ALBUMS:
-- Rumours of Glory - Box Set (2014) --


Track Listing:

There are 9 cds in this box set which is a companion to Bruce's memoir Rumours of Glory. There is also a DVD - Bruce Cockburn Live - The Slice O Life Tour filmed during 3 shows.

DISC 1:
[1] The Charity Of Night ( )
[2] If A Tree Falls ( )
[3] Man Of A Thousand Faces ( )
[4] One Day I Walk ( )
[5] Let Us Go Laughing ( )
[6] Bird Without Wings ( )
[7] Thoughts On A Rainy Afternoon ( )
[8] Sunwheel Dance ( )
[9] Foxglove ( )
[10] Going To The Country ( )
[11] It's An Elephant World ( )
[12] You Don't Have To Play The Horses ( )
[13] Creation Dream ( )
[14] Shining Mountain ( )
[15] Hills Of Morning ( )
[16] Change Your Mind ( )
[17] He Came From The Mountain ( )
[18] Musical Friends ( )


DISC 2:
[1] Fall ( )
[2] Blues Got The World ( )
[3] Mama Just Wants To Barrelhouse All Night Long ( )
[4] All The Diamonds In the World ( )
[5] Rouler Sa Bosse ( )
[6] Don't Have To Tell You Why ( )
[7] Red Brother Red Sister ( )
[8] Gavin's Woodpile ( )
[9] Stolen Land ( )
[10] Lord Of The Starfields ( )
[11] Silver Wheels ( )
[12] Little Sea Horse ( )
[13] Celestial Horses ( )
[14] Feast Of Fools ( )
[15] Can I Go With You ( )
[16] Wondering Where The Lions Are ( )


DISC 3:
[1] Incandescent Blue ( )
[2] How I Spent My Fall Vacation ( )
[3] What About The Bond ( )
[4] Fascist Architecture ( )
[5] Rumours Of Glory ( )
[6] You Pay Your Money And You Take Your Chance ( )
[7] All's Quiet On The Inner City Front ( )
[8] Justice ( )
[9] Broken Wheel ( )
[10] The Trouble With Normal ( )
[11] Tropic Moon ( )
[12] If I Had A Rocket Launcher ( )
[13] Waiting For A Miracle ( )
[14] Dust & Diesel ( )
[15] Yangui Go Home ( )
[16] Nicaragua ( )


DISC 4:
[1] Peggy's Kitchen Wall ( )
[2] Santiago Dawn ( )
[3] Maybe The Poet ( )
[4] Lover's In A Dangerous Time ( )
[5] To Raise The Morning Star ( )
[6] People See Through You ( )
[7] Planet Of The Clowns ( )
[8] Berlin Tonight ( )
[9] Where The Death Squad Lives ( )
[10] Anything Can Happen ( )
[11] Call It Democracy ( )
[12] Gospel Of Bondage ( )
[13] Shipwrecked At The Stable Door ( )
[14] Radium Rain ( )
[15] Understanding Nothing ( )


DISC 5:
[1] Tibetan Side Of Town ( )
[2] Child Of The Wind (4:08)
[3] Great Big Love ( )
[4] One Of The Best Ones ( )
[5] Soul of A Man ( )
[6] Cry Of A Tiny Babe ( )
[7] Kit Carson ( )
[8] Indian Wars ( )
[9] A Dream Like Mine ( )
[10] Someone I Used To Love ( )
[11] All The Ways I Want You ( )
[12] Live On My Mind ( )
[13] Bone In My Ear ( )
[14] Listen For The Laugh ( )


DISC 6:
[1] The Mines Of Mozambique ( )
[2] The Coming Rains ( )
[3] Pacing The Cage ( )
[4] Night Train ( )
[5] The Whole Night Sky ( )
[6] Strange Waters ( )
[7] The Embers Of Eden ( )
[8] Get Up Jonah ( )
[9] When You Give It Away ( )
[10] Mango ( )
[11] Last Night Of The World ( )
[12] Use Me While You Can ( )
[13] Put It In Your Heart ( )


DISC 7:
[1] All Our Dark Tomorrows ( )
[2] Trickle Down ( )
[3] Postcards From Cambodia ( )
[4] You've Never Seen Everything ( )
[5] My Beat ( )
[6] Tried And Tested ( )
[7] Tell The Universe ( )
[8] This Is Baghdad ( )
[9] Mystery ( )
[10] Beautiful Creatures ( )
[11] The Light Goes On Forever ( )


DISC 8:
RARE AND PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
[1] Juan Carlos Theme (1:18)
[2] Waterwalker (5:41)
[3] My Hometown Avalon (4:20)
[4] Wise Users (7:23)
[5] Going Down The Road (3:31)
[6] The Whole Night Sky (3:51)
[7] Grinning Moon (5:46)
[8] Song For Touring Around The Stars (4:10)
[9] Come Down Healing (6:07)
[10] Mystery Walk (Instrumental) (1:23)
[11] The Trains Don't Run Here Anymore (3:22)
[12] Ribbon of Darkness (3:27)
[13] Turn Turn Turn (4:44)
[14] Honey Babe Let The Deal Go Down (3:55)


DISC 9:

DVD Bruce Cockburn Live - The Slice O Life Tour
Directed by Joel Goldberg - Recorded May 15 - 17, 2008

The shows recorded were: The Iron Horse - Northhampton, MA, Somerville Theatre - Boston,MA, and Kulp Auditorium - Ithaca, NY.
Some of this concert footage was also used in the documentary, Pacing the Cage



Order the 'Rumours of Glory - Box Set' (2014) album from Amazon.com now
or check out other albums in the Project's Online Store


Album Info:

Rumours of Glory - Box Set Booklet Online

Here's a link to an online version of the Box Set Booklet.



Production notes:

Produced by Bernie Finkelstein, Geoff Kulawick and Bruce Cockburn

Compiled and remastered by Peter J. Moore @ The E Room, Toronto, 2014

Traduction par Simon Fauteux

Artwork design and layout Bobby Foley (bobbyfoley.ca)

Direction: The Finkelstein Management Company Ltd.
www.berniefinkelstein.com

Photography by Bobby Foley, except pages:
Cover photo (in studio, 1999): Gayle Hurmuses
04 (performing at Mariposa, 1972): Art Usherson
06 (writing at Windsor Arms): Bart Schoales
10-11 (winter landscape): George Pastic
22 (dark landscape): Ted Grant
26 (playing guitar): Bart Schoales
35 (performing live): George Whiteside
37 (sunset overlay): Roberto Masotti
44 (smiling): Guido Harari
55 (tuning in studio, 1999): Gayle Hurmuses
59 (live on stage): Patrick Harbron
70 (dark photo at fireside): Kevin Kelly
86-87 (photos): Joel Goldberg and/et Kiarash Sadigh
(video stills): Michael Wrycraft
Back cover (blurry): Kevin Kelly

Special thanks to Rick Stapleton, Bev Bayzat and staff at The William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections, Mills Memorial Library, McMaster University, Hamilton.

Thanks also to Harvey Glatt, Ian McLeish, Steve Dawson, Jim Musselman, Indigo Girls, Grit Laskin, Peter Moore at The E Room, Nick Jennings, Lee Mizzi, Bobby Foley, Simon Fauteux and to Brock Silversides, Media Commons, Robarts Library, University of Toronto.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage (Music Fund of Canada) for this project.

Made in Canada. Marketed by True North Records. All rights reserved. www.brucecockburn.com www.truenorthrecords.com


Writing Notes:

All songs written by Bruce Cockburn and published by Rotten Kiddies Music LLC, except:

"Bird Without Wings," "Going To The Country," "It's An Elephant World," "Change Your Mind" and "Musical Friends" - Published by Bytown Music.

"Stolen Land" - Written by Bruce Cockburn and Hugh Marsh, published by Rotten Kiddies Music LLC and Znefu Music.

"Maybe The Poet" - Written by Bruce Cockburn, Jonathan Goldsmith and Fergus Marsh, published by Rotten Kiddies Music LLC, Golden Mountain Music Corp. and Copyright Control.

"To Raise The Morning Star" - Written by Bruce Cockburn and Fergus Marsh, published by Rotten Kiddies Music LLC and Copyright Control.

"Soul Of A Man" - Written by Blind Willie Johnson, arranged by Bruce Cockburn.

"Trickle Down" - Written by Bruce Cockburn, Andy Milne and Carl Walker, published by Rotten Kiddies Music LLC, Triborg Publishing and PHO13 MYUZIK.

"Tell The Universe" - Written by Bruce Cockburn, Steve Lucas, Ben Riley and Julie Wolf, published by Rotten Kiddies Music LLC, Six Pounder Music and Copyright Control.

"Waterwalker" - Written by Bruce Cockburn and Hugh Marsh, published by Rotten Kiddies Music LLC.

"Avalon, My Home Town" - Written by Mississippi John Hurt, published by Copyright Control.

"A Song For Touring Around The Stars" - Music by Bruce Cockburn, lyrics by Kenji Miyazawa, translated by Bruce Cockburn. Arranged by Bruce Cockburn. Published by Rotten Kiddies Music LLC and Copyright Control.

"The Trains Don't Run Here Anymore" - Written by Bruce Cockburn and William Hawkins, published by Bytown Music.

"Ribbon Of Darkness" - Written by Gordon Lightfoot, published by Moose Music.

"Turn, Turn, Turn" - Written by Pete Seeger, published by Melody Trails Inc.

"Honey Babe Let The Deal Go Down" - Written by Mississippi Sheiks, published by Copyright Control.


Liner Notes by Nicholas Jennings

In his illuminating memoir, Rumours Of Glory, Bruce Cockburn writes: "My songs are influenced by what I read, where I travel and what I witness." He adds: They're not just about spirituality or "war, injustice and exploitation," but "derive from life itself."

If life is his inspiration, then Cockburn's has certainly been rich, judging by the 117 songs in this box set. Written over nearly 50 years, with the earliest recording being 1966's "Bird Without Wings," they range from spiritual quests and romantic ballads to prickly protests and engaging travelogues drawn from first-hand experiences on five continents. Together, they form an enlightening audio companion to the memoir.

It's fitting that the collection should open with "The Charity Of Night," the title track from Cockburn's 19th studio album. Although written in 1994, the song is one of his most reflective compositions, looking back over three different incidents in his life beginning with a disturbing encounter in Stockholm some 30 years earlier.

"Haunting hands of memory," Cockburn sings in the chorus, "pluck silver strands of soul." Few songwriters have plucked from their pasts so fearlessly, and with such "clarity of light."

Having set the stage for a look back on Cockburn's life in music, the collection - which was curated by the memoir and includes a bonus disc of rarities and a concert DVD of his 2008 Slice O Life tour - then presents the songs in the same order as they are mentioned or quoted in the book. Many of the tracks on the first disc reflect that period when Cockburn saw himself as "a spiritual loner who sought truth in nature." There is plenty of searching in "Shining Mountain" and "Man Of A Thousand Faces," while both "Creation Dream" and "Hills Of Morning" are expressions of the spirituality he had embraced by the late 1970s.

The turning point for Cockburn, as far as becoming a practicing Christian, is reflected in two key songs on the second disc. The first of them is the hymn-like "All The Diamonds In The World," which Cockburn composed one night in 1973 after making his commitment to Christ. The other is the stirring "Lord Of The Starfields," on which he sings "Universe Maker, here's a song in your praise." Both compositions rank among Cockburn's best and the singer-songwriter himself admits that "Diamonds" has "stood the test of time" and may be "as good as I get."

Cockburn's songs of praise have always been accessible to non-Christian listeners because they expressed his personal faith, which favored an open spirituality over blind adherence to religion. Never one to pull his punches, Cockburn delivered a stinging indictment to fundamentalist Christians on "Gospel Of Bondage," targeting their heavy-handed tactics at home and abroad. "God must be on the side of the side that's right," he sings, "and not the right that justifies itself in terms of might."

Many of Cockburn's strongest compositions have been those written after witnessing the conditions in the world's most troubled countries. Those angry songs dealing with war, repression and environmental degradation, such as "If I Had A Rocket Launcher," "Call It Democracy" and "If A Tree Falls," are all included here. So, too, are hard-hitting but lesser-known numbers like "Radium Rain," his bluesy response to the Chernobyl disaster, and "Where The Death Squad Lives," an edgy rocker with the Honduran military in its sights.

"Music is my diary," Cockburn explains in the memoir. His transcontinental travels led to a documentary style of writing, first employed in his swirling 1976 composition "Silver Wheels." Like a foreign correspondent reporting from the front lines, Cockburn sent out journal-style entries in song about what he witnessed, either sung or spoken. These are heard in stark numbers such as "The Mines Of Mozambique," "Postcards From Cambodia" and "This is Baghdad."

But anger doesn't fuel all of his travel songs. "Dust And Diesel" and "Waiting For A Miracle," based on visits Cockburn made to Nicaragua, are gentle expressions of hope for a people struggling to chart a new course. And "Tibetan Side Of Town" offers striking observations about the cultural sights of Kathmandu during a night of drinking Nepalese tungba ale.

Love, along with spirituality and travel, also transformed Cockburn and has often figured in his songwriting. His relationships with women, he has admitted, helped to pry him loose from the "fascist architecture" he'd erected around himself that had made him a loner. Among the collection's most romantic songs are the joyous "Great Big Love" and the sultry "Don't Have To Tell You Why," while "Mango" and "All The Ways I Want You" are both ripe with desire.

When Cockburn was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, he summed up his role as a songwriter with one succinct, eloquent sentence. "My job," he said, "is to try and trap the spirit of things in the scratches of pen on paper, in the pulling of notes out of metal." Just how well he has trapped the spirit can be heard in songs like the emotional "Cry Of A Tiny Babe," his modern re-telling of the Christmas story, and "The Whole Night Sky," a sweeping ballad in which Cockburn's voice and Bonnie Raitt's slide guitar exquisitely plumb the depths of heartbreak. Each has the power to trigger tears.

A starker version of "The Whole Night Sky," featuring Cockburn alone on guitar and vocals, is one of the highlights of the collection's rare and previously unreleased recordings. Among the other gems is Cockburn's own version of "Bird Without Wings," the song he wrote long before embarking on a solo career that the Canadian folk-rock group 3's A Crowd recorded. The plaintive lyrics offer a telling confession: "I couldn't find the key that would unlock these chains of mine/And my songs were not complete enough to sing." It wouldn't be long before all that changed.

Some of the songs on the bonus disc sound as relevant today as the day they were written. "Wise Users," originally recorded for The Charity Of Night and previously only available on a 1996 Earth benefit album, takes to task those who would plunder the planet's resources without regard for consequences. Cockburn's rage is palpable as he sings, "Go on, reap your harvest...'til everything is gone." And "Come Down Healing," recorded in 1995 but never released, is a call for salvation in the face of such destruction. "Sometimes the road leads to dark places," Cockburn warns, before adding, "sometimes the darkness is your friend" (that insightful lyric found its eventual home in his highly popular song "Pacing The Cage").

Throughout his career, Cockburn's songs have often featured the elements of light and dark to represent the forces of good and evil. "Tried And Tested," like other material from 2003's You've Never Seen Everything, made good use of that imagery. So, too, does "The Light Goes On Forever," the 1980 song that closes the seventh disc. "Let me rest in the place of light," Cockburn sings of his unwavering belief in the spirit. As he concludes in his memoir: "Whether that spirit gets discussed in Islamic, Jewish, Christian, or any other religious terms is not really material. It's being awake to its presence that counts." As this collection shows, few artists have been as open to the spirit - or able to convey it so well in song - as Cockburn. - Nicholas Jennings



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