Having lightened up on his political concerns and domestic strife on the cover-filled Dreamland Express,
John Denver returned to both on
One World. On the title track, he adopted the persona of a Caribbean man complaining about his homeland being referred to as the Third World, and hinting about revolution. On "Let Us Begin (What Are We Making Weapons For?)," he managed both to take on the farm crisis, and to expound on pacifism in the same song. "It's A Possibility" closed out the album with a "We Are The World"-like anthem about ending sorrow and suffering. On his personal agenda,
Denver seemed more hopeful than he had for much of the decade, producing two songs about falling in love again. But both of them had old copyright dates, and the most recent romantic reflection, "I Can't Escape," indicated he was still carrying the torch -- "Sometimes I wish it was ten years ago," he sang to his lost love. And he had other reasons to wish that.
One World didn't sell well enough to make the charts, and RCA Records, for which
Denver had recorded numerous platinum albums, dropped him after 17 years. ~ William Ruhlmann