Opening with "Trail of Seasons," a five-minute masterpiece of the sustaining powers of friendship and the comic wisdom of love lost but survived, The Flower and the Knife enthralls and inspires from the driving-with-the-radio-blasting anthem "Dirty Angels" to the hilarious beatnik rap "Kerouac" to the stinging cover of Dylan's "Ballad of Hollis Brown." Ultimately, Kinney's third solo album succeeds because of the understated acoustic support, exceptional songwriting (including refreshed reprises of DNC favorites "Scarred but Smarter" and "Straight to Hell"), and Kinney's reedy, intuitive, and hardscrabble voice. --Roy Kasten
