Octo_Russ

Bruce Cockburn [Dart To The Heart]

This is one of those discs that i saw in a second-hand shop in London, going fairly cheap [probably £4], and looking really good, so to expand my horizons, i bought it, and i'm not disappointed, in those days you had to judge things merely by the visuals, the track listing, and whatever you heard on the grapevine, i'm surprised i got so much right, i used to love those London buying blitz's, now Ebay is my disc paradise, and there's now lots of 'sample before you buy' devices to help you minimize any poor choices, it's never been so good for lovers of great music.

Bruce Cockburn [pronounced Co-Burn i understand] is a Canadian Singer~Songwriter, born in 1945, he's now 65, he recorded this gem in 1994, the visuals are excellent [photography by Dana Tynan, boy is she good], a nice front cover shot of [possibly] Bruce with bow and arrow, just close up detail, no face, shot almost in mono yellow and browns, very autumn-ish, and the booklet is full of the lyrics, very well done.

It was good to listen to this album again, i've tried other Bruce Cockburn albums, and i've come away disappointed, but this one hits the mark, two tracks really finds Bruce at his best, track 6 'Southland Of The Heart', and even better track 8 'Someone I Used To Love', it's got a lovely array of instruments, Bruce himself plays the acoustic guitar, and he sets the scene with an atmospheric intro [0:00-0:11], it's got three verses, and in essence without any chorus, the first verse is just Cockburn and his guitar, the Drummer Mickey Curry introduces himself with what sounds like a shaker [0:53+], but no doubt quiet brushes, then when the second verse kicks in, all the band members join in [0:58+], and the music goes up a notch, and the drummer has a nice quiet tap tap rhythm going, and the Accordionist Richard Bell has a nice little flourish at the end of the verses [1:35 & 3:08], after the second verse, Cockburn has a clever guitar solo [1:45-2:07], and right afterwards the accordion has a solo too [2:07-2:27], the third verse comes in with real power [2:31+], and it's the lyrics in this verse that i think are sublime,

You draw me in toward you

Like the moon pulls at the tide

The mandolin [Colin Linden] has a constant picking and colouring in the background throughout the whole song, and the pedal steel [Greg Leisz] rounds out the corners, but it's Bruce Cockburn's voice that's the star, that conjures up a sadness, a really bittersweet love song, and a lovely tune to boot, i can't stop playing this real gem.

Here's Bruce Cockburn singing 'Someone I Used To Love' on We7.