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By the time of Bill Morrissey's fifth release, NIGHT TRAIN, the folk world had come to expect excellence from the New England songwriter. Good thing then, that NIGHT TRAIN delivers. While it doesn't plumb the same number of emotional sinkholes that its predecessor, INSIDE, does, the album is full of top-shelf vignettes which illuminate the harsh existence of day-to-day life. Comfort comes with a price tag, as "Sandy", a tale of a woman who shuts out the outside world by immersing herself in church, indicates. Whether there is any true comfort to be found at all is an open question Morrissey explores on the album's highlight, "Birches". A metaphorical investigation of a husband and wife's passionless marriage, this song is a treatise marking the emotional struggle of digging in for the long haul. The presence of David Johansen's barreling vocals is a distraction alongside Morrissey's more laconic delivery. He quickly gets back with "Blues in the Morning", "Broken Waltz Time", and "Walk Down These Streets", the latter displaying the dubious merits of post-relationship emotional detachment.
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