Ed Askew – ‘The Final Painting’ album review: Abstract reflections on an outsider’s lifeEd Askew - ‘The Final Painting’ 4For the fourth time this year, I am reviewing an album recorded by a man in his mid-80s; two of those, admittedly, were ex-Beatles, so they can’t be counted as part of any sort of new octogenarian trend in popular music. Sadly, both Zimmerman’s Dream Me a Dream (released last month on Big Potato Records) and Askew’s The Final Painting, out this week on Drag City, are posthumous releases. The Skinny: The Final Painting is either the fifth, 15th or 50th album of Ed Askew’s career, depending on how you view his library of home recordings. That’s always been his songwriting preference, though, to use simple language and keep things more open-ended and up to interpretation, like a painting. While he knew that the songs on The Final Painting would represent the last of his career, he was not interested in telling his life story or imparting any special wisdom on anything overtly political or philosophical.