*** Loudon Wainwright

ATTEMPTED MUSTACHE

*** UNREQUITED

(Legacy/Sony)

Wainwright's been mining his midlife crisis for the last decade or so, and these two reissues from the early '70s are proof that existential bugaboos and domestic decay have always had a place in his tunes -- often in amusing ways. Here you'll find him wryly telling his yet-to-be-born son, Rufus, that life "has a few unpleasantries," and his soon-to-be-ex-wife, Kate McGarrigle, that love's tender trap is in fact a "suicide snare." Wit has never been a problem.

Attempted Mustache was recorded in Nashville, hitching the imagination of a New York wiseacre to a country-rock sound. The scrappy grooves of the rhythm section nudge Wainwright from his folkie beginnings, shoring up the random violence of "Clockwork Chartreuse" and adding some righteous twang to the clever chastisements of "Down Drinking at the Bar." The band actually rock out on "A.M. World," the singer's poison-pen letter to the trappings of big-time pop. Of course Wainwright's also a master of the ditty, and neglected nuggets like Unrequited's "Kings and Queens" are hummable quips that compare well with John Prine's most casual wordplay. Mockery and poignancy can be captured in a phrase or two, and ultimately it's pith that defines the work: whether Wainwright is needling new-age swamis or repenting to a long-gone lover, he's almost as concise as a jingle writer.

-- Jim Macnie