3 John Prine

Bruised Orange ASYLUM 1978, £12

You say: “The beginning of a lifelong friendship with a genuine person I never met.” Angie Simms, via Facebook

At the age of 32, Prine squeezed more experience into a 33-minute album than most people manage in a lifetime. Inspired by childhood experience of seeing a man hit by a train, the title track reckons with the cruel whims of the universe, only to conclude, “It don’t do no good to get angry.” He reaffirms that dogma with That’s The Way That The World Goes ’Round, built with a hook so strong it will hold the heaviest of your burdens. Fittingly for his first album without Atlantic’s aegis, there’s an intimate portrait of the entertainment industry’s exploitation and a romantic kiss-off penned alongside Phil Spector. Bruised Orange brightens your blues by validating them – and letting you sing along.