Bill Morrissey's 1984 debut took an interesting turn when it was reissued on compact disc in 1991: Morrissey re-recorded the album in its entirety and added three extra songs. The results are impressive, as the singer/songwriter brings an added resonance to the songs, the byproduct of the years that he spent seasoning and getting familiar with the material. These finely detailed vignettes, supported solely by Morrissey's acoustic guitar work, marked the beginning of the career of a startlingly good songwriter. His poetic observations create riveting imagery, as in "Barstow," where he sings in the chorus, "Don't the freight yard sound like a drunk in a metalshop." This excellent storyteller knows how to create the characters who populate his songs, breathing life into them with a voice capable of pathos, humor, sympathy, anger, and more.