Inner City Front

inner city front

Track Listings

1. You Pay Your Money and You Take Your Chance

2. Strong One

3. All's Quiet on the Inner City Front

4. Radio Shoes

5. Wanna Go Walking

6. And We Dance

7. Justice

8. Broken Wheel

9. Loner

Inner City Front,Bruce Cockburn,Sony,Folk & Traditional,Popular Music,Rock,Singer/Songwriter

Inner City Front

Average customer rating:

good songs, but production is too 80s for me
He Has Done So Much Better
His 14th Album
One of His Best!!
Equal to his other best - Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws

Inner City Front
Bruce Cockburn
Manufacturer: Rounder / Umgd
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Rounder Records | Specialty Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Trouble With Normal
Humans
Stealing Fire
Speechless
In the Falling Dark

ASIN: B00006WKZL
Release Date: 2002-11-19

Tracks:

You Pay Your Money And You Take Your Chance
The Strong One
All's Quiet On The Inner City Front
Radio Shoes
Wanna Go Walking
And We Dance
Justice
Broken Wheel
Loner
Coldest Night of the Year (Bonus Track)
Light Goes On Forever (Bonus Track)

Customer Reviews:

good songs, but production is too 80s for me.......2005-09-25

Some of the other reviewers have urged newcomers to Bruce Cockburn not to start here, but I've just tried this record after years of loving and recognizing the intricacies of BC's folkier stuff and I STILL can't really handle it. Those drum machines, those synthesizers... ack. If you listen to late-70s early 80s jazz and like it, never mind my criticisms. I recognize some of this music, especially the track 'Radio Shoes', as smart, but I prefer all my cockburn as earthy as possible, so I will play this CD hardly ever. 'You Pay Your Money And You Take Your Chances' is a great song, ignoring the production (i partly also like it because it brought Kensington Market, where I used to live, back into my mind vividly) and I think he ought to record it again, put out a copy without the 80s sound.

New to Cockburn? A lot of his most famous records were recorded in the late 70s through the 80s and therefore suffer from 80s production, but he has some gorgeous acoustic-guitar-based folk records from the early 70s you ought to check out, primarily Sunwheel Dance, High Winds White Sky, his first LP Bruce Cockburn, and the live record from that early period, Circles In The Stream. They have guitar work as mesmerizing as Leo Kottke's, combined with a creative melody sense Nick Drake fans will like and early Bruce's unironic hippie lyrics. One of his more recent folk records, Charity of Night, is also recommended, as the least overproduced of his 90s stuff and his most engaging songs. Looking forward to hearing "Speechless", too.

He Has Done So Much Better.......2005-07-08

I was extremely disappointed when this album came out because Bruce was one of my favorite artists at the time, and he'd just put out what I considered (and still do) his two best works, Dancing In The Dragon's Jaws and Humans. The only songs I like on this are "You Pay Your Money And You Take Your Chance" and "The Loner," both of which can be found elsewhere. (I see they added "The Coldest Night Of The Year" to this reissue, so that's a plus.) I just hate the idea of somebody who didn't know Cockburn's output picking this up and thinking, what's the big deal?

His 14th Album.......2004-12-16

(fourteenth album, a.k.a. The Toronto Album)
(56.06 minutes)

This one was the big push for Bruce Cockburn - a big push in the direction he started traveling during Humans a year earlier. Humans marked the advent of the electric music, but Inner City Front was electric and it clicked. I can't rightly say that one is superior to the other, but Inner City Front is the Jazziest album he ever released and it works. Jazz is difficult, good Jazz anyway, and Bruce and the band managed to pull it off in style.

If you are contemplating a purchase of this here album, and I recommend it highly, then my humble (but astute) opinion is that you'd be better off getting the re-mastered version with the extra cuts. It comes out to almost an hour of wonderful music and includes the tunes "The Light Goes on Forever" which was until 2002 only available as a B side on a 45, and "The Coldest Night of the Year" which wasn't so rare, but a lot of folks didn't have it until 2002.

I am aware of a lot of folks that refer to this as his "Toronto Album" because of all the influence the city had on the music. He also manages to drop a number of Toronto-area place names in to the lyrics (St. Andrew, Kensington, Yonge Street, Scarborough) but mainly he describes the city more generically as if he was gazing out some unidentified window at the cityscape and wrote a song about what he seen. In fact, his look-out-the-window-and write-a-song-about-what-you-see technique was at its panicle with this album. If you ain't never heard any of them tunes, then don't be put off by the idea. Bruce manages to look out windows and make some interesting, insightful observations based not only what he sees, but the emotion interwoven in to the vision. It is the interplay of human beings that he sings about, even after looking out a window and seeing a man standing beside a telephone booth. The man must have a story, and that's woven in to the lyrics.

I can't praise this album of work enough and I hereby give it the Huckabee Seal of Approval for all around musical pleasure and ambiance. The aural quality is top notch even today, and the infusion of Jazz into the work of a rocking folkie comes off beautifully. Go ahead on and buy this one first if you ain't never before heard any of his work because this is as good a place to start as any and even if you never again get any of his music, this one will be one of the discs that finds its way in to your player time and again. The Huckabees especially like this one to be playing on Saturday mornings when we get up and commence to doing chores around the double wide trailer because it fills the trailer with a pleasant. Melodious atmosphere that takes some of the drudgery out of the chores. In fact we can't get Junior to hose the chicken droppings off the entryway unless this album is playing - he claims it is the only thing that will get him to do it, that and the promise that his Mama will fix up some grits for breakfast later in the morning.

One of His Best!!.......2004-06-14

Bruce's work continues to startle my spirituality. He is one of a kind. He remains spiritual, but appears to shun the convention part of religion. This is good. He tells it like it is but keeps the love of Jesus Christ in his heart. What a fine and beatiful line he walks. Good job Bruce!!

Other CD Recommendation..."Songs from the 49th Parallel" by KD Lang.

Jeffrey McAndrew
author of "Our Brown-Eyed Boy"

Equal to his other best - Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws.......2004-03-06

This cd is not as easily accessible as some others. When I first bought it I thought I had made a mistake. I loved "Dancing..." so much that I went right out and got Humans and Inner City Front. They didn't work for me at first. After some time I came to think they are the equal to Dancing. Charity of Night is another great disc.

Not that the cd is too listener unfriendly, I was just into happy pop back then. Dancing was extremely good happy jazz and folk flavored pop music. This album has some of that but also songs like "strong one" and "loner" which at first I avoided but soon grew to love. The electric violin on some of these songs is amazing! Guitar is great as always. Intelligently written music and lyrics.

Definitely don't start here. Try a greatest hits or Dancing. Then seek out the Cockburn era you are most drawn to. The early folk, the lovely live Circles in the Stream, the Jazz/folk/pop of Dancing and the gradual change into rockier protest music. Latter day Cockburn doesn't do much for me - save for Charity of Night. But that is probably just me.

I haven't heard much difference in the remastered version, but have only listened to it a couple times - probably not very attentively.

Inner City Front
Average customer rating:

Another gem from a true artist and humanitarian

Good, but...

Brilliant, intelligent artist and music!

Inner City Front
Bruce Cockburn
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Traditional Folk | Folk | Styles | Music
Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music
General | Rock | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

The Trouble with Normal

The Charity of Night

Life Short Call Now

Circles in the Stream

World of Wonders

ASIN: B00000285A
Release Date: 1992-03-10

Tracks:

You Pay Your Money And You Take Your Chance
The Strong One
All's Quiet On The Inner City Front
Radio Shoes
Wanna Go Walking
And We Dance
Justice
Broken Wheel
Loner

Customer Reviews:

Another gem from a true artist and humanitarian.......2001-06-13

Inner City Front was the album that introduced me to the great talent of Bruce Cockburn. The title track is a unique blend of mystical guitars and keyboards. The lyrics are tinged with a feeling of angst,but not hopelessness. But the real gem of this CD is the final cut, LONER. I guarentee that you will never feel quite the same about yourself after listening to this incredible song. Even an outgoing Type A person with a million friends has to go through this every once in a while. If you live in a state with cold weather, it's best during the winter. Listen.

Good, but..........1999-12-18

not one of Bruce's better albums (at least of the nine that I've heard). It's still got some very good songs; "Radio Shoes" is a great, jazzy, sleek instrumental, while "All's Quiet on the Inner City Front" contains some of his trademark spoken descriptions of life in other parts of the world, but a few too many are drowning in that late 70s-early 80s synth-heavy, anemic drum production, especially "The Strong One", and the slightly overproduced (but still good) "Pay Your Money and Take Your Chance", which is much better on the homonymous 1998 live EP. Same goes for "Broken Wheel" on the 1990 Live CD. Good, but Bruce has done better. I get the feeling he was being pressured at the time to "go with the sound of the times", maybe a bit against his own will.

Brilliant, intelligent artist and music!.......1998-05-18

Bruce "the Moose" Cockburn is a thinking man or woman's musician. He is thoughtful, poetic, spiritual, and sensitive and his music is fun. Too bad this LP (and artist) is a secret to many. He is one of the top Canadian artists and has won their Juno award (their Grammy) and on this album he displays his sense for reality. Real life with its pains and pleasure. This guy is a genius. A great album, one of his best.

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