Trampoline
After six albums on which he constantly moved back and forth between classic folk and country traditions, Joe Henry really hit his artistic stride on the brilliantTrampoline. While the album finds him occasionally drifting toward both of those familiar modes,Trampolinealso introduces us to Joe Henry, the pop-rock experimentalist. From the exotic guitar strum that opens the album on "Bob and Ray," through a feedback-drenched cover of aSly Stoneobscurity ("Let Me Have It All"), to the dark funeral organ that drives theBlue Oyster Cult-ish "Medicine," to a track featuring a female opera singer ("Flower Girl"), the album allows Henry to use all sorts of musical eccentricities. This certainly both confused and delighted longtime fans, and set the stage forFuseand the future. Lyrically, Henry seems to be in a pretty dark place--might or might not be about the end of a relationship. And "Flower Girl" may be the most beautiful song Henry's ever written. You could compareTrampolineto that moment whenTom Waitsmoved from the more traditional sound of his early albums to theBeefheartish experimentations ofSwordfishtrombonesandRain Dogs--that's how great both the change and growth appear to be here.--Bill Holdship