Dance Band On the Titanic

One of Harry's best

When it originally came out on vinyl form, this was a double-album, filled with 14 very deep and retrospective songs. Some were lighthearted, like "My Old Lady", some very dark, like "Mismatch" or "I Wonder What Happened To Him". I still think the title song was one of Harry's best. But the best cut, by far, is the autobiographical "There Was Only One Choice", a whopping 14 minute dissertation on Harry's life that still resonates today, 27 years after his passing. It was as if Harry knew his fate was sealed six years before his death on that Long Island freeway. No studio album ever compares with Harry's live concerts (hence three live albums, including one posthumous), but among his studio works, Danceband had to be his best.

Cadet Fourth Class Harry Chapin, United States Air Force Academy, had far more people to touch with music than with piloting skills. I was blessed to be a cadet in the late 70's before he was tragically killed in a car accident in Boston (damned NE drivers). He came to play for us every year before that, and a finer entertainer on stage could not be found. Every song was (is) a story, and all of them moving. This album is forever burned into my memory and from the 1st (dragically comic) Danceband...to the last 14 minute prayer, it's a gem. My favorites are 1, 8 and 10. And the reviewer is right - Mismatch is probably his prettiest, purest tune. He seems to have lived them all. Buy the whole album.