Customer Reviews

Labour Day

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
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Once upon a time I was a big Spirit of the West fan. Times and tastes have changed, but "Labour Day" is an enduring achievement. There is not a weak song on this album. Many are exceptionally strong. Looking back, I would say this is the best album they ever made.

"Labour Day" contains some of the best songs Spirit of the West ever wrote. There are remarkable songs like "Political," "Drinking Man," and "Take It From the Source." The disc and its songs are marked by an anger, a disgust with the way things too often are. I second the band on this.

The world is often way too cruel to its most helpless tenants. Some of the songs here are written in reference to actual historical cases of this phenomenon. I feel the band deals with these events in a respectful and poignant manner.

Yet, if "Labour Day" has one weakness, it is that the disc dwells in this angst. A lot of raw nerves are on display here. There is no hope on the horizon. This is too untrue to human experience for me to endorse it with a full five stars.

That said, there are some songs on "Labour Day" that I love dearly. There are also some lessons to be learned. This disc is excellent as a whole--and gets a high recommendation from me.

One of the best SOTW records from their pre-electric days

I can't give these guys any less than four stars and still face myself in the morning because they are Spirit of the West. Far from their best recording, but if you are a fan, you need this one. It sounds like their live stuff from a few years back and it shows their evolution. Like I said, kind of folksy/unfinished, but still good.