CD Odyssey Disc 1295: The Cowboy Junkies

I’ve been pretty good restricting my music purchases lately, but over the weekend I once again succumbed to the urge. New to the collection are:

• Johnny Cash, “Blood, Sweat and Tears” – a 1963 tribute album to the blue-collar worker. This album has lots of references to hammers.
• The Creepshow, “Run For Your Life” – the fourth album to join my collection by the psychobilly band from Burlington, Ontario and one of their best.
• Alela Diane and Wild Divine – an eponymous release, and the only one not on my list (if you don’t want to spend too much on impulse music purchases shop for it like you shop for groceries – bring a list). I took a chance because I love Alela Diane’s work. I was not disappointed.

All great new albums, but today let’s go back in time to one that has been in the collection since my university days.

Disc 1295 is… The Trinity Session

Artist: Cowboy Junkies

Year of Release: 1988

What’s up with the Cover? The band is hanging out. Based on the stark lighting and lack of colour they appear to have travelled back in time to the 1940s.  

How I Came to Know It: I don’t fully remember, but I know it happened when I was in university. I think I saw someone perform the Junkies’ version of “Sweet Jane” at a poetry reading. When I asked how she had come up with that arrangement, she told me about the “The Trinity Sessions”. A couple of friends were discovering the band at around the same time and whole thing started to snowball. I went to the record store to buy it, but it wasn’t in (I got “The Caution Horses” instead). I kept checking back though, and it was eventually restocked.

How It Stacks Up:  I have five Cowboy Junkies albums. I put “The Trinity Session” in at #5 but coming in last out of these five albums is no slight. Because this is the last Cowboy Junkies album in my collection, here’s a recap:

1. The Caution Horses: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 155)
2. Black Eyed Man: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 589)
3. Lay it Down: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 800)
4. Pale Sun, Crescent Moon: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 267)
5. The Trinity Session:  3 stars (reviewed right here)

Ratings: 3 stars

“The Trinity Session” is an album that is like an evening walk in the woods. It is a haunting, emotionally evocative and beautiful even when it loses its way.

The record was the band’s big breakthrough, and features a mix of covers and original material, all delivered in what would become the Junkies’ signature sound; a subdued echoing combination of country mosey, blues and just a hint of jazz.

When the Junkies play a note they like to let it linger, and the songs on “The Trinity Session” take their sweet time getting from A to B. Everything is languorous and laid back, from the breathy whisper of Margo Timmins’ vocals to the gentle strum of brother Michael’s guitar. Even the drum is quiet, often consisting of little more than a brush played lightly on the snare. This is subtle music that requires you to lean in and listen with intent.

The record begins with Margo singing the traditional work song “Mining for Gold” acapella. It is stark and beautiful and sets the perfect tone for the record. For a year after this record was released it was hard to go to anyone’s house and not have them shush you and urge you sit in the dark and listen to this little gem. I never once regretted those 90 seconds of Margo’s voice filling the room. I’m sure I’ve done it to someone myself.

The next song, “Misguided Angel” is an original and for my money the best song on the record. The sound they would perfect two years later on “The Caution Horses” is on full display here, adding just the right amount of jump and sway to the band’s ghostly charm. The song is the heartbreaking tale of a tragic romance, filled with equal parts love and darkness. The chorus paints a complicated picture in four simple lines:

“Misguided angel hangin' over me
Heart like a Gabriel, pure and white as ivory
Soul like a Lucifer, black and cold like a piece of lead
Misguided angel, love you 'til I'm dead”

Other standouts include a re-imagined version of “Blue Moon” called “Blue Moon Revisited” mixing the original song with the Junkies’ own notions on where to take the melody. Also brilliant is the aforementioned “Sweet Jane” a slow and quiet introspective treatment of the song which I heard long before I ever heard the Lou Reed original, and which I continue to love equally after all these years.

There are moments where the record loses me. I found the cover of Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” took a few too many liberties with the melody. “Walkin’ After Midnight” meandered a little too far in the woods. However, for a band filled with this much natural reverie getting a bit lost in the journey is an expected hazard. While I sometimes found myself wanting just a little less noodle, there is no denying they do a fine one, and this album represents the shape of even greater things to come.

Best tracks: Mining for Gold, Misguided Angel, Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis), Sweet Jane