"Tight Rope" leads off
Carney, and it's not just his biggest hit, it offers an excellent introduction to an off-kilter, confused, fascinating album. In a sense, it consolidates his two extremes, offering a side of fairly straightforward roots rock before delving headfirst into twisted psychedelia on the second side. On the whole, the second side deflates the first side, since it's just too fuzzy -- it's intriguing, at least in parts, but it never adds up to anything. Besides, the first side is already odd enough, but in a meaningful way; here, his fascination with Americana sideshows is married to songs that work, instead of just being vehicles for tripping in the studio. Of course, part of what makes
Carney interesting is that it contains a bit of both, but interesting doesn't equal compelling, as the whole of
Carney bears out. [
Carney was re-released on LP in 2017.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine