Bruce Cockburn - anything anytime anywhere

Oh, you have to... you just have to. Have to what? Anyone know of Bruce Cockburn? If not, you just have to get acquainted and this is a good way to do that. Know of whom I speak? Then you wanna already. "anything anytime anywhere" is a magnificent compilation of Cockburn classics, a few of them remixed. You also get two unreleased songs. And damn if the disc doesn't sound great. Remastered using 24 bit tech, the sounds of the instruments come translated through those speakers and its all candy.

Bruce Cockburn, a Canadian singer-songwriter, blessed with tremendous, and largely unrecognized talent, does 16 superb tracks of spiritual, political, and what-have-you musings. Lyrically spacious and musically gifted, Cockburn presents us with the span of years that make up the representative body of his work. Now, by no means, no means at all, does this wonderful but simple collection give us the expansive tone of his voice, metaphorically speaking. To get that, you need to delve into a fairly large catalog that began in 1970 with "Bruce Cockburn" and is presently at this "anything anytime anywhere", mentioned because it contains two unreleased tracks. There are 28 volumes of music/statements encapsulated in recordings, hopefully all available in CD.

I don't have a favourite song of Bruce, especially in this collection, because its all great. You have his first hit with "Wondering Where the Lions Are" delivered in rousing style along with "Lovers in a Dangerous Time", "Waiting for a Miracle", and "Listen For the Laugh". His ballads deliver equally, supplying smooth thought administered like healing medicine. Somehow, I get a sense of comfort listening to Bruce tell us that "yeah, there's problems. They're all around us. But, damn, if it ain't the means of salvation nevertheless". Hats don't get put away there. There's political in "If I Had a Rocket Launcher", "The Trouble With Normal" and "Call It Democracy". Frankly, This CD covers it nicely, giving you a retrospective scratch of Bruce Cockburn and his brilliance and genius.

The two 'new' songs, "My Beat" and "anything anytime anywhere" are great songs. They show, quite wonderfully, that Bruce has not lost his edge. After hearing these, it makes me quite anxious for the obvious coming of new material that I'm sure Rounder will release in time.

I do have a problem with this package, however. The importance of Bruce's recordings are not only the delivery of the songs but what he says. The lyrics should have been included in this release. There is booklet enough, which is already an insightful one, to have included them. It is really an essential feature and the omission stands out glaringly.

Of course, I could go on quite a bit here but the fun of Bruce's music is in the discovery. You just need to get your feet wet. This is the CD to do it with. As Bruce says in "Wondering Where the Lions Are" -

As for me, some kind of ecstasy got a hold of me. Catch some of this ecstasy. You won't be sorry.

Copyright © 2002 Matthew Rowe. All rights reserved.
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