I don’t know if most people are aware of Bruce Cockburn’s more folk tinged recordings from the early Seventies. I would guess that the incendiary smash mid-Eighties hit “If I Had A Rocket Launcher” is what comes to mind first when his name is mentioned. Since Rounder has reissued Cockburn’s catalog there’s no reason not to discover his other works. Sunwheel Dance originally released in 1971 is one of my personal favorites.
Sunwheel Dance is an inviting and warm album from the music captured within to the lyrical preoccupation with the sun. “My Lady And My Lord” begins the album with a happy madrigal air. The album then begins to mine the singer-songwriter territory that was so prevalent at the time. Before that gets too boring Cockburn unleashes, well unleashes is perhaps too aggressive a term; rather he springs the gorgeous “Sunwheel Dance” instrumental on his listeners. Cockburn was not yet playing in the heavier rock style that would propel him up the US charts, but he was still angry enough to pin the following lines from “It’s Going Down Slow”:
God, damn the hands of glory
That hold the bloody firebrand high
Close the book and end the story
Of how so many men have died
Let the world retain in memory
That mighty tongues tell mighty lies
And if mankind must have an enemy
Let it be his warlike pride
Let it be his warlike pride
He makes note of the changing times on “Up On The Hillside” with a couplet that sounds almost like an afterthought, “yes, the world's in convulsions and the weather is fine, Buicks get bigger and five cents costs a dime” which still sounds timeless today…well maybe five cents would cost us a quarter. Sunwheel Dance also contains a song that would be a staple of his live shows for a long time (he’s recently began performing it again), “Dialog With The Devil”, to recommend it.
The album comes with two bonus tracks, one an unaccompanied version of “My Lady And My Lord” which eclipses the original album cut. Sunwheel Dance is a great ray of Seventies style folk rock sunshine and a great place to start or expand a Bruce Cockburn collection.
Article comments
1 - Greg Burton
Nice review. My personal favorites are "Humans" and "Dancing in the Dragons Jaws". And how can you not love lines like
down on the plain of 10,000 smokestacks
trucks butt heads to establish dominance
Although "Tokyo" may be my favorite of all his songs.
2 - Charles
For more information on Bruce Cockburn, have a look at Gavin's Woodpile, a newsletter published since 1994.
3 - Charles
Th url to Gavin's Woodpile did not print in the last post. It is: www.brucecockburn.org
4 - john ford
My personal fave Cockburn record, if I had to pick one, would be "Circles in the Stream." It's the closest you can get to one of his accoustic concerts in the '70s without a time tunnel. The playing is stellar and arrangements sparse.