Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballads East Chicago IN

Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballads

Jimmy Buffett

MCA Records, 1992

REVIEW BY: Jason Warburg

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 07/04/1998

Everybody in the world, I think, either has or secretly wishesthey had a crazy uncle. You know, the kind of guy who would show upout of the blue, and, over a few stiff scotches, tell tall tales ofhis exploits in faraway places with strange-sounding names untilthe wee hours of the morning. And in the morning you'd wake up andhe'd be gone, tails of his Hawaiian shirt flapping in the breezesomewhere down the highway as he careened along with the top downand the radio blaring.

I never had a crazy uncle. Luckily for people like me, though,we always have Jimmy Buffett to fall back on.

Buffett is what they used to call an entertainer. Not the bestvoice in the world, though certainly gifted with enough to carry atune. Not the most skilled player in the world, though his musichas usually been assembled with care and heart. But always, alwayswhat Buffett has brought to the table is a unique and thoroughlyrealized perspective -- a witty, rowdy, sentimental, occasionallyphilosophical and invariably sun-drenched view of a world that, inBuffett's ever-playful eyes, has its priorities all screwed up.

Buffet has issued so many albums over the years (27 or so as I'mwriting this review) that it's hard to know where to start. Likemost of the rest of the world, I'd heard "Margaritaville" a zilliontimes in the late 70s, but I didn't come around until a friend gotme the junior version of this album, 1985's Songs You Know By Heart (a measly 12 songs). Once a littleof Jimmy's tropical rhythms and devil-may-care attitude had seepedin, the choice was easy -- I jumped in with both feet and picked upthe four-CD, 72-track box set Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballads.