If this front-porchy set disappoints, it's only because, as dean of singer-songwriters, Guy Clark has established such imposing standards. Rather than offering the exacting, patient craftsmanship we've come to expect, many of these new tunes feel like playful ephemera, the result of a friendly all-night song swap--though it hardly hurts if your friends include Emmylou Harris, Verlon Thompson, and Darrell Scott. Closer inspection, however, reveals a more serious purpose. Starting with Steve Earle's "Fort Worth Blues", through "Water Under the Bridge" (in which all things pass away), on to Richard Dobson's "Forever, for Always, for Certain", a recognition of the tricks that time can play, Cold Dog Soup is suffused with visions of mortality. The album ends with three exquisite hymns to life in the face of death. In "Red River", Clark celebrates his family history; in "Die Tryin'" life is defined as risk; and in "Be Gone Forever", penned by Anna McGarrigle and Keith Sykes, Clark finds consolation in memory and music. Even if much of Cold Dog Soup isn't up to Clark's best, this closing autumnal suite, played with devil-may-care élan and joy, certainly is. --Roy Kasten