Nice career overview of underrated Canadian rocker
Francis King | Calgary, AB, Canada | 01/30/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Tom Cochrane, whether on his own or with Red Rider, has long been an underrated rocker-poet-folkie. He's produced lots of hits in the Great White North - No Regrets, I Wish You Well, White Hot, Lunatic Fringe and (of course) Life Is A Highway - and they're all here.It's the other tracks that should remind critics and casual fans alike that Cochrane is more than just a 1980s and '90s hitmaker. Check out Dreamer's Dream, Neruda and Ocean Blue to get a feel for how varied his sound can be.Much of that sound was created with guitarist/pedal steel whiz Kenny Greer, who split with Cochrane before the recording of the mega-selling Mad Mad World CD. Fortunately, Greer is back and you hear his influence all over the two new tracks on this collection - Just Like Ali, a tribute to his father and the famous boxer (both of whom have Parkinson's Disease, and all the proceeds from this track go to fight the ailment) and Pictures From The Edge.Here's the complete track listing:
CD 1: White Hot, Avenue A, Lunatic Fringe, Light In The Tunnel, Power (Strength In Numbers), Human Race, Can't Turn Back, Napoleon Sheds His Skin, Neruda, Young Thing, Wild Dreams, Boy Inside The Man, The Untouchable One, Ocean Blues, Big League, Victory Day Good Times, Just Like Ali.CD 2: Life Is A Highway, Mad Mad World, No Regrets, Sinking Like A Sunset, Washed Away, Brave And Crazy, I Wish You Well, Wildest Dreams, paper Tigers, Dreamer's Dream, I Wonder, Stonecutter's Arms, Pictures From The Edge.The package comes with a very complete essay by Canadian freelance music writer Greg Quill, plus commentary on every song by Cochrane himself. So what's missing? Well, both CDs have room for a few more tracks, and those songs should have come from the excellent all-acoustic Songs From A Circling Spirit and the very cool Symphony Sessions albums (Thus my rating of 4, instead of 5 stars). Both were mysteriously ignored when it came to picking songs for Trapeze. Too bad, too. The Symphony Sessions version of White Hot, recorded live in concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, is the definitive one as far as I'm concerned.There's also a limited-edition version with a third disc containing seven live-in-concert songs."
Nice Collection Of Songs
Harry Hollingsworth | Indianapolis, Indiana United States | 05/03/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This Is not a bad best of collection cd. It does have most of his really good songs but there was a few left off. Like the MTV video version Light In The Tunnel/Human Race, Breaking Curfew, Whipping Boy & Love Under Fire just to name a few. But this is really a good collection of songs. Disc 1 is from the Red Rider cds. Disc 2 is Tom's solo cds. And there is even a third disc that has seven live songs on it. If you like Tom and are looking for a nice collection of songs to buy this is it."
Track Listings (17) - Disc #1