Got It!

[anigo]

"


I prefer the traditional stuff, myownself, so so far it's a big thumbs up.



First let me start by saying... I love GBS. I have always loved GBS. I will always love GBS. I will continue to buy their albums until such time as they cease to make them, and then I'll probably buy their compilation albums. I love them. I just do. Me 'n GBS, we're like this -> X

Now, having said that, I find that their last couple of albums have been, well, borderline boring.

Sadly, this one's following the pattern.

Where's the fun!?!? Where's the up tempo drinking songs? I mean.. ok, sure, I understand a little class is good every once in a while, but you look at songs from their first couple of CD's... Mari-Mac, When I'm Up, Old Black Rum, Lukey's Boat, Ordinary Day, Patty Murphy... I could go on. Almost every one of the songs on Up and on Play had enough energy to power a small town for a week. Turn was a bit different. Had a bit more depth to it, and not quite as much fun, but still a good album. A good cross between class and drinking songs. I'm A Rover, for example was capital "F" Fun. And Boston and St. John's is easily my all time ever favourite song of ever-all-time. (Ever!)

Road rage was good, because it was all the above in a live format.

Sea of No Cares.. Ok. If somebody can sing anything more positively heart rendering than Widow in the Window, I don't know who it is. And some catchy tunes, true. But where's the passion? Where's the fire? Hmmmm? Yarmouth Town? That's it?

Something Beautiful... Ok. Again, some catchy tunes, and of course, "Summer", which will always be *my* theme song. Nice lyrical stuff. But where's the toe tappin' energy? ***sniff*** I miss the toe tappin!

And now The Hard and the Easy. Some catchy tunes. Two of which (Harbour Lecou and Cod Liver Oil) sound terribly similar (to me anyway) to Barque in the Harbour from Sea of No Cares. The Mermaid is indeed bawdy, but in a fairly mellow tempo'ed way. Dammit, I want some toe tappin' shit! I want shit you can link arms with your friend and jig yourself around until you're out of breath. Stuff you can sing at the top of your lungs with a smile on your face.

I miss that.

But for an album of nice traditional Newfoundland music, this is good. Nice. It kind of reminded me of their very first album - the self titled one with Berry Picking Time on it. (Though that album had the saving grace of Excursion Around the Bay)

Now, having said all that, I see that on the insert on the disk they're playing the Cohen on their next go round. Two nights.

This makes me sad. The Cohen is the university's auditorium. A nice place to watch Theater, or to have perhaps the Barra McNeils do their Christmas performance. It's small and usually gets the lower drawing acts. They used to play the Metro Centre. The big assed arena that holds a gazillion people. They used to play it and fill it up. (And if the argument is "yeah, but they wanted something more intimate this time, the last time they wanted something more "intimate" they had a kitchen party in one of the bigger pubs in town. That's "intimate". In this case the Cohen isn't "Intimate", it's "Oh man, can we sell enough seats to make the metro centre worthwhile? I don't think so, let's go with the Cohen." ) This makes me sad.

I for one know that I *didn't* go to see them at the Metro Centre when they came here last. It was their first local concert that I missed. And the reason was because they were asking something ungodly like $50 a ticket. I remember when I first saw them they swore that the whole reason behind what they were doing was to let people enjoy their music. And that they'd never charge a million dollars for a ticket. That made me sad.

Now, having said all... that... again... GBS is easily, hands down, THE BEST live act I've ever seen. Ever. They only live act I've ever seen that sounds better in real life than they do on CD, and they always sound pretty darn good on CD.

If only they weren't so damned expensive to see live.

Maybe they'll be more reasonably priced at the Cohen.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Thank you for listening.