Customer Reviews

Caution Horse

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

On Caution Horses, the Cowboy Junkies third album, we find the band venturing into country territory. And they do it well. Margo's voice is as sultry and beautiful as ever. The songs are woven together like a collection of sad, short tales.
There is not a weak or bad song on this album. Highlights of the album for me are "Cause Cheep Is How I Feel," "Rock and Bird," "Witches," and "Where Are You Tonight." Their cover of Neil Young's "Powderfinger" is probably the only cover of a Neil Young tune that I can honestly say sounds better than the original.
This is one of those desert island albums that you gotta have.

Margo Timmin's greatest preformance. Mike's greatest songs. My very favorite two songs are on this album, Cheap is how I feel and The sun comes up its Tuesday morning. This CD is the only one which is better than Trinity Session.

On their third album, the Cowboy Junkies come into their own as one of the finest bands to emerge in the 1980's. Unreasonably labelled melancholic, the Junkies sound dwells in the shadows like a haunting country tune coming through a late night AM station somewhere in Nebraska. This album marks the emergence of Michael Timmins as a brilliant songwriter who has the ultimate luxury in a sister who can sing any line and make it beautiful ("it's so cold when you spit/it freezes before it hits the ground"). The album unfortunately slipped through the cracks of the musical landscape when it was released. However, it would be tough to return to 1990 and find a stronger collection of songs released in that year.

I put this CD on the player for the first time in probably a year last week, but the fresh listen only reconfirmed the long-standing impression that, backhanded compliment, it would have made an almost perfect EP. Sun Comes Up, It's Tuesday Morning, 'Cause Cheap is How I feel, Thirty Summers and, most powerfully of all, Neil Young's Powderfinger are fabulous songs performed beautifully. Where Are You Tonight? salvages the second half of the CD a bit, but the other five cuts frankly are much closer to two stars than five stars. Rock and Bird and Witches in particular manage to be both silly and pretentious at once, the kind of writing a college sophomore looks at a few years later and cringes. I'd advise checking out Cowboy Junkie Best of's for the top cuts here, rather than buying The Caution Horses.

The Cowboy Junkies, "The Caution Horses" is a very good, but not fully realized cd. As other reviewers have noted there are a couple of regrettable spots where the lyrics are overwrought and sophmoric. But it is all forgivable in that it is necessary to produce the rest of what is here, which could several times risk being both overwrought and sophmoric, yet rises above and become magnficent. Margo Timmins is vulnerable and lovely and hits all the notes along the way. Two things that must be mentioned. First, Caution Horses is one of the alltime great album titles, but you don't need to buy it to enjoy that. Why you do need to buy it, if you are on the fence is..."Sun Comes Up, It's Tuesday Morning" is one of the best songs you will ever listen to ever. Really. It's that good. If the rest of the album featured me playing Mary Had A Little Lamb, it'd still be worth it. And, great news, they didn't put me on there, just some other pretty good Cowboy Junkies songs. Remember. "Sun Comes Up, It's Tuesday Morning". Brilliant.

In Caution Horses...the Cowboy Junkies present a bouquet of black roses...starkly beautiful...yet hauntingly melancholy. Lead singer Margot Timmins brings an aching sincerity to her brother's lyrics...imbuing each phrase with a poignant sensuality.

Each song is a stark...yet seductive...blending of reflective meditations...within opium-like melodies.

This album is a tribute to a group whose work is honest...softly powerful...and mesmerizing.

I remember that, in 1990, CAUTION HORSES was ignored or despised by the critics, always ready to burn what they have adored. After THE TRINITY SESSION and a lot of concerts, the Junkies delivered a third album which, it must be admitted here, was not as revolutionary as the precedent one but was a necessary step before the more electrical CDs of the mid-nineties.

For the Junkies's junkies (I simply had to make that bad joke !), CAUTION HORSES is the CD of the first guitar solo of Michaël Timmins and the arrival of several new instruments as the fiddle, the mandolin and the accordion. They give a slightly countrier taste to the musical world of the Cowboy Junkies. Apart of two songs - don't miss a superb version of Neil Young's "Powderfinger" that could be the only reason to buy this CD - , the whole album has been written by Michaël Timmins who confirms his talent of composer.

In my opinion, two or three songs are so so, agreeable yes but not at the level of the Cowboy Junkies's average production of that period. But for the amateurs of the band's special sound, CAUTION HORSES is a must.

A CD for the band's aficionados.

This album is certainly one of the "must-have" Cowboy Junkies CDs (along with "The Trinity Session" and "Black Eyed Man" in my opinion). Apart from starting out, back-to-back, with two of the best-written songs to come out of Michael Timmins head, "The Caution Horses" is one of the most cohesive sounding albums from this band.

While it may be argued this album lacks the lyric polish of the subsequent "Black Eyed Man," there can be no argument that the band succeded in capturing the haunting acoustics of "The Trinity Sessions" on a studio album. This album is wonderfully mellow and blues-filled.

There seems to be a cool freshness which typifies the music of Canadian artists, and this album is no exception. The topics of the songs presented on this CD - lost love, longing, loneliness, and broken relationships are certainly the subject matter of county music, but are offered here in a quieter, more intellectual and less strident setting than what one might expect to come out of Nashville. Equally apparent are folk/ rock and blues influences which combine with intimate, understated vocals and tasteful acoustic instrumentation to form the unique quality of this collection.

"Sun Comes Up, It's Tuesday Morning", the song which introduced me to the Cowboy Junkies, highlights this recording. The free verse, Margo Timmins' laid-back vocal, and one of the coolest pedal steel solos ever recorded, serve to make this selection still-compelling more than 10 years after first hearing it. Margo's soft and intimate singing style is perfectly suited to the introspective songs which make up the remainder of the album, and she maintains a quality of sweetness even when doing a sad song.

This CD is a personal favorite, and as long as you're not expecting foot-stompin', handclappin', or rockin' music, will probably become one of yours.

The Junkies started their catalog with The Trinity Sessions, an EP of refreshingly slow songs and covers recorded in LA's Trinity Church. Caution Horses' songs are faster but still slow, and feature a melancholy accordion in addition to the usual country instrumentation. This is one of the Junkies' best albums, second only to their third, Black-Eyed Man. The lyrics are tart and sardonic yet delivered in a breathy, flat contralto by the lead singer. This album and the aforementioned Black-Eyed Man are their most distinctive and therefore their best. As they gained experience, the Junkies' began to play faster and faster, losing much of their distinctiveness.