Customer Reviews

World of Wonder

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Bruce Cockburn is a tough read.Political,christian with a small c,writer of smart,tough lyrics wrapped in a great voice and an often funky sound. In world of wonders, he goes after some of the more obvious targets of the era{the IMF, the Berlin Wall} and does so gorgeously.His anger comes out wittily,{" IMF,dirty mf...}or in a sweet love song{LIlly of the midnight sky}. I have never figured out why Cockburn is not more popular. Perhaps his religion turns people off, or his politics{doesnt seem to hurt U2,though}.Whether waking up in a barrio in chiles capital,{santiago dawn }or on a winter night on berlin,{berlin tonight}his lyrics and melody fit so well.This is an extremly talented,interesting singer-songwriter who should be far more celebrated then he is. This is a superb place to start,for I think it is his best album of his career.

"World of Wonders," like its predecessor "Diesel and Dust" featured singer/songwriter Bruce Cockburn at his political best. Directly countering the media's insistence that all Christians are right wing fanatics, Cockburn sees his faith and commitment to social justice as very much intertwined, and for that alone he should be awarded many kudos.

"Call It Democracy" is, quite possibly, the first song ever that deals with the International Monetary Fund and third world debt. That it manages to puts its subject matter to a catchy as all get out melody and beat is a testament to Cockburn's skill as a writer. Here both anger and wit coexist in remarkable fashion. While some songs such as "Santiago Dawn" and "Berlin Tonight" may see a bit dated in the post cold war world, they still manage to seem relevant in today's global village while such seemingly less overtly political cuts such as the can't stop dancing "See How I Miss You" and the utterly sublime "Lily of the Midnight Sky" nicely round out the album and "Down Here To Night" serves as a fitting coda.

It is hard to imagine any Cockburn fan being without "World of Wonders" and it is essential for anyone else looking for social conscious music, especially one that is faith based.

"People See Through You" and "Call it Democracy" are the best.
Alittle bit overproduced, but still a gem in its own way.

Like Paul Simon, Cockburn builds very interesting albums. In terms of themes, they all seem to have something from the personal or intimate level, something North American, and something from the international political/human rights scene. What can change utterly from one album to the next, and showcases his incredible range and versatility, is the version of each that he addresses, and the musical genre that carries it through a given album. This one seems to have an almost Caribbean flavour with a Westernized minor key. It's 'big' music, electrical rather than acoustic, with lots of reverb and echo, closer to Big Circumstance than Dart to the Heart. The international political themes range widely, from Santiago to Berlin, and the personal gets less air-time than usual. His Christianity, which usually gets a look-in, is entirely absent.

Lily of the Midnight Sky (love-song) and Dancing in Paradise (politics) are slow spoken-word pieces laid over a musical track with chorus. Call it Democracy and People See Through You are head-on denunciations, against the International Monetary Fund and Ronald Reagan respectively, and they're head-on music too. Two songs (See How I Miss You and Down Here Tonight) are strongly Caribbean in feel, and are the kind of boppy, accessible songs that get radio time. Two others (Santiago Dawn and Berlin Tonight) are the kind of close-focus reportage that Cockburn specializes in. Personally, I find the title track is the most forgettable, closely followed by People See Through You.

Santiago Dawn is one of his story-telling songs, about a specific event in a specific location of the world and its larger connotations. Musically it's halfway between a dirge and an anthem; lyrically ('Bells of rage, bells of hope. . .') it's a pure call-by-example to resistance and uprising.

For my money Berlin Tonight is the standout on this album. It's one of his travelogue pieces from the same group as Tokyo, Tibetan Side of Town, and Nicaragua: a impressionistic-reportage meditation laid over a sparse but spacious musical track which gets incredible dimension and texture from a kind of asyncopated drag to the timing. Anyone who found themselves hooked on Gorecki's famous Symphony of Sorrowful Songs or Laurie Anderson's Hiawatha shouldn't miss this one.

None of Cockburn's albums is easy or accessible, but every one of them that I've heard creates for itself an important and permanent space in the mind. This one is definitely up to the standard.

If you are looking for music with real progressive political content, with historical foundation, with passion, anger and humanity, do not miss Bruce Cockburn and do not, I repeat, do not miss this album.

Like Paul Simon, Cockburn builds very interesting albums. In terms of themes, they all seem to have something from the personal or intimate level, something North American, and something from the international political/human rights scene. What can change utterly from one album to the next, and showcases his incredible range and versatility, is the version of each that he addresses, and the musical genre that carries it through a given album. This one seems to have an almost Caribbean flavour with a Westernized minor key. It's 'big' music, electrical rather than acoustic, with lots of reverb and echo, closer to Big Circumstance than Dart to the Heart. The international political themes range widely, from Santiago to Berlin, and the personal gets less air-time than usual. His Christianity, which usually gets a look-in, is entirely absent.

Lily of the Midnight Sky (love-song) and Dancing in Paradise (politics) are slow spoken-word pieces laid over a musical track with chorus. Call it Democracy and People See Through You are head-on denunciations, against the International Monetary Fund and Ronald Reagan respectively, and they're head-on music too. Two songs (See How I Miss You and Down Here Tonight) are strongly Caribbean in feel, and are the kind of boppy, accessible songs that get radio time. Two others (Santiago Dawn and Berlin Tonight) are the kind of close-focus reportage that Cockburn specializes in. Personally, I find the title track is the most forgettable, closely followed by People See Through You.

Santiago Dawn is one of his story-telling songs, about a specific event in a specific location of the world and its larger connotations. Musically it's halfway between a dirge and an anthem; lyrically ('Bells of rage, bells of hope. . .') it's a pure call-by-example to resistance and uprising.

For my money Berlin Tonight is the standout on this album. It's one of his travelogue pieces from the same group as Tokyo, Tibetan Side of Town, and Nicaragua: a impressionistic-reportage meditation laid over a sparse but spacious musical track which gets incredible dimension and texture from a kind of asyncopated drag to the timing. Anyone who found themselves hooked on Gorecki's famous Symphony of Sorrowful Songs or Laurie Anderson's Hiawatha shouldn't miss this one.

None of Cockburn's albums is easy or accessible, but every one of them that I've heard creates for itself an important and permanent space in the mind. This one is definitely up to the standard.

(42.5 minutes)

Now if you ask me, and quite a few perceptive individuals do on a frighteningly regular basis, then this here Bruce Cockburn album represents his output at the tail end of a strong songwriting period and was about to usher in a period that appears to have been rather dry for our Canadian friend. Big Circumstance followed this one two years later and feels a bit like Mr. Cockburn was flatfooted at the time, but World of Wonders captured a group of tunes that are obviously born of creative juices that were in a rolling boil.

"Call it Democracy" is one of them tunes where he manages to slip yet another naughty word in and, truth be node, it kind of fits. In fact, it drives home the point he's attempting to make (and it maintains the rhyming lyrics to boot). Mama gets kind of flustered when he keeps putting out records what have them naughty words on them, but they are selectively sprinkled and add a certain degree of spice. Kind of like when you have eggs in the morning and you put just a couple drops of Tabasco® Sauce. There ain't many folk on the street who know who Bruce Cockburn is, but when you find one who does they inevitably know "Wondering Where the Lions Are," and probably "If I had a Rocket Launcher," and if by chance they know of a third song, then this is the one. He's released eleventy hundred good songs, but this is the extent of what the bulk of the herd knows.

If you are a devoted fan, then it is your moral obligation to purchase this (and other) Bruce Cockburn album in large quantities and distribute them to the people you know and love. It will be doing them a favor and, even if you purchase this album outside of Canada, some of the proceeds will find their way back to Bruce and it will assist in shoring up that weak Canadian loonie they got up there. In fact, if you have a chunk of change to spare, I'd suggest you simply buy this album in industrial quantities and go to the nearest urban street corner and pass it out to all you encounter, be they friend or foe. That is a testimony as to what I think of this here album.

Trouble With Normal, Stealing Fire, and World Of Wonders were Bruce Cockburn's early 80s trilogy of political albums. They captured a period in which he was writing songs that addressed the disparity betwixt the haves and the have nots. He went on to other things after that and has been exploring several other themes in subsequent albums, but them three really struck at the root of the inequity situation the world sees itself in. If you don't like the stark reality of the pain of inequity, then maybe you'd better give this one a miss, however if you are comfortable with the Bruce Cockburn style of calling a spade a spade and not mamby pambying around with difficult ort uncomfortable subject matter, then this one is yet another gem of an album.

As I said earlier, Mama don't like this one too much because he uses another (single) naughty word, but Junior and the twins love this album because each time that song comes on they hush up and get ready for him to say it and then when he does, they fall in the floor with peels of laughter and side-splittin' laugh-educed convulsions of sheer joy. See, we Huckabees don't allow that kind of talk inside the double wide trailer, but make an exception to Bruce Cockburn because we like his music pretty good no matter what album it's from or what profanity he deems fit to record.

I say this is one of his best, even though it took a few years for me to get to this point. Looking back no I might even say it's up near my favorite.

Over the years Bruce Cockburn has shown many sides of his musical personality including spiritual balladeer, folkie and rocker. `Word Of Wonders' capitalizes well of on his `rocker' phase with the addition of electronic musical instruments. Sometimes the combination is grand, while at other times the songs get lost in a sea of synthesizers.

Several of Cockburn's most visceral and punchy rockers are included here. `Call It Democracy' is a scathing commentary of wealthy countries for abusing lesser countries with monetary loans. The funky bass guitar lines work well on `World Of Wonders.' The kick-butt `People See Through You' reaches a feverish dance tempo. These compositions make heavy use of the synthesized drum kit, and the song structures are solid enough to support the additional weight.

For my money, `Lily Of The Midnight Sky' is Cockburn's most vigorous love ballad. Again, the omnipotent synthesized snare drum and guitar power chords reinforce the composition's sense of desperation.

Unfortunately, `World Of Wonders' begins to meander during the latter half. The Caribbean dance tempo of `See How I Miss You' and plodding `Dancing In Paradise' mar an otherwise solid album. The plight of Latin America (Santiago At Dawn) has been addressed before, where `Down Here Tonight' bounces along gingerly, but the chorus is over complicated and frankly, silly.

Technical Note: Bob Ludwig does another outstanding job mastering. The quiet musical attributes of songs such as `Berlin Tonight' are immaculate.

Written in the shadow of Ronald Reagan's 80's, Cockburn struggles to reconcile his socialist pacifism with the daunting spectre of the Cold War, Third World Dept, and dictatorships. Typically, this album provides few answers (outside of (armed?) revolution) and Cockburn chooses instead to illustrate in poetic detail the many evils one may find in backwater nations. The music and vocals are occasionally interesting, but lack the sensitivity of many of his works; one song(the grinding "People See Through You") should never have happened. Now that American foreign policy has helped the good people of Central America build a foundation of democracy, unify Europe, thaw the Cold War, and FREE THE HOSTAGES, I think Cockburn should re-write this album, and amplify the problem of the IMF, international debt, and the corporate-welfare shell game known as international trade.

I love Bruce Cockburn's music and I have 10 or 15 of his CDs and I love them all...except this one. Not a good track on the album, which was all the more disappointing because I had such high expectations based upon the rest of the albums. But nobody's perfect, eh?