Having gotten back the record-making habit with
Fruitcakes,
Jimmy Buffett repaired to the Monroe County Library in Key West during the winter of 1994-1995 with cohorts
Russ Kunkel,
Jay Oliver,
Roger Guth, and
Peter Mayer, where they read fiction and came up with most of the songs on
Barometer Soup. Hence, we have "Remittance Man," drawn from
Mark Twain's Following the Equator, and "Diamond as Big as the Ritz," loosely adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story. Typically, there are also the comedy numbers "Bank of Bad Habits" and "Don't Chu-Know" and an appropriation consistent with
Buffett's philosophy,
James Taylor's "Mexico." Much of the music is low-key, though there are a couple of up-tempo tunes to add to the concert repertoire. As
Jimmy Buffett albums go, this is another one. ~ William Ruhlmann