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Bruce Cockburn
You've Never Seen Everything
(Rounder)
The Music Box's #1 album for 2003
First Appeared at The Music Box, July 2003, Volume 10, #7
Written by John Metzger
Released 33 years ago, Bruce Cockburn’s self-titled debut was full of rather
typical singer/songwriter fare. It didn’t take long, however, for him to begin
distancing himself from the rest of the reflective hippie flock. Much like Joni
Mitchell, Cockburn’s songs often have drawn as much from jazz as they do from
folk, and each outing has proven to be both more challenging and more rewarding
than the last. It’s no wonder that he never caught on in America where cheap pop
hooks and mass-marketed, cookie-cutter bands rule the airwaves.
The recently released You’ve Never Seen Everything is Cockburn’s 27th
recording, and it may be his most demanding yet. Backed by musicians that
include jazz pianist Andy Milne, bass player Larry Taylor (Tom Waits, Canned
Heat), percussionist Stephen Hodges (Tom Waits), and vocalists Sarah Harmer,
Jackson Browne, Sam Phillips, and Emmylou Harris, Cockburn unleashes a sonically
adventurous stream of songs that are as mesmerizing as they are unsettling. For
certain, Cockburn has been marching in this direction for some time; both
Charity of Night and Breakfast in New Orleans, Dinner in Timbuktu
wrapped a similar combination of jazz, folk, and world beats around his literate
lyrics. But the music on his latest effort makes those outings sound like pop
standards.
Throughout You’ve Never Seen Everything, sounds spin, swirl, and
collide — not with breathtaking beauty, but with sheer horror. Lyrically, this
is the angriest and most overtly political album that Cockburn has crafted in 20
years, and the music, while lush and sophisticated, burns with controlled fury.
His deep-seated anger at the plight of the world, at appointed presidents, at
greedy corporations, and at money-grubbing men fills most of the songs,
culminating within the grisly details and harsh ambience of the title track.
It’s this nightmarish, kaleidoscopic display that haunts the listener long after
the album is finished playing.
But there’s hope here, too, though at first, it’s difficult to see because
it’s buried deep within the mayhem of its surroundings. Further examinations
find that on songs like Don’t Forget about Delight, Open, Messenger Wind, and Put It in Your Heart, salvation through love and
beauty comes rushing to the surface in a giant wave. Indeed, that’s the very
point of the title track as well as the album. Sometimes we can’t see the forest
for the trees for we are so confined within the frustration and misery of a
dark, cruel world that we "never see the light falling around."
Like much of Cockburn’s catalog, You’ve Never Seen Everything is not
an easy album to digest. Because of that, it’s not likely to fare well with most
critics, particularly those hoping to dash off a quick review, nor will it
likely find a home within the music collections of those looking for quiet
background music. For certain, it requires a significant investment of time in
order to appreciate it fully, and because of that, this isn’t for everyone. For
those willing to take the time, however, their patience will be rewarded with an
album that echoes the strange dichotomy of life in which we currently find
ourselves. 
You've Never Seen Everything is available
from Amazon. To order, Click Here!
For Canadian orders, please
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For UK orders, please Click Here!
Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2003
The Music Box
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