Singer-songwriter and swirling jazz lethario, Bruce Cockburn releases his first full-length studio since 1999’s well received “Breakfast In New Orleans Dinner In Timbuktu“ and with three decades of material now behind him, it was unlikely it was going to be anything less than a consumate and richly layered collection of bluesey and instinctive finger-lickin’ work tunes.
With a lazy and humid feel not unlike that of 70’s jazz/folk beard master John Martyn, Cockburn (yes, an unfortunate name for a serious artist) wriggles and writhes through an oddly ethnic tracklisting: the charmingly Asian and lush ‘Put It In Your Heart’, the Real World Gabrielesque title track, ‘Tried and Tested’ and the faintly aromatic and spicey little Korma, ‘All Our Dark Tomorrows’. Musically, rythmically it’s impeccable – but the weighty and contentious lyrical approach begins to bore from quite an early stage, and for all it’s ‘literariness’ and ‘wordiness’ it really fails to deliver an emotional impact.
The most telling thing about this album, I guess, are the guest appearences: Emmylou Harris, Jackson Browne and Sam Phillips. Says it all really. If Weather Report did it for you in the 70s, you’re going to wet yourself over this release. If you were into punk. Well don’t bother, obviously…