Prime Prine: The Best of John Prine

Prime Prine is a compilation album by American folk singer John Prine, released in 1976. It concluded Prine's run with Atlantic Records. No one associated with Prine had anything to do with the release, with the singer telling Goldmine in 1992, "A friend of ours in the art department called us one night and snuck us into the place...so we could at least look at the cover before it came out."[1]

Prime Prine
Compilation album by John Prine
Released	1976
Genre	Country
Length	43:41
Label	Atlantic
John Prine chronology
Common Sense (1975) Prime Prine (1976) Bruised Orange (1978)

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
Christgau's Record Guide	B–[3]

Writing retrospectively for Allmusic, critic William Ruhlman commented of the album, "Atlantic Records' compilation of John Prine's first four albums was good for its time...but was later superseded by Rhino's Great Days anthology."[2]

Track listing

All tracks are written by John Prine.

CD

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Sam Stone"	4:14
2.	"Saddle in the Rain"	3:30
3.	"Please Don't Bury Me"	2:47
4.	"The Great Compromise"	4:57
5.	"Grandpa Was a Carpenter"	2:11
6.	"Donald and Lydia"	4:27
7.	"Illegal Smile"	3:10
8.	"Sweet Revenge"	2:58
9.	"Dear Abby"	4:10
10.	"Souvenirs"	3:32
11.	"Come Back to Us Barbara Lewis Hare Krishna Beauregard"	3:16
12.	"Hello in There"	4:29
Total length:		43:41

Chart positions

Year	Chart	Position
1977	Billboard Pop Albums	196

References

1. Huffman, Eddie 2015, p. 41. sfn error: no target: CITEREFHuffman,_Eddie2015 (help)
2. Ruhlman, William. "Prime Prine: The Best of John Prine > Review". Allmusic. Retrieved July 9, 2011.
3. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: P". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 10, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.