Bruce Cockburn - recommendations?

Paul Bennett

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Jun 24, 1991, 8:43:02 AM6/24/91

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I got Bruce Cockburn's "Live!" album back in Spetember, and have grown to
love it... can anyone point me to a good starting point in his vast back-
cat? I've heard rumour that his studio albums don't come up too good, due
to massive over-production / shaping of his acoustic sound. I've also heard
that "Humans" is supposed to be his best, musically.

C'mon - there must be plenty of Cockburn fans out there...how about a little
advice?

Thanks,

Paul Bennett.
p...@doc.ic.ac.uk

Doug Heacock

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Jun 24, 1991, 3:06:05 PM6/24/91

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I don't have the recordings in front of me here at the office, so I
can't give exact titles, but there is a very old live album called
"Circles in the Stream" or something like that; it was my first
introduction to Bruce Cockburn, and there is some very impressive work
on it. Another good one is called "Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws"; and
sometime after that one he released a two-record set of his hit
singles (hits in Canada, presumably), that contains a *lot* of good
music, including things like "Rocket Launcher" and "Peggy's Kitchen
Wall."

I like Bruce Cockburn's music a lot, though I have to admit that
sometimes some of it seems a bit esoteric. And if you're looking for
the "Jesus, Jesus, how I love you"-type songs, Bruce won't satisfy
you. I suspect you aren't, having heard Bruce already, but other
readers of this reply might wonder...

John Warren

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Jun 24, 1991, 7:04:29 PM6/24/91

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In article <1991Jun24.1...@doc.ic.ac.uk> p...@doc.ic.ac.uk (Paul Bennett) writes:
>
>I got Bruce Cockburn's "Live!" album back in Spetember, and have grown to
>love it... can anyone point me to a good starting point in his vast back-
>cat? I've heard rumour that his studio albums don't come up too good, due
>to massive over-production / shaping of his acoustic sound.

If you want a pretty good overall sample of his music over the last
20 years you could try the CD Waiting for a Miracle (songs up to 1986,
plus two newer songs). A good 1980's album is The Trouble with Normal (1982),
and a couple good mid '70's folk/acoustic-ish albums are Joy Will Find
a Way (1975) and In the Falling Dark (1976). I imagine that him 1980's
albums are the ones that are supposed to have been overproduced, but I
don't think they are. Generally, if you want to be aroused his 1980's
stuff will do the trick, and if you want to be mellow, his 1970's stuff
will do it.

>
>Thanks,
>
>Paul Bennett.

Your quite welcome,

John Warren
---------
"Two men on a train platform, there's nobody in sight.
They're waiting for spring to come, smoking down the track."
-- "I and I" by Bob Dylan

andrew.j.whitman

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Jun 25, 1991, 10:05:44 AM6/25/91

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In article <1991Jun24.1...@doc.ic.ac.uk> p...@doc.ic.ac.uk (Paul Bennett) writes:
>

Well okay, I'll take a stab at this. As far as I know, Cockburn has
released the following albums:

1) Bruce Cockburn
2) High Winds, White Sky
3) Sunwheel Dance
4) Salt, Sea, and Time
5) Night Vision
6) Joy Will Find a Way
7) In the Falling Dark
8) Circles in the Stream
9) Further Adventures of
10) Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws
11) Humans
12) Inner City Front
13) The Trouble With Normal
14) Stealing Fire
15) World of Wonders
16) Big Circumstance
17) Bruce Cockburn Live

There are also a couple of "Greatest Hits" type albums - "Resume"
(that's reh-zu-may) from the early eighties and "Waiting for a
Miracle" from the mid eighties. These contain a few songs not
released on the earlier albums.

Albums 1 - 8 are acoustic folk and tend to be fairly overtly
Christian. I suppose a "buy them all" response isn't very
helpful, but really, it's worth tracking them all down. Cockburn
is a great songwriter and a superb guitarist, and these qualities
are apparent from the first album on. You might want to check
out the live double album "Circles in the Stream" for a nice
sampling from these early albums.

Albums 9 - 11 are a bit of a cross between folk and jazz. There
are political overtones in all of Cockburn's work, but the political
focus really comes to the fore here. Don't come looking for
musical accompaniment for the Moral Majority here though :-).
Cockburn is pretty outspoken and doesn't have too many good
things to say about the U.S. government or its imperialistic
policies (Cockburn's view, not necessarily mine). Regardless
of your political persuasions, though, these are superb albums.
"Humans" would be without a doubt one of my desert island disks.
It chronicles Cockburn's divorce, and it's a very dark, very
moving album. There's so much raw honesty and vulnerability
there that it's frightening. And at the same time there's a
real affirmation of the sustaining power of God's love. It's
one of the most "true" Christian albums I've encountered.

Albums 12 - 17 mix in more rock influences. These are *very*
political albums, and are sure to offend the God-bless-the-
U.S.of A crowd. Cockburn tends to alternate between songs
that chronicle his spiritual wrestling and songs that decry
the oppression of the poor. I think "The Trouble With Normal"
and "World of Wonders" are the best of the lot, but again,
they're all worthwhile.

Reports from over in r.m.folk land indicate that Cockburn is
now recording a new album produced by T-Bone Burnett. Sounds
like a great combination to me.

I hope this helps.

>Thanks,
>
>Paul Bennett.

Andy Whitman
AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus, Ohio
att!cblpn!ajw or
a...@cblpn.att.com