1 John Prine

John Prine

ATLANTIC 1971, £7

You say: “Has there ever been more wisdom, sorrow, truth, and humour packed into a debut album? Often all in the same song.” John Massengill, via Instagram

A fully formed debut. Though these unassuming 13 songs, cut by a band of Memphis ringers, hit the half-century mark this year, they remain poignantly and painfully germane, reminders not only of our basic human condition but the inhumane conditions that modernity creates. Sam Stone isn’t just an overdosing war veteran – he’s anyone whose fealty to an uncaring system becomes a death sentence. Mixing gospel’s aspirations with country’s clarity, Angel From Montgomery details the way capitalism and gender roles lobotomise a good love. Jingoism, loneliness, escapism, existential despair, environmental calamity, and the uncanny delight of mere existence: there are unknowable lifetimes tucked inside these 44 minutes.