Old Enough to Forget

Stealing Fire released in '84 was one of those rare albums that managed to be as awesome as it was perplexing. Despite my mixed reactions to some of his stuff there was a slice of time during the '80s where I kept up with him in real time. I know there's a shit load of love for his 1979 hit "Wondering Where the Lions Are" and despite his appearance playing the song on SNL I never really like it all that much. Oh it got under my skin in the same way that Gordon Lightfoot's "Sundown" irritated me as a kid. In a scene worthy of Python where they're accusing Connie Booth of being a witch, I had been a musical newt ... I got better. Although I still revert from time to time. Regardless, I think the point I was trying to make before I distracted myself by thinking of Monty Python, was that for a little while I considered myself a fan, still do - just a tad more casual and less invested than some. I started my journey with T he Trouble with Normal , an...

It's been a long time since I've sat and listened to this one all the way through. When I wrote about World of Wonders almost a year ago I spent half of the meanderamble talking about this particular album before finally getting to the point ... or as close to point as I ever get. When I think of this album I think of two songs, which happen to be the one two punch that kick of side one. The title track and the awesome stick work by Dennis Pendrith, and "Candy Man's Gone" a song so good that it still stops me in my tracks. When Mister Cockburn had a mind to he could craft one hell of a pop song that had some real bite to the lyrics. There were no baby baby songs here. This was heavy stuff that you needed to sit and read as you listened. I'll be the first to admit that I like the shiny objects and the pretty music with a hook. For Bruce it seemed like he relished setting the hook early and then seeing how much he could getaway with before he lost the fish. In ...

Bruce Cockburn is an artists' artist. One whose conviction and seriousness seem overwhelming and to be honest a little intimidating. He always seemed like a guy who had a sense of humour but kept it in a shoe box one the shelf in his closet lest he use it and undermine his own sense of purpose. As a teenager my first exposure to him was when he hit it big with "Wondering Where the Lions Are" a song that is intricately structured. I saw him perform the song on Saturday Night Live, and I remember thinking, "Wow, he's on T.V." followed closely by "Man, I can't stand that song." It was true, it was right up there as a tweofer along with Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" as songs I could appreciate the grandeur and scope of, but couldn't stand. Then there'd be other songs, and for whatever reason I never forgot his appearance on The Alan Hamel Show (that later devolved into The Alan Thicke Show, and would ...