Stealing Fire [EXTRA TRACKS] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Bruce Cockburn

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 7, 2003)
• Original Release Date: October 21, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Rounder / Umgd
• ASIN: B0000CERLJ
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #33,317 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
With 1984's Stealing Fire, Bruce Cockburn's words and music took on a greater urgency than ever before. The previous year, he made his first trip to Central America on behalf of the international development group OXFAM. While in southern Mexico, he visited a refugee camp that had recently been attacked by the helicopters of the U.S.-backed Guatemalan Army. The horrific experience sparked the anger-filled "If I Had a Rocket Launcher," a song which brought him unprecedented attention--garnering heavy radio airplay and regular video rotation on MTV. Stealing Fire is full of many of Cockburn's most powerful political songs, yet it boasts some of his most romantic numbers as well. From "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" to "Making Contact," whether issuing calls to action or cries for help, Bruce Cockburn's poetry demands attention. Upon its release Stealing Fire immediately staked a claim as one of the most compelling albums by any singer-songwriter in the 1980s. Nearly twenty years later, the album's impact isy remastered for CD, features Leon Redbone in top form on a stellar collection of chestnuts and originals. Supporting Leon is a star-studded ensemble including Howard Alden, David Bromberg, Vince Giordano, Eric Weissberg and the Roches, with a special guest appearance by Hank Williams, Jr.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kick at the Darkness Till It Bleeds Daylight, September 27, 2004

By	Tim Brough "author and music buff" (Springfield, PA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

How many artists do you know that U2 quotes in their songs? That line, from Cockburn's "Lovers In A Dangerous Time," eventually made its way into the U2 canon ("God Pt 2"). But it belongs to Cockburn, and is on this, his most perfectly politically charged album. The song "Nicaragua" sounded close enough to sympathizing with the rebels that it even found Cockburn under fire from the Reagan Administration. But it was the naked fury of "If I Had A Rocket Launcher" that drives the point home. The frustration and helplessness fueling the rage that would make a person declare "if I had a rocket launcher, some sonofab*#ch would die" is universal, and it gave Cockburn one of his best known songs.

The compositions on "Stealing Fire" were inspired by Cockburn's fact finding trek with OXFAM through Mexico and Latin America, and they put the face on the political turmoil of the region at that time. "Peggy's Kitchen Wall" nakedly shows the true scope of what warring governments would rather have you not see, and "Sahara Gold" paints a shimmering portrait of the region. Cockburn's always had a fine eye for detail, and that shows in both "Gold" and in "Dust and Diesel" (the original album closer).

In 1984, only Peter Gabriel and U2 were making statements as grand as Cockburn's "Stealing Fire," and outside of The Clash, there has never been an anti-war statement as anger-filled as "Rocket Launcher." Twenty years later, "Stealing Fire" still burns with the sound of the truth.

(PS - the bonus tracks, after the graceful mix of the original album, sound forced and didactic. Once again, proof that some unreleased songs should stay that way.)

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even more to the point, 20 years later!, October 21, 2003

By	o dubhthaigh (north rustico, pei, canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This is the CD that got Bruce's VISA lifted by the Reagan Administration. His endorsement of Nicaragua's Sandanista Movement of itself is one of the most impassioned calls to arms in all of music. Pity Ortega couldn't deliver on the promise. That failure does not invalidate the premises put forth here. And the premises are ever more to the point of the deadly morass perpetrated by the thrust and parry of Islamic terrorism and the last Imperial power (assuming the People's Repression in China never gets its rice together). Remove the seductive Latin underpinings to the songs here, and the struggle of the third world confronting the champion of the WTO remains the central dialectic of this part of the Twenty-First Century. Bruce diseects that dialectic, puts a human face on what the politics of avarice mean.
The music, though, is extraordinary: those Latin underpinings give this disc a samba and a sway that are truly intoxicating. The people he writes about seem to look up at you in your imagination's eye. His anger at the murderous helicopter gunships boils in your blood. You can, after all this time, taste the hatred for Reagan-Thatcher in your mouth, you'll find yourself wishing the IRA had been just a wee bit luckier in Birmingham, this is engaged Christianity on the verge of losing its compassion. To Cockburn's credit, he pulls back from this ledge.
This CD and DANCING are his two best, by virtue of the power of the music and the messages. The remastering job is absolutely STERLING! The additional tracks are as strong as everything else on this remarkable disc. They really add to the power of the CD. No wonder he is Canada's greatest living songwriter.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars buy this!!!!!, July 3, 2004

By	slook (St. Catharines, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This is probably Bruce's best cd. Beautifuly written and not one bad song. Some latin influenced songs such as Nicaragua, Making Contact(makes you feel like doing the Samba Dance)and Dust and Diesel. Great lyrics on this album which also has Bruce's great sense of humour(smiling girl directing traffic
flow,
45 strapped over cotton print dress,
marimba brown and graceful limbs,
give me a moment of loneliness.