A Review of the CD
"Pipe Street Dreams"
by James Gordon

"Pipe Street Dreams"
by James Gordon

Pipe Street Publishing
Box 714
Guelph ON Canada N1H 6L3
ph: (519)-837-3757
http://jamesgordon.cjb.net
mailto:gormorse@sentex.net

This review is written by Kevin McCarthy, 8/99
"Kevin and Maxine’s Celtic & Folk Music CD Reviews"
http://www.kevindmccarthy.com/music/index.html
send me an email message

Ex-Tamarack member James Gordon's maiden solo effort is a curious amalgamation--his smooth, easy-to-listen-to vocals are quite charming but the variety of subject matter he hoes throughout this release has some especially dark and weedy corners: emigrating with the prayer of a better life, bewilderment about time's passage, animals abused in out-of-character rituals solely for the amusement of humans, insomnia, environmental excesses producing both lost jobs and serious illness, the oxymoron of religious commercialism, both first and unrequited love, national identity, progress and profits at the expense of community, and the struggles of the performing life.

The effect is disarming as his beguiling music eases the listener into a tete-a-tete with rather sobering subject matter. His is not an in-your-face style and his subtlety provides an opportunity for enlightenment without being off-putting.

He opens with the wistful and gentle emigration tale "Robin Hood's Bay" and then slides into "That Old Cedar Strip," a tale of confusion about past memories and where time has gone. After reflecting on how life and family has overtaken youthful activities, Gordon sings:

"...Sometimes I pull the Buick out into the driveway
Set that canoe down on the floor of the garage
Pretty soon there's nothing left in my way
But reality and a thousand mile portage
And I paddle past the shopping malls
The power plants, the factory walls
Across a cool, clear dream I hear the loon's lonesome call
And for a moment I'm in the wilderness
Oh Jenny how did it come to this
How did me and that cedar strip end up here at all?..."

"... Since old P.T. Barnum bought me
Took me from my home and brought me
Over here to lead this wandering life
It's been hard on me, on the move constantly
Far from Alice, my elephant wife
I get so sick of these big-top tricks
I'm starting to hear the jungle drums call
The way that they work us, here in the circus
Tom, I'm so tired of it all..."

"Coke Oven Brook" is the most angry, emotional cut on the release. A slam at Sydney Steel for both abandoning a town deriving its livelihood from the mill and for leaving behind an environmental and public health disaster, Gordon pulls no punches here.

The melancholy "Far From Our Shieling," based on a poem by John Galt, depicts the umbilical connection to homeland felt by immigrants. Gordon sings:

"...Far from our shieling on that misty island
Divided by mountains and rolling sea
Our blood stays strong, and our heart stays Highland
In dreams we are still in the Hebrides

Never again shall we walk in that valley
Where between the dark hills winds the small, clear stream
Never again 'round our chieftain we'll rally
Nor see the moon on the kirk spires gleam

Once our bold kindred in time long vanished
Conquered the soil, fortified the keep
Now all the children, they have been banished
So that a lord might raise sheep..."

"...They've packed up their incense
Their bells and their robes
The Lamas are headed out on the road
It's a long way from Tibet to L.A.
But those lamas want the world to know
How they release their ecstatic sounds
They demonstrate the inner peace they've found
Two sets a night, out under the lights
Then it's back on the bus they go

Dinner at the Taco Bell
And back at the El Rancho Motel
They watch TV and try to meditate
Tomorrow there's a double bill
With Kenny Rogers out in Beverly Hills
They invoke the Awakening Ones
So they don't sleep late

Their agent calls from Malibu
He wonders if the boys could do
Maybe one or two more upbeat tunes
And tell a couple of Tibetan jokes
He tells them that the show's a hit
But could they tighten the longevity dance a bit
You got to please the fans
with short attention spans
Remember, you're sponsored by Coke..."

"Too Canadian These Days" is a wry jab at the Canadian soul:

"I feel as flat as the Saskatchewan prairies
I feel as foggy as a St. John's dawn
I'm as cold as a Yukon January
Something's wrong

Kind of empty in the middle
As far away as Hudson Bay
You know I'm feeling just a little
Too Canadian these days

...Gettin' good at riding fences
That's our national disease

I'd do something about it
But that wouldn't be like us
We're not inclined to shout it
out of make any fuss..."

He closes with "Isn't It Time To Go Home," a selection made more interesting by his recent decision to leave Tamarack and reduce his traveling schedule. He bitingly sings:

"...I know they call it playing
but it feels like work tonight
Nothing we do seems to make it through
To the other side of the mike

The audience is older, the winter is colder
And it's been years since I was warm or young
And how long can you sing a song
Before it is all sung?

Too many guys with guitars too many wannabe stars
So the money keeps getting worse
More and more I have to dig deeper for
The words to the next verse

Not another tune to carry, Jesus, Peter, Paul and Mary
Isn't it time to go home
Not another tune to carry, Jesus, Curly, Moe and Larry
Isn't it time to go home"

Besides penning each song, Gordon remarkably also performed all the guitar, mandola, banjo, tin whistle, recorder, trumpet, percussion, synthesizer, organ, bass, hammered dulcimer, accordion, piano and harmonica instrumentation.

Track List:

• Robin Hood's Bay (3:49)
• That Old Cedar Strip (3:16)
• If You Hear The River Call (3:17)
• My Insomnia (3:56)
• Jumbo's Last Ride (3:59)
• Coke Oven Brook (3:57)
• Far From Our Shieling (3:06)
• Did You Already Know (2:32)
• Lamas On The Road (3:50)
• The Uneeda Rest (3:18)
• Too Canadian These Days (3:02)
• Hamilton Beach (3:37)
• Isn't It Time To Go Home (3:39)

Copyright © 1998-2015 Kevin & Maxine’s Celtic & Folk Music CD Reviews. All rights reserved.

Ownership, copyright and title of this folk music CD review belongs to me, Kevin McCarthy. Ownership, copyright and title are not transferable or assignable to you or other parties regardless of how or if you or other parties use, copy, save, backup, store, retrieve, transmit, display, publish, modify or share the CD review in whole or in part. Please read the "Terms, Conditions and Disclaimer" section on my web site for additional information about using, quoting, or reprinting this CD review.

Send inquiries to: send me an email message.

Return to Kevin and Maxine’s Celtic & Folk Music CD Reviews home page.

To return to the last web page you visited, click the "Back" button that appears immediately below: