Cowboy Junkies Album: “Miles from Our Home [Clean]”

As a big Cowboy Junkies fan, I certainly agree that this album is a bit of a departure for the band. Influences by Townes Van Zandt, the band has always been a country-blues-rock band with quiet, gloomy and laid back rhythms and movements. Miles From Our Home puts much more emphasis on the rock and electric guitar than their past six or so albums, and may be a bit of a disapointment for fans raised and weaned on The Trinity Session through Lay it Down.

But there's really nothing wrong with this new style. Margo Timmins' voice is as strong as ever, although a bit more up tempo and upbeat. It sounds more like early October than late November if you ignore the seasonal metaphor. The lyrics are as cynical as ever, and the songs are certainly as good as any that the band has produced. "New Dawn Coming","Miles From Our Home","Good Friday" & "Darkling Days" are some of the best songs the CJ have ever recorded, and there's the usual tribute to Townes Van Zandt with "Blue Guitar."

I suppose if you were expecting the band to produce an exact replica of "Lay it Down" then you may be disapointed by this album. But if you've been a Cowboy Junkies fan for years and own all of their albums like I do, then you'll welcome this slight departure and change. I don't care if its not what you were expecting...its STILL one of the bands strongest albums. I, for one, listened to nothing but this album for a week straight. Heck, maybe the band NEEDED or WANTED to do something a little different. Its not like they put out a speed metal album or anything...

As I age and find fewer and fewer current releases to my liking, I find this to be catchy and for the most part very listenable. For that reason, I agree with many of the four and five star reviews. Still, it bugs me in a nagging way each time I listen. Its not just that "Somewhere Out There" makes me cringe, which it does. I find offensive and sophmoric the CJ's reference to God as "that f**ker up there". Even if this album is about personal loss, that lyric is just not ARTFUL. And unfortunately, that is emblematic of why this album falls so far short of "Trinity Sessions" and "Black Eyed Man". They were sublime and artful. This is just a solid album.

Whether this new sound is attributed to the influence of producer John Leckie or a desire by the Cowboy Junkie matters not a whit to me. I happen to like this rather astringent style, which is not to say there is anything wrong with the group's minimalist soundscapes typical of earlier recording.

Margo Timmins' haunting voice seems to float in songs such as "Good Friday" or "Hollow as Bone." But her delivery on the cynical "Someone Out There"---a lament to a god who has forsaken humanity---proves disconcerting (as it should). Songwriter and lead guitarist Michael Timmins has delivered a stout set of tunes, and his guitar work is stellar and inspired throughout the CD, though when paired with some gritty keyboards the sound really swells.

That songs such as the title track and "The Summer of Discontent" failed to grabbed the attention FM programmers shows what a disgraceful state radio has lapsed into under the reign of the corporate suits and consultants. For as much as I like this CD, I still find some tracks, particularly "Those Final Feet," a dirge about the death of Timmon's Grandfather, too painfully private to listen to on some days.

Try to accept this CD on its own terms instead of condemning it as lamentable break in the Cowboy's Junkies legacy.

I don't think of this CD as "pop" but maybe I'm less particular about music than some of these other reviewers. I love this CD, I love the variety on it, I love the way it slips into the background or comes to the fore when I want to actively listen. And it always reminds me of my best Junkies experience: lying on the lawn at Wolf Trap outdoor concert venue in Virginia, with the moon up above, and Margo singing Blue Guitar, and the sound enveloping me and transporting me somewhere else...

Ranks right up there with the Trinity Sessions, although the production values are significantly different. The introspection of the lyrics shows a maturity unusual even in Folk-Rock circles, the music and lyrics ring together like a Woodstock Chime. And, without a doubt, there is no one in the industry who can outsing Margo Timmins.