Jimmy Buffett
was diagnosed with an aggressive skin cancer around the time he was wrapping up work on 2020's
Life on the Flip Side
, but he spent the next four years working steadily, playing annual shows with his
Coral Reefer Band
and finishing the album that became his last,
Equal Strain on All Parts
. Arriving about two months after his death,
doesn't sound like the last testament of a dying man. It's a joyous, sometimes raucous, sometimes reflective album that lives thoroughly in the moment, swinging between sunshine and twilight in a warm, comforting manner.
Buffett
doesn't shy away from his enduring obsessions -- even the opening "University of Bourbon Street," an unabashed celebration of the rolling beat of New Orleans R&B -- but he's also not operating on autopilot. He's spinning stories and telling jokes, inviting
Paul McCartney
and
Emmylou Harris
into the studio to share the good times, playing country-rock ("Close Calls"), sun-bleached ballads ("Equal Strain on All Parts"), and tropical pop ("Like My Dog") with equal fervor, taking the time to cover
Bob Dylan
, write a tribute to French rock & roller
Johnny Hallyday
, and craft another working-for-the-weekend anthem with "Nobody Works on Friday." Maybe none of these songs carry the weight of mortality, but taken together, they amount to an effective summation of
's enduring charms. It's not a bad way to say goodbye at all. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine