Description
Speechless is a instrumental compilation album by the Canadian singer, songwriter, and guitarist Bruce Cockburn, released on True North Records in September 2005. The compilation was produced by Bruce Cockburn and Colin Linden. The album earned Cockburn a Canadian Folk Music Award for Best Instrumentalist and underscored his stature as one of the world’s premier pickers.
Speechless, Bruce Cockburn’s first foray into completely instrumental territory, is proof in the pudding that you can teach an old dog new tricks. There are 15 tracks here, the vast majority of which are redos of tracks from Cockburn’s catalog. But given their treatment – many of them done as solo guitar pieces – the dearth of new material doesn’t even matter. In fact, one could venture to say that these feel like altogether new pieces. Cockburn is a master guitarist; he often interweaves jazz, blues, country, and folk styles into his cross-genre songs. Here he shines, pure and simple. «Train in the Rain» (anyone notice how many of his songs are about trains and travel?) touches on Leo Kottke and Peter Lang; «Water into Wine» utilizes flamenco stylings while crossing into Gypsy jazz chords à la Charlie Byrd. A new work, «Elegy», kisses the modalities of «Greensleeves» while creating itself as a piece that evokes both absence and memory. «Rouler Sa Bosse» from Salt, Sun and Time juxtaposes Cockburn’s six-string against Jack Zaza’s clarinet, and becomes a straight-up gently swinging jazz tune. The set also includes «Rise and Fall», a sought-after trio track that was previously available only in Japan. Cockburn’s steel-string is accented by his playing of bells, George Koller on bass, and drummer, Ben Riley! The new version of «When It’s Gone, It’s Gone» showcases an entire band that includes Booker T. Jones on organ and Edgar Meyer on bass, and is the only electric tune on the set. Another new work, «The End of All Rivers», is a multi-tracked tune that has Cockburn playing not only guitar but Tibetan bowl, a Navajo flute, and a baritone guitar, which are all threaded though the melody as a digital delay marks time with his standard acoustic. It’s spooky, elegiac, and utterly beguiling. The set ends with a down-home solo read of the title track from Sunwheel Dance. The most remarkable thing about Speechless is that, although it lies firmly in its own subcategory in Cockburn’s catalog, it remains, despite the improvisation and textures, a recording of songs. The composer’s need to establish that fact even in abstraction and extrapolation is commendable. Speechless is not only accessible – it’s downright beautiful, poetic, and seductive. [Thom Jurek, AMG]
As any Cockburn buff will know, the Canadian songsmith is an absolute maestro of the guitar and this collection of previously recorded tracks and brand new instrumentals is a thrilling aural experience from start to finish. The new cuts on the album include «Elegy», delightfully picked on the dobro, and the dazzling «End Of All Rivers» where use of echo allows the virtuoso to harmonise with the melody as it progresses to breathtaking effect. Then there is a dazzling piece of blues titled «King Kong Goes To Tallahassee». If these gems weren’t enough you’ve got marvellous selections from his vast back catalogue like the eerie «Islands In A Black Sky» and the cascading «Water Into Wine» from the ’70s through to the dreamy ambient «Mistress Of Storms» from the ’90s. There’s even a piece, «Rouler Sa Bosse», inspired by gypsy jazz maestro Django Reinhardt and «Rise And Fall», a rarity only previously available on the Japanese edition of 1999’s ‘Breakfast In New Orleans, Dinner In Timbuktu‘. Wherever you look on this album you’ll find emotive, delightfully executed music which, if there were any justice, will establish Bruce on the world stage as one of the GREAT guitarists. [Tony Cummings, Cross Rhythms, September 2005]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/speechless/360943359)
CD tracklist:
01. Foxglove – 1:28
02. Train In The Rain – 3:42
03. Water Into Wine – 5:31
04. Elegy – 4:05
05. Mistress Of Storms – 6:08
06. Rouler Sa Bosse – 3:46
07. Salt Sun And Time – 3:09
08. Islands In A Black Sky – 7:37
09. Rise And Fall – 8:15
10. Sunrise On The Mississippi – 3:00
11. King Kong Goes To Tallahassee – 3:04
12. When It’s Gone It’s Gone – 4:17
13. Deep Lake – 6:47
14. The End Of All Rivers – 5:53
15. Sunwheel Dance – 1:46
Note: Available at Bandcamp: https://brucecockburn.bandcamp.com/album/speechless
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.