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Geez, Willie, where’ve ya been? I haven’t heard from you for…holy crap, has it been more than two decades? What the hell happened? Your debut album was great, one of the best to come from NYC in the punk-influenced era, and the follow-up record held its ground pretty well, too, so where did you go? I know this is a mean business, but twenty-plus years is a long time to be gone, especially when you’re good.
So, what’s up? How have you been? You look good. You sound great. After all this time, how did you manage to not grow cynical or angry? You don’t even sound that much older, although it does seem that you’ve collected a fair amount of wisdom over the ensuing years. How old are you now, anyway? Oh, sorry about that, never mind. That was rude of me. It’s just that you still sound energetic and full of life. On “Asking Annie Out,” you still sound like a kid, fer chrissakes. Good for you. It’s amazing that you could just suddenly pop up again after such a long absence, and make it sound like you never left. Did you fall into a black hole or something? Because I gotta tell you – this album sounds like the perfect follow-up to “Golden Down” (released in…1982??!!…I still can’t believe it). If anything, your songwriting has gotten even better, although I see that you never outgrew your Dylan fixation; “Back Home” is a bit much in that regard, but the rest of “Streets of New York” really plays up your strengths as a singularly talented songsmith. “Cell Phones Ringing in the Pockets of the Dead” sort of gives me the creeps and brings up all sorts of unwanted imagery, but that doesn’t stop me from singing along at the top of my lungs. I’ll bet that it makes a great show closer, too.
Well, now that you’re back, I feel sorry to have waited so long without inquiring as to your whereabouts. It’s great to have you back. There’s a whole new audience out there who has never heard of you, people who weren’t even born back then, but are now starting families. The problem, though, is that all of the old radio stations that used to play your stuff are gone - sold out to talk radio, or some awful format that nobody except androids really likes. Your old fans are gonna flip when they hear this, and I’d bet that the new generation will love “Streets of New York,” too, if they get to hear it, so I’m gonna keep playing it, and I’m gonna play it when my kids come over for a visit, too. But let’s not tell them how far back we go. What they don’t know won’t matter, anyway. It’s just great to see you again, and damn, you look good. Welcome back, Willie.
Grade: 
 
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