Customer Reviews

Black Eyed Man

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As an admitted Junkies devotee, I've listened to everything they've put out that I can get my hands on. Despite many good albums, Black Eyed Man is the one to which I consistently return when I want to hear the best of the Junkies. Although Trinity Session -- the other must-own -- is fantastic for its sparse arrangement, Black Eyed Man features the two most underappreciated qualities the Junkies possess: Michael Timmins's writing and Jeff Bird's awesome mandolin. How often is it that you hear a performance that defines an instrument? Jeff Bird has that kind of effect on me with his mandolin on "Murder Tonight in the Trailer Park," as do Timmins's lyrics. As for Timmins' lyrics, his perceptiveness and storytelling ability are present from the lyrics in other Junkies material, but none are as captivating or interesting -- although perhaps less introspective than in later recordings -- as on Black Eyed Man. For the best of the Junkies, buy and listen to them in this order: Trinity Sessions, Black Eyed Man, and then, at 4.5 stars, Pale Sun Crescent Moon. It rocks in a way that the others don't, and moves in a more edgy direction.

I'm writing this review to encourage readers who might have heard of Cowboy Junkies and want a good place to start. This is your album. Black Eyed Man is wonderful, soulful, perhaps even visual music that is bound to please you. The music here is very easy to listen to, has tracks that are easily distinguished from each other, and is memorable for the amblin' mood it creates. This is not "easy listening" in the elevator sense of the phrase - you can rest assured that you will find intelligent constructions and complex lyrics. For another fantastic place to start, try their album "Trinity Sessions" along with this one. The two together give you a strong foundation to explore the other styles of this talented band.

After THE TRINITY SESSION, BLACK EYED MAN is a second masterpiece in the Cowboy Junkies' career. Like BLONDE ON BLONDE for Bob Dylan, the album marks a new frontier for the canadian band ; " Let's go electrical " whispers the Timmins family between two guitar solos of brother Michaël and Ken Myhr.

The three songs composing the tribute to Townes Van Zandt, COWBOY JUNKIES LAMENT, TOWNES BLUES and TO LIVE IS TO FLY are simply perfect. And you will even have the pleasure to hear Margo swing (yes!) in TOWNES, a song written by Michaël Timmins.

A HORSE IN THE COUNTRY is a beautiful melancholic song and IF YOU WERE THE WOMAN AND I WAS A MAN an instant standard that will haunt your room for many nights. I just cannot understand why the songs of the Cowboy Junkies are not played more often at the radios, Michaël Timmins has the not so frequent gift to be able to add soulful words to great melodies.

A CD for your library. Warmly recommended.

It's strange. I bought this disk a few years back, listened to a few tracks without really being impressed. Then, this fall, I plucked it back in the radio and started REALLY listening. I was amazed! What a fantastic collection of songs about love, life. The CJs have a strange way of creating music that the listener will appreciate more after the third or fourth go 'round. Then the complexity of the sounds and the beauty of the lyrics come through. They are an amazing collection of musicians! Copiers of no one, and brave enough to create music that is unlike anything else out there today. If you've never bought one of their disks, don't allow this review to scare you off, thinking "I gotta listen to it a lot before it's good?" Instead take it as an account by me that there are great layers to their work that become more interesting with each listen. This is true of all their work; and this is their best! Great disk! I still keep three of my six slots filled with Cowboy Junkies.

I don't quite get the pure CJ fans fixation with Trinity Sessions or Caution Horses as the such great works. Melancholy and haunting, yes, they are but too much so. The melodies on this CD are very captivating, right off the buzz of Southern Rain and Oregon Hill. And I like the bounce of the Trailer Park, Cowboy Junkies Lament. The haunting voice? This Street and Last Spike both got it. I keep listening to this CD of theirs maybe because it has more polish than the CJ faves. I covet my 5 stars, so I won't review those others and tarnish the record.

For a very long time, I considered "The Trinity Session" to be my favorite "Cowboy Junkies" album, but once I got this, I had to reconsider. Track after track is just quality music, and Margo has a perfect voice. "A Horse In The Country" is good, "Murder Tonight In The Trailer Park" is great, and "If You Were The Woman, And I Was The Man" is a nice duet. My favorite though is "Cowboy Junkies Lament", it's just really good. Overall it's a great, what I would call alt-country album, and probably their second best. They do have a few collections out too.

A really special record. Not all CJ albums have clicked with me, but this one makes a major connection. THE TRINITY SESSIONS often gets the credit for being their best, but as beautiful as that one is, it's also really slow, stark, and depressing. I really have to be in the mood for it. But I delight in hearing BLACK EYED MAN nearly any ol' time. All the tracks were written by guitarist Michael Timmins (brother of drummer Peter Timmins and ethereal-voiced sister Margo Timmins - bassist Alan Anton rounds out the quartet) save for two tracks written by the late, great Townes Van Zandt. These are gorgeous slice-of-life songs, rich and melodious with lots of colorful instrumentation from some great guest musicians. Several of these tracks are actually pretty upbeat and rockin' (at least as far as the Junkies' standards are concerned) but the band is truly at the top of its game on the sad songs. All around, the musicianship here is top-notch, first rate, absolutely impeccable.

My personal impressions of BLACK EYED MAN:

"Southern Rain" - a laid-back, easy going country-ish rocker and a rather melancholy tale of a woman's grateful return home to Georgia after leaving life on the West coast with an unfaithful lawyer. *****

"Oregon Hill" - this one has a great country/blues shuffle with intriguing elements mixed in including New Orleans jazz horns. Great lyrics on this one, on each of these songs in fact. *****

"This Street, That Man, This Life" - Margo's arresting voice is at once ghostly and sexy. So incredibly seductive. She shines on every tune, including this low key track about a place with a dark past. *****

"A Horse in the Country" - another sad tune about a woman who's become disillusioned with her man, but she finds solace in getting to visit her horse every few weeks; the song is ultimately uplifting. *****

"If You Were the Woman and I was the Man" - a great, vaguely kinky duet with John Prine. One guest artist that really shines on this album is pianist Spencer Evans, but on this particular track he contributes a delightfully woozy clarinet. *****

"Murder, Tonight, in the Trailer Park" - one of those laid back tunes of theirs that manages to be totally rockin' in its own way, thanks especially to Ken Myhr who guests on lead guitar, adding its soulful yet subtle bite to quite a few of these songs in fact. *****

"Black Eyed Man" - a very good song even though it's my personal least favorite here (just a question of taste, really). This is essentially a loping, bluesy country tune and, apparently, a rather sinister story about a man who gets set up by a vindictive woman. ****

"Winter's Song" - a gorgeous song with wonderful, expert accompaniment on harmonica, mandolin, accordion (not normally my favorite instrument, but I love it on BLACK EYED MAN), cello and fiddle. The only problem I have with this song is that it seems unfinished, both lyrically and musically. Right when the song starts to take off into a dramatic direction, it abruptly ends. ****1/2

"The Last Spike" - Stunning. Heartbreaking. Powerful. Soft. Naked. One of their very best. *****+

"Cowboy Junkies Lament" - written by Townes Van Zandt, this is another one of their best songs. Has such an infectious shuffling rhythm and a fantastic vocal melody. *****+

"Townes' Blues" - a great country rocker full of humor and sass. Cool guitar licks from Ken Myhr. This is an amusing tale of a train ride from the point of view of a dedicated craps player. *****+

"To Live is to Fly" - Van Zandt wrote the insightful, wise and glorious final track. It begins quietly and sweetly, building in intensity from there up to swirling heights and back again. Closes the album on a real high, save for the brief coda from the New Orleans-style horn players. *****+

I received this CD as a promo at the music store I was managing in Indianapolis back in the early 90's when it first came out. I had never heard of CJ until this release. It took me a few listens to get hooked, but once I was hooked, I couldn't stop playing it. Even today, I still return to this CD for some great music. The best attributes of CJ are Margo's amazingly fresh and subtle voice, their impeccable instrumentation, and the wonderful lyrics they write. "Southern Rain" is one of my favorite songs when I'm in a mood to listen to Margo's vocals - it's so soothing. "Oregon Hill" is a very fun, catchy southern-styled tune. "This Street" is one of my all-time favorites; as is "Horse in the Country" - mainly because of the lyrics and Margo's incredible understated delivery of these songs. "Murder Tonight in the Trailer Park" is probably one of my all-time favorite CJ songs and I really can't explain why - it's just a song I never get tired of listening to. "Cowboy Junkies Lament" is another all-time favorite of mine. This was a critically acclaimed release in its day and this started me on the road to becoming a CJ fan. I don't see how anyone can call themselves a CJ fan without having this gem.

(What the heck does the tag "appropriate" mean, anyway? As in, "no F-word in the lyrics"?)

_Black-Eyed Man_ is more conventional and polished, and has more of a Townes Van Zandt/Lyle Lovett feel overall, than _the Trinity Session_ but the songwriting is as good. Even though the songs, overall, are classic Cowboy Junkies mournful, there is still some range in the themes and moods of the individual tracks.

Really one of the Junkies Finest albums. Very melancoly and Country Western Blues sounding.. One of my favorites by them since the Trinity Sessions. Great music to listen to while driving long trips or while staying at home relaxing.