quietly announced he was back in action and capable of making substantial, heartfelt music again with his 1994 acoustic album , but on 1995's showed he was truly back in fighting shape, and from the album's first moments he sounds ready to roar and holds nothing back. While 's battle with drug abuse and his brief stay in prison aren't explicitly addressed on this album (except on the harrowing in which confesses "cocaine cannot kill my pain" and "heroin is the only thing/the only gift the darkness brings"), the hurt brought to himself and others by his betrayals runs through many of these songs, sometimes with humor ( ), sometimes with regret ( ), and sometimes with a painful self-awareness ( and ). But isn't about addiction and loss so much as recovery and starting over again, and if the songs often concern 's misdeeds, the strength of the music finds him confronting his demons without flinching and conjuring up some of the powerfully muscular and affecting of his life. And like , shows finding the courage and confidence to make a record just the way he wants, and this may be 's finest hour in the studio -- the production is tough, resonant, and a perfect match for the material, the players bring their A game without showboating, and 's rough but passionate vocals are pure, honest, and direct on every cut. affirmed that 's brush with oblivion had not only failed to silence him, but he was a more courageous artist when he came out the other side, and no one who has heard this record is likely to argue that point. ~ Mark Deming