I am not feeling any witticisms or
idle observations coming over me today, so let’s just get right down to the
music.
Disc 767 is….Sea of No Cares
Artist: Great Big
Sea
Year of Release: 2002
What’s up with the Cover? It’s a goldfish, which the liner
notes indicate is named Steve. A goldfish in a bowl is kind of in a sea of no
cares, which is a good reminder that not having any cares often means you don’t
have any freedom either.
How I Came To Know It: This was just me buying Great Big
Sea’s latest release when it came out, having been a fan from the very first
studio album. Interestingly, this was the last CD of theirs that I bought. I
might one day check out their later work (they’ve done four studio albums
since) but lately I’ve been pulled down different roads.
How It Stacks Up: As noted, I have five Great Big
Sea albums. “Sea of No Cares” is right in the middle at three, just ahead of
their self-titled debut (reviewed back at Disc 453).
Ratings: 3 stars but close to 4
“Sea of No Cares” is Great Big Sea’s fifth studio
album, and by this point they’ve got their sound pretty nailed down; traditional
Newfoundland folk music which just the right amount of pop production to make
it go down easy.
The songs might be traditional or they might be
Great Big Sea originals but the band makes every song sound like it was made
for them. They have an energy that makes it feel like you’re hearing them at a
pub, and an approachability that makes them feel like you’re with the band.
Folk music demands tight, disciplined playing if it
is going to work. The trick is to keep it tight but keep the swing in it that makes
it sound relaxed. Great Big Sea has this down, whether it is the easy strum of
the guitar, the mandolin keeping the pace, or the bodhran sitting in the
background holding it all together.
And since I mentioned it, I’d like to just say how
much I love the bodhran as a percussion instrument. So many Celtic bands at
this stage of their development go too heavily into the traditional pop and
rock drumming. They’re trying to energize their work, but instead they drown it
in high hats and snares. Great Big Sea does use a regular drum kit tastefully on
a few songs, but I like it best when they stick with the bodhran. Songs like “Scolding Wife” and “French Perfume” are held together by the bodhran’s easy rhythms and
whatever foot stomps the audience would like to add when they hear it live.
Lead vocals are (mostly) done by Alan Doyle, and his
voice has a powerful, back-of-the-throat quality that holds the songs together.
He also has a natural talent for finding just the right point of the beat to
come in, and just what phrasing to sing to best tell the story. On a modern
tale of heartbreak, like “Clearest
Indication” he draws each note out, and on “Yarmouth Town” and “Scolding
Wife” he lets his perfect timing and almost staccato delivery drive the
songs’ action and humour simultaneously.
This album has the requisite classics about life on
the sea with “Boat Like Gideon Brown”
and “Barque in the Harbour” and funny
songs about sailors on leave getting into mischief (“Yarmouth Town”). It has a solid range of fun, sad and whimsical. It
even has a ghost story (“French Perfume”).
Great Big Sea sometimes gets dismissed as being too
far on the pop side of folk. To be fair, there are songs that feel a bit
schmaltzy (“Stumbling In” and “Own True Way” come to mind on this
album). Even these songs don’t pull the album down too far, though. Besides, I
don’t think it should be a crime to be listenable and accessible. In the modern
age where everything has to feel ironically detached to be cool, it is nice to remember
a simpler time not that long ago when folk music could be joyful and full of
honest feeling.
Sometimes you just want to listen to a little music
and not feel like you’re working to understand it. When you have this condition
– let’s call it “ear of no cares” – an excellent tonic for what ails you is to put
on an album by Great Big Sea. This one would be a fine choice.
Best
tracks: Sea of
No Cares, Scolding Wife, A Boat Like Gideon Brown, French Perfume, Yarmouth
Town
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