Now do I assume you all know who Olney is and what he does, and all you really need to know is that he's put out his 11th album? Or do I have the hubris to think I can introduce him to a whole new audience? Or do I treat this as a ding-an-sich, detached from his 25 years of recording? Well, more like ten years if you don't count the gaps in which his output was limited to a couple three european releases. While he's been recording steadily since his 1995 reemergence, Olney always seems to be treated with respect rather than enthusiasm, admiration for his literate lyrics tempered by comparisons with Van Zandt, Waits, Hiatt, Cohen, et al. Whether or not The Wheel will break this cycle, it's more varied than his earlier work, ranging from the mordant Stonewall, in which he puts himself in Jackson's place, expanding on the dying general's last words (Let us cross over the river and rest in the shade of the trees), to the lighthearted Boss Don't Shoot No Dice, co-written with Janis Ian. One can still make the comparisons, he has the poetic audacity of Van Zandt (and sounds uncannily like him on Revolution), Waits' grittiness, Hiatt's smoky roots rock groove and Cohen's imagination, but one could just as easily say that thay each lack those other qualities, which Olney possesses.