Peter Wolf: Fool's Parade : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Give it to Peter Wolf: the famously tireless, crowd-pleasing ex-J. Geils Band frontman has somehow stayed in the game long enough to become one of those great veteran soulmen whom he emulated all those bluesy years ago. Welf has grown to be an unpretentious master of sweet rhythm 'n' pop music, and the warm, rootsy Fool's Parade is the most cohesive and impressive record of his solo career.

Like Long Line, Wolf's undervalued 1996 effort, Fool's Parade is a thoughtful, tuneful and mature album. Where his earliest solo records often found him trying too hard to be contemporary, Wolf now focuses on an infectious yet poignant brand of world-weary heartbreak in songs like "Long Way Back Again," "The Cold Heart of the Stone" and the lovely finale, "Waiting on the Moon." As a songwriter, Wolf – collaborating primarily with Will Jennings and Taylor Rhodes – thoroughly explores exactly why love may or may not stink. The exquisite production, meanwhile – by Wolf and Kenny White – is in a style reminiscent of Willie Mitchell's old Hi Records sound.

Commercially speaking, Wolf musta got lost somewhere down the line; it's been a long time between hit singles. But Fool's Parade is a moving midlife song cycle of great integrity and craft. Here's hoping it puts him right back in the centerfold.