Customer Reviews

Northwest Passage

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Like many of Stan's songs, it's hard to believe that he never went to some of the places or time periods that he wrote of. The powerful voice and prolific writing of Stan Rogers and his band gave us so much before his untimely tragic death on June 2, 1983. Stan was on his way to becoming Canada's national folksinger. I had the pleasure of talking with him at length and interviewing him on more than one occasion back then. His visits to the states and here in New England strengthened a rapidly growing fan base. The gift that Stan Rogers had was to clearly tell through his songs the many life struggles or good times or love, one had experienced with robust ballads or gentle poetic stories. What range! Wonderful and moving are all his songs. Hard to name a favorite on this or his other albums. This is one of my favorite albums (maybe because it was the first one I listened to of his.) Good to see these on CD since I had multiple copies of each of the vinyl albums (because I was afraid they would wear out from play!) Check out his earlier albums "Fogarty's Cove" and "Turnaround" too! You won't be sorry!!!

I first heard "Northwest Passage" on February 2, 1988 when the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) broadcasted a NOVA episode titled "Buried in Ice". This program related Dr. Owen Beattie's search for the cause of the loss of the Franklin Expedition. The one line of the song that stayed in my memory was "to find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea". Stan Rogers has a fantastic voice and he did honor to the members of that famed Expedition when he wrote this moving song.

I first heard of Stan Rogers from due south. i loved the song Northwest passage so much that i bought the album. the rest of this album is just as good if not better. i would reccommend it to anyone who is a fan of folk music or just likes deep meaningful music.

His tunes will live forever, and the warmth in his voice. He was not a matinee idol in terms of his looks, but because of his tragic death, so young, aged only 33, we will continue to think of him as cut down by fate (and smoke) in the prime of his youth and just when his talent was about to ignite the whole world. I sometimes feel that listening to the later music of the US singer Jeff Buckley that Rogers had everything Buckley had, except for US citizenship. Otherwise he (Rogers) would be as big a name as Buckley is today.

The songs are outstanding, from the sad, bitter LIES (like an Alice Munro short story put to music) to the anthemic a cappella threnody of the title song, NORTHWEST PASSAGE. It has many admirers of course but it is still little known in the USA, even though we too are always goiung for the Northwest Passage, which some characterize as the easy way out, while others see it as a Quixotic "Impossible Dream." Rogers' song preserves this ambiguity while added a beauty unique to his own time and place.

I wish I'd discovered the music of Stan Rogers years ago, so I would have had the pleasure all along. As it is, having finally been introduced, I'm making up for lost time. NORTHWEST PASSAGE is a wonderful collection of music and as good a place to start as any. I love the stories he tells, how you feel you have actually met these people. The retired rodeo rider in NIGHT GUARD fighting to protect his stock. The guy who got laid off in THE IDIOT, going west to find work in a place he dislikes rather than lose his self respect by going on the dole. The farmer's wife (they are farmers too!) lamenting her lost youth and beauty in LIES. How can you not love a writer who references a dance at the Legion Hall and Rodin's "Belle Heaulmiere" in the same lyric? The music runs a gamut of styles, each appropriate to the tale he tells.
The title song, NORTHWEST PASSAGE, I actually heard years ago, but thought it was a traditional OLD folk song and never followed up on it, assuming it had no author of record. It is my favorite song on the album, full of history and wonderful images. I particularly like the fact it is a'capella and the rich harmonies of the mens voices gives me goosebumps. I have ordered and am waiting delivery of 3 more Stan Rogers collections. Canada lost a native voice, but the world lost a treasure when Stan Rogers died. Thank god we have the music.

I heard the song "Northwest Passage" on the last episode of the television series "Due South" and at once fell in love with the song. It is very powerfull and deeply moving. Trust me when I say that it is worth a look by anyone who loves great music. You won't be sorry you checked it out!!

Truly great albums seem to move in phases -- each song on the album takes a turn as the "best song on the album." So it is with The Northwest Passage. The title cut, which plays first, is an a capella chanty (for lack of a better word) that is so stark and so captivating that it can dominate a listener's memory of the album. This album, however, is replete with songs that have the same sort of lasting hold. Indeed, after sufficient time (and this album is easily enjoyed of the course of years and years) one might find that each song spends time as the song that makes one pull the album out of the case.

There is a depth and authority in Stan Rogers music that is very rare. The staggering notion that all of this music was produced by a man not yet 33 has been remarked upon elsewhere. Stan Rogers is a genius in the truest sense of the word -- he has created art of a kind and quality that cannot be explained or accounted for in normal terms. There is no work by any artist that I would recommend as strongly as this album. It will be a source of enriching pleasure for the rest of your life.

I suppose that's a big claim. And quite possibly not true. But for me it is. The amazing thing about Northwest Passage is that Stan Rogers is able to capture the modern experience with styles from a hundred or more years ago. For example, The Idiot, a sea shanty, about going west to find work in the refineries.

My favorite song, which is probably the earliest music I remember, is Field Behind The Plow. Anyone who has ever lived on a working farm, in the United States or Canada or any where, can easily relate to what he sings about. Love of the land, the heartbreak of a poor crop, the constant lack of money. Stan is able to capture it in a way that touches the heart.

In the same vein is Lies. It is the story of a farm wife (and really anyone) who looks in the mirror and asks "Where have the years gone?" The mirror tells her lies. She doesn't feel that old. But it is happening.

Other high points (not that there are low points) are the edgy Night Guard (as I understand it, a true story) and Canal Road. They are as close to rock and roll as Stan Rogers ever got. Great music, performed with relish.

If you like early Gordon Lightfoot, or just real folk music in general, you will not go wrong with Northwest Passage.

I got this CD because I heard the title song, Northwest Passage, on the radio in Canada and I thought it was powerful. The other songs are, if anything, better. Big range of expression and experience, good humored and poignant. This guy is really, really good.

I first heard the song "The Northwest Passage" back in the early nineties on public radio, but I missed out on the artist and album identification. After over a decade of searching, I finally tracked down the source of that song on Amazon. I bought this album for that one song, but was pleasantly surprised to find the other songs on the album were excellent folk songs too. Most heartily recommended for any folk music afficionado.