New from Buffett: Songs You Don't Know by Heart

Hey wait, I do know these by heart.  But I get the title, it applies to most folks.  Anyway, it's a largely acoustic re-recorded collection of various favorites that he selected from fan requests.  It all started as a "well, we can't tour this year, got to fill the time with something" project during mid-2020.  Maybe two Buffet albums is the best thing that can be said of that horrible year (here's the review of last spring's Life on the Flipside).  Released in October 2020, no wonder I missed it -- had a few things going on at the time, including Hurricane Zeta among several other inconveniences.

Back to the music, it's good and if you dig Buffett at all you should get it.  If Flipside was big and lush, this is back porch with a beer and a couple of friends.  You can hear Buffett precisely, methodically picking through some songs that his younger self would just blaze across.  It's been years, decades even, since he's performed some of these, and his style has, if not exactly changed, it has evolved.  I'm glad to have both versions, and in fact I plan to go back through my collection to put together the same tracks from the original studio albums.  It'll be an interesting contrast, all packed on one mp3 disc.

Re the song selections, it's 15 tracks so there's plenty of room.  While not downbeat at all, these are some of his quieter tracks: Twelve Volt Man, Love in the Library, The Night I painted the Sky, Chanson Pour les Petits Enfants, things in that vein.  I was glad to see a particular favorite, The Captain and the Kid, included.  Nothing downbeat, just not a rock-out Cheeseburger in Paradise-type song list.

Good liner notes too, and pics of Buffett in the same pose at maybe 27 and currently on the front and flip of the cover.  It's not over-done, but it is well done.  It fits the vibe, it fits the time in which it was recorded.

OK, there's your shopping list for the weekend.