There was a lot of fuss in the NME about the Cowboy Junkies in the wake of The Trinity Sessions. We'd call it 'buzz' now; or the cynics would call it 'hype'. Being of a cynical bent, I was wary. But when the Junkies put out a single featuring a cover of one of my favourite Neil Young songs, I couldn't let that pass. So this single/EP was my induction.
It turns out that Powderfinger is the least impressive of the four songs. In that sense this CD played the same role for Cowboy Junkies as A Warm and Yeasty Corner did for Appendix Out/Alasdair Roberts. At this point I should make that tutting noise with my palate and then launch into a sermon about "that kind of thing wouldn't happen with iTunes, you know: you'd just get the track you thought you wanted and miss out on discovering the better ones that happen to be growers". Well bugger that. I'm so bored by dreary observations about one form of serendipity being cut off — as if three new forms don't spring up straight away in the new medium to take its place. O ye of narrow experience and narrow minds, please put a sock in it. Now back to our scheduled programme…
It was Misguided Angel, I think, that hooked me first; then Witches; then the lead track, which has remained a favourite ever since. At this point I was probably splitting up with C for the first time, and I would have loved the romance of "an afternoon spent doing nothing, just listening to records and watching the sun falling".
I love the way Witches is recorded, with the vocal mic up so close that you can hear Margo Timmins breathing in, the ever-so-slight 'pop' of the seal of her lips breaking as she opens her mouth, and the creak of her stool. Very smart, whoever thought of that.
When the sun comes up around here, it doesn't actually hit me straight in the eye until about 9.30am. I'm usually up by then… at least on a Tuesday (though not, I confess, today). And, anyway, Lucy is pretty good at closing the blind.
MusicBrainz entry for this album
Wikipedia entry for this album
Listen to a couple of the songs on this single at Last.fm
as an old Junkies fan I enjoyed that little reminder - sun hitting you straight in the eye etc - makes me want to dig out my copy of the Caution Horses
Posted by: Mike Hughes | 23 March 2008 at 10:37 PM