DU Album of the Day: "Humans" Bruce Cockburn

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The greatest album of all time? Magic 8 Ball says, "Signs point to yes."

Grim Travellers
Rumours Of Glory
More Not More
You Get Bigger As You Go
What About The Bond
How I Spent My Fall Vacation
Guerrilla Betrayed
Tokyo
Fascist Architecture
The Rose Above The Sky

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1. "How I Spent My Fall Vacation" - one of my favorite songs

I always loved how he starts with "sun went down, looking like the eye of god" and then works it around to "while the eye of god blazes at us like the sun"

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2. I think I'd have to go with High Winds White Sky...

as my favorite BC album. Although it's awfully hard to choose.

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3. I'm less familiar with High Winds White Sky

But top to bottom, I think "Humans" is a terrific album, perhaps the best ever recorded by anyone. Every song is wonderfully crafted, Cockburn's lyrics are just chock full of meanings both latent and patent (you mentioned the "eye of god" trope in "Fall Vacation" and that's just one in a treasure chest full of precious stones), and the studio work is air tight.

I've seen Cockburn in concert more times than I can remember, but at a solo show at Washington Park in Portland (with Joan Baez - wow!), he came out to do a mic check and played "Tokyo" just so the sound people could get things right. It was amazing to see a performance level run-through just for the sound levels.

My favorite song on the album is "Rumors of Glory," with such a powerful message that isn't readily discernible in its three vignette verses.

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4. I only ever saw him live twice

Once in Toronto when he was doing the Big Circumstance tour, and once at the Michigan Theater during the Dart to the Heart tour.

He's been doing his thing a long time. Over forty years! I'll probably always like his earlier stuff best, but a career that long can't really be summarized.