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Loudon Wainwright III has had an impressive and prolific 40+ years in the music industry. He's become known for delivering songs which capture the nuances of daily life in a way which is at once stark, contemplative, humorous, and provocative. His greatest hits box set 40 Odd Years represents a solid cross-section of his greatest hits, and is one of the finest such collections released by any artist in recent years.


"I hate folk music, for that matter..."

"I hate everybody in folk music. I hate folk music for that matter...it's just bitterness. Twenty-five years of bitterness." So jokes Loudon Wainwright III during the documentary film included with this 4-CD/1-DVD box set of his career's greatest hits. With a guy like Wainwright, though, it's hard to know how much of that is truly a joke and how much is just an admittance of the absurd truth. After all, his music inclines toward his recognition of the absurd nature of life (and love, and family - both things on which his songs comment more than any other). The DVD, especially, spotlights his relationship with love and family, pulling in his famous, musically gifted kids - Martha and Rufus - and ex-wife, the late Kate McGarrigle.

The audio recordings on 40 Odd Years portray an evolution of sorts - that of one man's ongoing struggle and his appreciation thereof. There are stark and difficult truths about his marital and familial struggles - "Your Mother and I" (purchase/download) and "I'm Alright" (purchase/download).

There are humorous songs like "The Shit Song" (purchase/download) and "The Acid Song" (purchase/download), contemplative and nostalgic songs like "School Days" (purchase/download) and "The Grammy Song" (purchase/download). There are duets with Kate McGarrigle, Suzzy Roche, Barry Humphries, and more.

And, in the midst of all that, a story unfolds.

Making Things Better With Songs

There's a point in the documentary film when Rufus Wainwright, sitting next to his father on a piano bench, tells the camera in a cynical sort of way that he always felt Loudon was trying to make things better with his songs. The elder Wainwright concurs, but only in part, recognizing that a song can be an apology, an admittance, a recognition or overdue bit of compensation, but it all has to fit into three minutes. Life, he recognizes, can't be concluded that way. This rings true, especially considering some of the songs which didn't make it onto this collection ("Hitting You," for example, which receives a good bit of discussion in the film). But the emphasis on this element of his songwriting is worth mentioning. Indeed, across these four albums, Wainwright's life's work thus far comes across as a series of heartfelt confessions. It caters to the vast species of emotions which accompany life's difficulties, fears, hesitations, and mistakes.

Still, to call Wainwright's music "confessional" stops far short of the point. Each song seems to have started with a confession. The reason for the confession, the events which led to it, and the point of ever confessing anything at all, gets explored in each instance. It can be such a long and meandering path down which these songs lead (especially when taken as one large body of work), it's no surprise that path includes as many excuses and opportunities to cry yourself to sleep as it does to laugh yourself to tears.

Everything Exposed

At a time when average people are leaping in front of television cameras to air their dirty laundry - their family struggles, their infidelities, their angry streaks, their drinking problems, their other assorted regrettable vices - that Loudon Wainwright III's music can still be stirring is a testament to its artistry and timelessness. Sure, it exposes some level of his personal therapy, but there's more than that. Art doesn't expose a single person and their issues; it exposes the audience and challenges them to admit they see themselves in the art. Wainwright seems to not only understand this element of making music, but also to have perfected the practice.

40 Odd Years is more than an excellent collection of well-written, navel-gazing folk-pop songs. It's the story of someone's life and career, the evolution of an artist, proof that music is a life-perpetuating force. Whether you're a long-time fan of Wainwright's, or are looking for a good jumping-in point, this would be a wise purchase. While you're at it, take the time to read the book which comes along. Judd Apatow, David Wild, and Wainwright himself tell the story of his career, and the artist includes notes and stories about several of the songs. He also apologizes for the exclusion of songs big fans may be disappointed to not see. "There were a few hundred recordings to choose from," he writes, "and after three or four culls it began to feel like I was engaged in a kind of self-mutilation or the drowning of kittens."

Really, this is just a reason to make sure those other albums are in your collection, too.

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