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. AMG.
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