Disc 299 is...Northwest Passage
Artist: Stan Rogers
Year of Release: 1981
What’s Up With The Cover?: It looks like Stan Rogers set up a bunch of vaguely nautical objects in the local high school gym. This picture is as amateurish and lame as his cover for "Turnaround" (reviewed back at Disc 162). They've tried to gussy it up a bit with the added detail of the nautical compass points, but the effect is marginal.
The fact that Rogers is depicted seeking the Northwest Passage with a pretty basic map of Canada (likely borrowed from the same high school they took the picture in) is not helpful. If this is the map Stan is going to rely on to navigate with, he can expect to end up just like Franklin.
How I Came To Know It: I know a lot of these songs from my live Stan Rogers album, "Home In Halifax" (reviewed back at Disc 100). I've only owned "Northwest Passage" for a few months, having bought it earlier in 2011.
How It Stacks Up: When I bought "Turnaround" I picked it because it had very few tracks on the "Home In Halifax" album and I was disappointed. I therefore bought "Northwest Passage" because so many of the songs made it on the live album, and the results were much better. This is the best Stan Rogers album I've heard to date.
Rating: 5 stars.
I've discussed Stan Rogers' history on previous reviews, so I'll focus this review on this particular album. To quickly sum up for first time readers, Rogers has a deep baritone voice and sings very traditional Canadian folk songs celebrating both our history and our current culture (such as it was in 1981 at least).
"Northwest Passage" is Rogers doing these things at his absolute best. Of the ten songs on this record, fully six of them make it on the live album, "Home In Halifax", testament to the record's power (or maybe it was just that tour - but I like to think it is the quality of the music). This record is Rogers' "Five Days in July", "Moving Pictures" or "Who's Next". It is pitch perfect throughout.
In reviewing "Home In Halifax" I previously discussed "The Field Behind The Plow" which immortalizes the hard word of the Canadian farmer. This record has a companion piece as well, with "Night Guard" - the story of a former rodeo bull rider who saved up all his prize money to buy a cattle ranch, only to find himself victimized by local rustlers. Our hero is a man of action, and decides to go out one night and catch them in the act. As Rogers paints the scene:
"He told her that he'd got it for the game
A 'Winnie' 303 with his initials on the frame
Riding in the scabbard on his knee. Tonight he's gonna see
Who's getting all the stock."
...
"And here's the way he'll end it all tonight
'Cause all the proof he needs is lying steady in his sights
It may be just the worst thing he could do
But he squeezes off a few, then makes his call to town."
How the story plays out is never told - we do not know if the rancher shot or killed any rustlers, and really that type of finality is secondary to a Stan Rogers' folk song. What matters is we get a deep understanding of the character, and his place in Canadian society.
Other characters Rogers paints on this record include a man who's left the Maritimes to get a job in the Alberta oil industry (the ironically named "The Idiot"), a man taking a half-day off with his wife for a mental health day ("Working Joe"), and a woman fretting about her lost youth, ("Lies"). In each case, Rogers does more than present a detailed character study - he makes you want these characters to succeed, and to identify with them regardless of how similar or dissimilar their lives are from your own.
In so doing he takes ordinary stories, and he makes them into anthems about the Canadian experience, and from there, to the more global experience of being human. It is a gift to hear these stories sung, and damned good for the soul to boot.
And before closing, I would be remiss not to mention the five star masterpiece that is the title track, which regales the listener with the long history of adventurers seeking the Northwest Passage through Canada's frozen arctic. This song demands a sing-a-long, and I've rarely had it on where at least one (and usually several) people in the room don't join in unison as Rogers belts out:
"Ah, for just one time, I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea
Tracing one warm line through a land so wide and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea."
I took a lot of history in university, but truth be told I always enjoyed European history more - maybe it was all the court intrigues and wars that drew me. Whatever the case, this record - and "Northwest Passage" in particular - reminds me that Canada has its own majestic past, that must not be forgotten. There are dozens of reasons why this record is worthy of five stars, but for this alone, I might've done it.
Best tracks: So many - but of the ten, I really like eight, and love six. Those six are: Northwest Passage, The Field Behind The Plow, Night Guard, The Idiot, Canal Road, Free In The Harbout
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