Customer Reviews

From Fresh Water

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

To understand Canada, listen to Stan Rogers. In a country with a great tradition of folk singers (Lightfoot, Ian and Sylvia, etc.), Stan Rogers was perhaps the greatest of all. His career outside Canada was just taking off when he died tragically in an airplane fire in Cincinnati at the age of 33.

During his all-too-brief career, Rogers never compromised his art. That resonant baritone seemed to be giving voice to the soul of Canada, sometimes in celebration, sometimes in lament, but always with a passion that the cooler crowd might find blase.

All his albums are well worth owning. He wrote and released his songs in themed albums during his life, generally dealing with different geographical parts of Canada. This one generally focuses on the Great Lakes. The songs really give insight into the power those sea-like bodies of water have over the people who depend on them for their lives.

Americans who take the great land to our north for granted, or write it off with the "Eh" or dummy stereotypes pay attention. When you listen to Stan Rogers, you should be ashamed that we no longer extol our own heritages and history in song as effectively as this Canadian so recently did for his country.

Beyond the theme of the album, the final song on the album, "The House of Orange," is simply one of the most powerful anti-war ballads ever written and recorded, with a message applicable to all ethnic or religious strife everywhere. The liner notes say he recorded it in one take shortly before his death. You'll find no more passionate vocalization anywhere, and lyrics that give the lie to the Irish troubles.. "O'This or O'That name can't matter at all/ Or be cause enough for to war/ And meanwhile my babies are safe in their homes/ Unlike their pale cousins who cower and cry/ While Kneecappers nail their poor dads to the floor/ And teach them to hate and to die."

Buy this album. After you do, I'd be astonished if you're not back here clicking to buy the rest of Stan Rogers.

From start to finish, every song on this CD (except for The Nancy which is weak) is wonderful and memorable, worth listening to many many times. But of all the songs, The Last Watch touches deepest, a beautiful poignant image of aging and hopelessness. Why can't more of us listen to House of Orange and know that it is true, no matter when or in what country. This CD is a gift to all of us, with deep, caring, abiding values conveyed with a clarity, decency and strength that is very rare. And a musical quality that transforms. This music is an anchor we all need. What a person Stan Rogers must have been.

"The House of Orange" is my favorite among many favorite songs of a favorite singer/songwriter. It should be required listening, not only for Irish Catholics and Protestants (the House of Orange), but also for Serbs and Albanians, Hutus and Tutsis, and whoever else thinks that their tree is the forest.

I, too, feel such sadness that I discovered Stan Rogers' music only after his life was over. I believe "From Fresh Water" will probably remain my lifetime favorite collection of music. To listen to it is an incredible experience every time. Enjoy!

"The Song of the Candle" is a truely great testament to Stan Rogers' divine writing and storytelling. A beautiful song full and as rich as his magnificent voice. I discovered Stan when my dying friend treated me to "The Song of the Candle" one evening. As a storyteller myself, he came into my heart as a dear friend and has stayed there for many years.

Today I pulled out my Stan Rogers collection to play for my son. It's been a few years since I had listened. Unlike many here, I had discovered him a year or two before his death. As I recall, he died on an Air Canada plane that had a fire aboard, and about half the passengers died by the time of the emergency landing in Tennessee.

Anyway, Lock-Keeper, House of Orange [this recording], and Mary Ellen Carter [from Between the Breaks] all maintain an ability to seize my emotions in a way that is rare, and is undiminished by time. He died way too young, and had a talent that was/is very rare. Overall, I think this recording is his best collection.

This was Stan's last album (recorded in February '83; he died in an airplane fire in June '83). As the title suggests, the songs are about life and work on the Great Lakes.

The historical pieces, "The Nancy" and "MacDonnell on the Heights," sent me off to history web sites to research the War of 1812. It's interesting to contrast U.S. and Canadian accounts (Stan was Canadian, y'know).

The standouts for me on this album are "Tiny Fish for Japan" (weird title, great song about how fishing restrictions affected the inland fisheries), "The Last Watch" (derelict ship and derelict man spend a last night together), and "The House of Orange" (Celtic sound, but a pacificstic, anti-IRA message).

As Stan says elsewhere, he loves to emote -- and his deep, rich voice gets plenty of free rein here.

"Flying" will appeal only to hockey fans and "White Squall" is an over-produced studio version of a great song; it's better in live versions elsewhere. "Man With Blue Dolphin" is an inferior cousin of "The Mary Ellen Carter" (on other albums).

That said, the positives far outweigh the negatives for this fine final legacy of a great songwriter.

This is a bittersweet album....sweet because Stan Rogers was such an exceptional songwriter and singer and bitter because this is his last musical creation and only has 10 songs. I had the great good fortune to be in the front row of one of his performances at McCabe's in Santa Monica, California and am still in awe. His voice has such emotional range, powerful and tender in turn. That being said, this is not his best work, but that may be because my favorite album is Northwest Passage. And you'll notice I still give it 5 stars! There are some wonderful songs on this CD and they run the gamut--tragic, haunting, political and loving. Are some pieces weaker than others? Maybe, but again, personal preferences play a role. I found Half a Heart to be fun, with a lovely tune, but lightweight lyrics; White Squall, Lock-Keeper, MacDonell on the Heights and Man with Blue Dolphin are my favorites. Listening to Stan can still bring tears to my eyes.

There are two aspects to Stan Rogers, readily apparent in this album.

First is the literary quality of his songs. Each is a short story, told in verse, and bringing a person, a situation, an idea into focus with enough power to stun. The stories, though under the theme of "fresh water" range widely:

an old sailor alone on watch with the memory of the last kid lost to one of the Great Lakes sudden, violent storms ("I've told these kids a hundred times, don't take the lakes for granted. They'll go from calm to a hundred knots so fast they seem enchanted");

the captain of a small boat during the French and Indian war defying the "men with powdered hair";

the fury of a Canadian who is asked to give money to one of the factions in the "troubles" in Ireland ("But Home Rule or Republic is all of it shame" "causes are ashes where children lie slain");

the lockkeeper who believes his life is so much richer than the sailor who has traveled over the whole world. ("But that anchor chain's a fetter, and with it you are tethered to the foam. And I wouldn't trade your whole life for one hour of home.")

The second important aspect of Stan Rogers is that voice. His baritone is so rich, so full of subtlety, so full of colors. It will climb inside you.

It is a great tragedy that he died so young, but we have been blessed by the music he left us. Buy this album. Buy all of his music and you'll see what a blessing it is.

What a voice that guy had! How many singers can truely tell a story, or paint a picture with their voice? The worst song on the disc is better than most of what comes over the airwaves anymore. And Lock-keeper. My favorite song on this disc. A beautiful ballad of a young guy who's madly in love with his wife. Buy this, & you won't regreat it.