1. When You Give It Away - A funky rock and roll song reminiscent in pace and sound to much of the material from the "Dart To The Heart" album, "When You Give It Away" is also lyrically powerful. The song begins with a sense of alienation as the result of both the harshness of reality and the almost existential absurdness of much of collective human communication . "When You Give It Away" includes possibly the first lyrical reference to both O.J. Simpson and Prince Charles.
2. Mango - Reminiscent of the often explicitly sexual poetry found in "Song of Songs/Solomon" from the Bible, Cockburn has suggested this inspiration in a comment that "lyrically, ['Mango' is a] kind of a hymn to female sexuality." Vocally, the song reminded me somewhat of J.J. Cale. Slide bass by George Koller gives the song an earthy, jazzy, sensual feel. Kora by Janke evokes the pouring of waterfalls and the lush, exotic hint of paradise. Margo Timmins' ethereal lyrics provide the required mist and sexuality for this romp in Eden.
3. Last Night Of The World - If you've ever heard Cockburn play a solo version of "Night Train" -- a song that would have been aptly titled even if it had been an instrumental -- you won't be disappointed by this song's strong rhythmical finger-picked guitar. Cockburn's acoustic and Colin Linden's electric guitars canter along side-by-side like two horses, Linden kicking in after a few solo bars by Cockburn, delivering a clean, free, and buoyant sound.
4. Isn't That What Friends Are For? - This spoken song is a space-evoking, lyric-scape that opens on a misty forest, with percussionist Rick Lazar populating the tree tops and ferns with an understated but veritable zoo of bird, animal and insect life. I've got to say I'm no fan of country music, but Lucinda Williams contributes an unforgettable and world-weary vocal for the song's bittersweet but powerful refrain, "Isn't that what friends are for?" that made me want to dig around for my cowboy boots and hat, and take the next train to Nashville.
5. Down To The Delta - Described by Guitar Player magazine as a "rocking McCoy Tyner-inspired jam", "Down To The Delta" is very reminiscent of both the sound and melody of "Tibetan Side of Town" and the excellent instrumentals that Cockburn contributed to "The Charity Of Night".
6. The Embers Of Eden - The darkest song on the album, "The Embers Of Eden" is nonetheless lyrically and musically consistent in itself, describing a sexual nightmare that draws on imagery from the Fall of Man. Some people might find this a little tough to listen to at first.
7. Blueberry Hill - Margo Timmins' duet with Cockburn, and Cockburn's heavily distorted guitar throughout the song, makes this a very fresh and suitably subversive rendition of an instantly recognisable tune.
8. Let The Bad Air Out - A song that will be familliar to anyone who attended Cockburn's concerts five years or so ago. The music has been given a totally new reworking, with two distinct sections that keep cycling. The lyrics are delivered in a Dylanesque "Suburban Homesick Blues" kind of way, and are a humourous poke at the general corruption and shenanigans of government.
9. Look How Far - The spoken verse beginning to this song tells us that Cockburn is in autobiographical documentary mode. In an August 1999 radio appearance, Cockburn talked about the origins of this song: "One of the characteristics of the sort social side of what I do is this constant kind of, in a way, frustration of meeting people and bouncing off them and going away feeling like you've seen somebody that you've really wanted to see, but haven't had a chance to find out really anymore than the surface of how they are doing. And I had come away from one of those encounters with Ani in Toronto. She was playing in Toronto when I was leaving town the same day to go do something else and so I got to catch a little of her before the soundcheck and then I took off. And that's what sort of set this song in motion, it could apply to her, it could apply to any number of people who would find themselves, or that I would find in the same way."
10. Deep Lake - For Cockburn fans who enjoyed the "In The Falling Dark"-era instrumentals, "Deep Lake" is very much a hearkening back. The restful but majestic progress of the song brings to life the feelings of... well... a deep lake with some gigantic and awe-inspiring although, thankfully, calm creatures swimming around in its depths.
11. Use Me While You Can - The music evokes the desert in the way that only a resonator guitar and a well-spent youth spent watching Westerns can. Opening with a cascading kora melody, joined soon after by Cockburn's resonator guitar in an extended introduction, "Use Me While You Can" is a beautiful anthem to the meeting in our lives of the personal and the political, against the backdrop of a ancient world stage swept by the "dust of fallen empires" that foretells our own passing. As this theme suggests, there is no big crescendo finish to this album. It just fades away abruptly - leaving you thinking....
Although, like all of Cockburn's material, the album has a lot of immediate appeal, it will also grow on you as the complexity of the lyrics and music unwind over time. In other words, you aren't going to like everything instantly, but on the flip side, you certainly aren't going to let dust gather on this album any time soon either. However much you like the album on first listen, it'll still sneak up on you some. And don't worry, if you liked "The Charity Of Night", you'll also like "Breakfast in New Orleans, Dinner in Timbuktu".
Song-by-song review of the album
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11 tracks
