The pensive tales of personal relationships on
Short Stories belong to a bygone era, when the summer of love was yielding to the autumn of adulthood and the mundane realities that attended it. Like
Jim Croce and
James Taylor,
Harry Chapin observes the melancholy side of life in self-contained character studies: the midlife assessment of a failed career and marriage on the poignant "WOLD," a dry cleaner whose pretense to a singing career is exposed on "Mr. Tanner," the meager dreams of a poor farmer and his mail-order bride on "Mail Order Annie." Yet the album's overall tone is sober rather than somber. Perhaps "Song for Myself" expresses it best when
Chapin offers up the challenge: "Are we all gonna sit here with a stoned out smile and simply watch the world go 'way?" For the songwriter, it's a rhetorical question. If the subjects are flawed, unhappy, unable to appreciate or hold on to love, it's the reality left in the wake of the '60s overweening idealism. The loss of free love is lamented on "They Call Her Easy," replaced by the cynicism of experience in "Changes." Musically, the album has much in common with the work of
Cat Stevens, leaning on
Paul Leka's orchestral arrangements to embellish otherwise dry songs.
Chapin lacks
Stevens' affection for inventive melodies and off-kilter rhythms, but compared to a toned-down record like
Catch Bull at Four, the two are strikingly similar. The fact remains that casual fans will be better served with a greatest-hits compilation that includes "WOLD" than wading through all of
Short Stories. Those with a predilection for
Chapin's bittersweet muse will be better served by the whole album. ~ Dave Connolly