop producer Phil Spector, while "Aw Heck" is its polar opposite--a sing-it-from-the-rafters celebration of passion ("I could get the electric chair for a phony rap / Long as she's sittin' in my lap"). It's not faint praise to note that Bruised Orange is thoroughly likable. --Steven Stolder
Bruised Orange Reviews:
One of Prine's Best 
2005-08-08 - Folk legend John Prine's albums are all somewhere between good and excellent, and "Bruised Orange" is one of the best. The opener, "Fish and Whistle" and "That's the Way the World Goes Round", have been played countless times at open mike shows in my hometown of Baton Rouge and many other places I would imagine. "If You Don't Want My Love" certainly sounds a lot different from the other more folksy selections, but I still like it--it just presents another side of Prine's songwriting ability. My other favorites are the title track, which as another reviewer noted features a poetic refrain about the wages of anger "for a heart stained with anger grows weak and grows bitter, you become your own prisoner as you watch yourself sit there wrapped up in a trap of your very own chain of sorrow."--unmatchable lyricism--and the closing "Hobo Song", which features another great chorus "could it be that time has gone and left them tied up in life's eternal traveling sack," sung by the "Hobo Chorus", which in producer Steve Goodman's able hands sounds very much like you'd expect a chorus of hobos to sound.
It's a happy enchilada ... 
2005-04-23 - One of my two favourite John Prine albums, the other being the more recent "Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings". And Prine followers will know the "happy enchilada" reference from his live performances ... this was the album where it appeared first!
John Prine "Bruised Orange" 
2004-06-16 - "Fish And Whistle" 5/5
"There She Goes" 3/5
"If You Don't Want My Love" 1/5
"That's The Way The World Goes 'Round" 4/5
"Bruised Orange (Chain Of Sorrow)" 3/5
"Sabu Visits The Twin Cities Alone" 5/5
"Aw Heck" 4/5
"Crooked Piece Of Time" 3/5
"Iron Ore Betty" 3/5
"The Hobo Song" 3/5
"Bruised Orange," is John Prine's fifth studio album. Highlights include "Fish And Whistle" and "Sabu Visits The Twin Cities Alone."
Overall rating: Three and a half stars.
I Beg to Differ
2004-04-22 - While this album is just as wonderful as the reviewers below have said, and a classic of the singer-songwriter genre, I want to cast a vote in favor of the cut "If You Don't Want My Love" which is much-maligned below. While it has none of the whimsy and humor which characterize most of Prine's work, it is in fact a perfect encapsulation of a bitter cast-off lover's state of mind -- and stays on and on in the memory. It is in fact my favorite cut on the album!
good stuff
2004-02-27 - this is a great record! its got all of johns sides on it from fun country licks to slow folksy love songs if i had to reccomend one jonh prine album this would be the one.
