Happy Hallowe’en! Hallowe’en is my favourite holiday of the
year, bar none. It is the one time of
the year people are inspired to step outside themselves, and in reveal a bit of
themselves in the process.
For the first time in over ten
years I was able to wear a costume to work (my old job was a poor fit for such
activity). I love dressing up in
costume, and it added a little whimsy to my day. Congratulations to everyone who took the same
opportunity and lived a little today. In particular, a big shout out to my wife and partner-in-fun Sheila, who did a kick-ass homage to Alfred Hitcock's "The Birds" - check it out at her blog.
My next review is not very
Hallowe’eny, but I guess for some, Newfoundland folk music can be scary. Not for me though; I love the stuff.
Disc 453 is… Self-Titled
Year of Release: 1993
What’s up with the Cover? It’s a picture of the great big sea. You can’t get much more literal than
this. Unlike the cover for Audioslave’s
“Out of Exile” this actually has an authentic feel to it.
How I Came To Know It: I had purchased Great Big Sea’s second album, “Up” and loved it. This was me going
backwards to see what I might have missed.
How It Stacks Up: We have five Great Big Sea albums. I would put their Self-Titled effort 4th,
slightly edging out “Turn” (Reviewed back at Disc 287).
Rating: 3 stars
Some
albums are more enjoyable in the context of the type of music the band would
create later in their career. Great Big
Sea have carved a niche for themselves in Canadian musical history – and more
than a little fame – playing a pop-infused East Coast folk. However, their self-titled first album is
them still questing for the perfect blend of this sound.
The energy
is there, but the music on their opening record is solidly traditional. Long-time readers of this blog will know that
doesn’t bother me in the least; I love traditional no-frills folk music that is
well played.
Great
Big Sea can certainly play well, so there is no problem there. They are also gifted with the powerful vocals
of Alan Doyle who is a fine gift to the Canadian music scene. Doyle’s voice is big and friendly, and when he
sings he always sounds like he’s smiling.
Of note, he’s also a pretty good actor in recent years, and is one of
the bright spots of the otherwise forgettable Russell Crowe “Robin Hood” movie
that came out a few years back. He plays
the merry “Alan A’Dale,” the good-natured minstrel, so it wasn’t exactly a
stretch, mind you; even his name is the same.
Singing
about various Newfoundland topics also comes easily to Doyle, and his love of his
homeland is easy to hear. Traditional fare
like “Excursion Around the Bay,” “I’se the B’y” and some traditional reels
are all played with warmth and affection.
In the case of “Drunken Sailor”
glimpses of what the band will do later shine through, as they light into the
song double-time, getting the song’s subject’s belly shaved, arrested and in
the drunk-tank all in record time.
The band
also delivers some original material on this front, poking gentle fun at a well-known
Newfoundland turn of phrase with “What
Are Ya’ At?” This is well executed
but after repeat listens it now sounds a bit too trite and manipulative.
The real
stand-out on this record is “The
Fisherman’s Lament” an original protest song encapsulating all of the
frustration of their home province over the collapse of the East Coast cod
fishery, and laying the blame squarely at the feet of government
mismanagement. No doubt there are plenty
of opinions about how the Newfoundland cod fishery declined – I just review
music. Whatever your conclusion, you can’t
deny the genuine anger and betrayal that comes out in this song about fishermen
who, having spent their whole life on the sea, are told they can no longer do
so:
“I’ve spent my whole life out
there on the sea
Some government bastard now takes
it from me.
It’s not just the fish – they’ve
taken my pride
I feel so ashamed that I just
want to die.”
You don’t
have to agree, but I’d be surprised if you hadn’t heard someone say some version
of this in a café somewhere when times get hard. If you haven’t, you’re spending too much time
in Starbucks and not enough in Tim Hortons.
Less impressive
is “Someday Soon” another political
song, this one about the promises politicians make that never seem to come
through for the working man. This song
comes from an honest place as well, but the lyrics are weak:
“They said they’d stop the
fighting
And they said they would bring
peace
And they said they’d find a serum
That could cure all our disease.”
These
promises are pretty extreme even for a campaigning politician, and yet they’re
so generic that there’s nothing specific for the mind to wrap itself around.
Not even a fine tin whistle riff can save this one.
“The Fisherman’s Lament” is such a strong
song, and Great Big Sea are such natural talents that together they lift this
album to three stars. However, the album
gets self-referential in places and the lyrics are uneven even on some of the
stronger songs. It wouldn’t be long
before Great Big Sea would fully develop their sound and go on to give me a solid
decade of great music. This album is the
beginning of that experience, and so I view it with a lot of fondness, but it is
a bit like Alice Cooper’s “Easy Action” – better in context of the great
records that were just around the corner.
Great Big Sea eventually came to where they’re at, but on this first
record they’d just started the journey.
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