Big Circumstance - Bruce Cockburn (1988)

Cockburn (pronounced “CO-burn” so you can stop snickering) has been around since the 70s and has always been an expressive and cerebral artist. He mixes his political activism with very human portraits of the people affected by the issues he’s talking about.

I picked this up from a cutout bin, I think, probably because I’d read about (but not actually heard) his song If I Had A Rocket Launcher. If I’d found that record in the cutout bin instead, I might have found a way into Cockburn’s music sooner.

This record is in a period where he didn’t hold back on the politics. There’s not much I disagree with on it (though I think that people that far on the political left, just like those far on the right, must just get exhausted keeping track of everything they’re supposed to be angry and aggrieved about), but he makes a stronger case on other albums for his worldview.

Gospel Of Bondage, for instance, is a really insightful examination of what saying you believe in Jesus means when it’s used as a tool of oppression. It’s great, but I can’t really picture singing along with the chorus.

On top of that, these mid-80s albums have some great musicians on them, but it all serves to hide what a great guitarist Cockburn is himself, which I think does him a disservice.

For me, Cockburn is at his best when he sticks to the human consequences of his subjects rather than abstract political diatribe.

Tracks I Liked

Where The Death Squad Lives - musically the strongest track here, I think

The Gift - Some South American flavor, and a great tune.

Anything Can Happen - a take on apocalyptic fears that would be at home in the Threepenny Opera