Its that time again!

So, alright. This may look a bit odd to you. Indeed it should... because I am not in fact our favorite magical Negro. I am filling in for this installment, and maybe some more random ones on down the road whenever Steel gets tired of making these for a couple weeks or something. Who knows. That aside, I will also note as Steel has done that this is all my opinion. Luckily for me, I am not here to tell you that an entire genre sucks except for one dude so I don't expect any sort of blow-up arguments.



96. Bruce Cockburn - Breakfast in New Orleans, Dinner in Timbuktu (1999)

So, I think it is pretty safe to say that Canada makes a lot of shitty music. Granted there are some good musicians/bands from Canada, such as Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor... but most of the bands from Canada are really really bad... ala Barenaked Ladies and some of the worst indie bands you can find. Thats all okay though, because Canada gave us Bruce Cockburn.

From what I understand, I guess he is fairly popular in Canada itself... but Rowain is the only Canuck I have ever talked to that was familiar with Cockburn's work at any level. For whatever reason, and I suspect it has something to do with the spelling of his name (pronounced Coh-burn by the way), he has never broken through into the mainstream here in America.. or even really in many music circles either, as far as I know... as in other than my dad, I've never met someone in real life who was into this guy. Despite that, Cockburn has been churning out albums since the early 70s, covering every genre from singer/songwriter folk-rock to serious world-beat fusion and some jazzy stuff as well. The thing that ties it all together is his lyrics, which early on in his career were thematically Christian in nature and had a devotional quality even. Since then he has toned down the Christian-influenced material but still remains fairly spiritual. Another motif in Cockburn's lyrics is travel-log type of thing, including many song titles and subjects drawn from his trips to the third world on mission trips (or whatever it is he does in places like Mozambique and Cambodia), as well as reflections on the dynamics of relationships between men and women. While I definitely believe the lyrics and vocals are the primary draw to his music, Cockburn is also an excellent guitar player and always surrounds himself with damn good musicians as well. They are generally pretty nameless guys who haven't worked with too many other musicians of note, but they're always of the highest calibre, and the band behind him really gets a chance to shine in many places on this album.

The album starts off with one of my favorite Bruce Cockburn songs period: "When You Give It Away". The song starts out with a kind of bluesy shuffle, over which Cockburn muses about a morning scene in a cafe, which later breaks into a jangly, hammond organ drenched down tempo jam between the various keys, guitars and percussion bits. Aside from that, the song also has a memorable horn section and in general just a great groove. The next song, "Mango" is a not so thinly veiled throwback to his earlier Christian roots, featuring acoustic guitar, but a nice samba ostinato and some light lead work lends this song a really nifty latin feel. This is the first of some 6 odd songs to feature female vocals, I can't remember exactly who everyone is, but Lucinda Williams and the singer from the Cowboy Junkies sing on several songs. The next track, "Last Night of the World" is a classic Bruce track, not lacking in any of the departments for why his fans so adore him. This song really is in my opinion the most mature and polished piece on the album, a real tying together of all his various experiments back to a previous album, Nothing But a Burning Light and providing a really nice stand-out track for what I consider to be a signature album. I'm not going to hit all the songs exactly, but I'll feature a couple more of the really good ones here with some video audio clips of "Let The Bad Air Out" and "The Embers of Eden":



" Judge said to the hooker, 'Can you come out to play?
I've been condemning people all day long, that's how I get paid
My dreams are full of criminals frolicking about

Open up the window, let the bad air out

Strangled by confusion, my mind is in decay
Can't picture tomorrow, can't remember yesterday
Send out for the Black and Decker and the psychiatric couch

Open up the window, let the bad air out"



Aside from that there is a sweet version of Fats Domino's classic track "Blueberry Hill" and really solid haunting instrumental piece later on in the album as well. I don't think there is a 'always skip' track on this album, its strong from start to finish. Boom.

Why Doesn't GW Talk About This?

I believe GW doesn't talk about Bruce Cockburn much simply because they don't know him. His style is something that I think most of the people in #music would dig and I am sure others who are into rock music in general can also enjoy his music. For instance, Cockburn practically cured me of being a metal head. He was so good that I actually listened to him at a time when I thought that Dragonforce was one of the best bands around. It was the first step... and I have come so far *sniff*. He was so good that it destroyed my desire for those speedy riffs and wailing vocals. That aside, he is sweet, and I would imagine its just a lack of exposure as to why GW doesn't talk about Bruce Cockburn. Who knows, maybe some of those Canadian members we have actually DO listen to Bruce and I'm just retardedddd.

Why Would GW Like This?

There are many Cockburn albums that I could have done this for, but I think that this particular album would be most to GW's liking in general. Not only is it one of the more accessable albums, but it does include quite a bit of his range, and yet it isn't quite as out there as "You've Never Seen Everything", and it isn't as folky and christiany as his most sucessful album "Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws". That's not to take anything away from these albums, and along with "Nothing But a Burning Light" constitute my favorite albums by the guy. Without making a transition: Another reason why I think GW would enjoy this album is because it is groovy. It seems to me that the one thing that ties everyone together here musically, is that if some music is groovy everyone will dig it. I believe I mentioned the awesome impressionist lyrics already, so for anyone into rock, groovy music and/or good lyricism Bruce would certainly be a dude for you. So check him outtttttt.