As I was preparing to review this
album I noted that the last album I reviewed from the same year (1990) was Pantera’s
“Cowboys From Hell.” This next review is about as far from “Cowboys From Hell”
as you can get.
Disc 825 is….Fare Thee Well Love
Artist: Rankin
Family
Year of Release: 1990
What’s up with the Cover? A beautiful east coast landscape,
marred with some truly horrific nineties fashion. The Rankins look out of frame
to the right, majestically imagining a future where women don’t have to dress
like they escaped from a religious compound and men have waists.
How I Came To Know It: Back in 1990 there was no
Youtubing music, but there were still plenty of music videos. I saw the video
for the title track and fell in love with the Rankin Family. I’d say nowadays
we’re just friends, but back in the day I really liked this record – and went
on to buy practically every album they put out.
How It Stacks Up: I have six Rankin Family albums, if you
include the “Grey Dusk of Eve” EP. Of those six, “Fare Thee Well Love” is my
favourite. And since this is the last Rankin Family review, here’s a recap –
slightly adjusted from the original because when I reviewed “Grey Dusk of Eve”
I thought it would finish fourth, but it finished second in the end:
- Fare Thee
Well Love: 4 stars (reviewed
right here)
- Grey Dusk
of Eve EP: 4 stars (reviewed
back at Disc 219)
- North
Country: 3 stars (reviewed
back at Disc 771)
- Uprooted: 3 stars (reviewed back at Disc 531)
- Endless
Seasons: 3 stars (reviewed
back at Disc 387)
- Self-Titled: 3 stars (reviewed back at Disc 515)
Ratings: 4 stars
I admit that 4 stars might be a little high here,
but when a record has been in your life as long as “Fare Thee Well Love” has
been in mine, you cut it a little slack.
I bought this album when it was released, and back
then I owned very few albums on CD, so it got played a lot. This makes reviewing
it more of a challenge. Sometimes just paying attention was difficult. My ears
are so used to hearing these songs that if I don’t pay close attention they
just become background noise. For casual music listeners this is how all albums
must sound. How sad for them.
While the Rankins had one album before this, it was “Fare
Thee Well Love” that launched them into the folk music spotlight for the rest
of the nineties. It is easy to see why; their self-titled debut is just a
little too traditional. With “Fare Thee Well Love” Jimmy Rankin comes more into
his own as a songwriter and that makes all the difference.
Note that despite the modern influences, writ large
this is still a traditional folk
record, so don’t expect country or indie when you listen to it. This isn’t for
everyone, and many will find it sounds a bit dated. I even find it that way at
times.
There are plenty of traditional songs here, notably “Fair and Tender Ladies” and a Gaelic
medley near the end of the record. “Fair
and Tender Ladies” is a stunning vocal performance by one of the sisters (I
think Cookie Rankin, but I can never keep that sorted in my head) about cads callously
dumping their girlfriends. The Rankins tend to work a lot of harmonies into
their arrangements, but on “Fair and
Tender Ladies” they just let Cookie’s (?) voice soar. Jimmy plays a little
guitar and John Morris’ piano is sublime, but the star of this song is the
voice. You could cut Cape Breton fog and guide in a ship with that instrument.
Otherwise, though, the traditional songs are mostly
forgettable. “Tell My Ma” and “An T-Each Ruadh” are so saccharine in
fact that they feel like an elementary school sing-a-long.
The real stars of this album are Jimmy Rankin’s own
compositions. “Orangedale Whistle”
and “Fisherman’s Son” are both beautiful,
with the former showing the type of country/folk crossover music Jimmy was
destined to make in his solo career. By contrast, “Fisherman’s Son” has that timeless feel that great folk songs have,
and will likely be played by future folk artists for decades to come; maybe
centuries.
But the best thing about this album is still the
reason I bought it in the first place, which is the title track. “Fare Thee Well Love” is a five star folk
song. It starts with a rich ambient sound very unlike the other tracks on the
record, a little piano and then Jimmy cuts in, singing of the heartache of having
your sweetheart an ocean away from you. Cookie (?) responds with “far across love, far across love o’er the
mountains and country wide.” When she sings that second “far across love” she pierces your heart with
a perfect longing. “Fare Thee Well Love”
is love, pure and uncut, cast in marble for us mere mortals to marvel at. If
love in the real world were this concentrated we’d all die from it.
And since I’m looking for an excuse to give this
imperfect record a four star rating, I’ll hang my hat on the title track. It is
good enough to pull everything else up just a little bit.
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