Wikipedia

Dart to the Heart

Dart to the Heart is an album by the Canadian musician Bruce Cockburn, released in 1994.[2][3] Cockburn considered it to be primarily an album of love songs.[4]

Dart to the Heart
Studio album by
Bruce Cockburn
Released1994
StudioBearsville Studios
GenreFolk rock
LabelColumbia[1]
ProducerT Bone Burnett
Bruce Cockburn chronology
Christmas
(1993) 		Dart to the Heart
(1994) 		The Charity of Night
(1996)

The album peaked at No. 176 on the Billboard 200.[5] Its first single was "Listen for the Laugh", which was a hit on adult alternative airplay radio.[6][7] Cockburn supported the album by touring with Patty Larkin.[8]

Production

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The album was produced by T Bone Burnett and mixed by Glyn Johns.[9][10] It was recorded at Bearsville Studios, in New York, although it was Cockburn's original intention to record the "quieter" songs in Los Angeles with a different group of musicians.[11][12] Greg Leisz played pedal steel on Dart to the Heart.[13]

"Closer to the Light" is a tribute to the American musician Mark Heard, who died in 1992.[14] "Train in the Rain" is an instrumental.[15] "Scanning These Crowds" is about Louis Riel.[16]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [17]
Calgary HeraldB+[18]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music     [19]
Entertainment WeeklyB[20]
The Indianapolis Star    [21]
Los Angeles Times    [22]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide     [1]
Orlando Sentinel     [13]
USA Today    [15]
Windsor StarA[16]

Entertainment Weekly wrote that the album "veers from boisterous to a little too sleepy, and includes some beautifully pithy lyrics."[20] The Washington Post called the album Cockburn's best since World of Wonders, writing that it "is dominated by quiet love songs built around acoustic guitar and a refreshingly original take on pop music's most familiar subject."[6] The Los Angeles Times considered it "tenderly hopeful in heart and slightly feisty in folk-rock spirit."[22]

The Milwaukee Sentinel thought that "Cockburn has the intelligent folk rocker's respect for words and almost never writes a throwaway."[23] The Indianapolis Star noted that "Listen for the Laugh" "has a Lou Reed-esque driving beat with edgy, flat vocals."[21] The New York Times determined that the album's best songs "describe a domestic relationship as a precious, all-too-extingishable light in a dark, lonely world."[24] The Calgary Herald concluded that Cockburn "looks within but not without sharpening his sense of observation, his sense of searching for meaning in the presence, the passion of another."[18]

AllMusic called the album "a convincing reminder of a gentler, more reflective Bruce Cockburn."[17] Salon deemed it a "great lyrical" album.[25]

Track listing

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No.TitleLength
1."Listen for the Laugh" 
2."All the Ways I Want You" 
3."Bone in My Ear" 
4."Burden of the Angel/Beast" 
5."Scanning These Crowds" 
6."Southland of the Heart" 
7."Train in the Rain" 
8."Someone I Used to Love" 
9."Love Loves You Too" 
10."Sunrise on the Mississippi" 
11."Closer to the Light" 
12."Tie Me at the Crossroads" 

References

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  1. ^ a b MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 249.
  2. ^ Howell, Peter (February 19, 1994). "Love and longing from east to west". Toronto Star. p. L14.
  3. ^ Krewen, Nick (August 9, 1993). "Rockin' the night away: Cockburn puts on a stunning performance to close festival". The Hamilton Spectator. p. D1.
  4. ^ "Cockburn gets the Christmas spirit". The Globe and Mail. October 27, 1993. p. C4.
  5. ^ "Bruce Cockburn". Billboard.
  6. ^ a b "Cockburn's 'Heart' Brims with Love". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  7. ^ Sculley, Alan (September 30, 1994). "Matters of the Heart". InRoads. Daily Press. p. 16.
  8. ^ Quintavell, Faith (May 20, 1994). "At Keswick, Bruce Cockburn's Quiet Passion". Features Weekend. The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 15.
  9. ^ McKeough, Kevin (May 5, 1994). "Bruce Cockburn". Chicago Reader.
  10. ^ Johns, Glyn (November 24, 2015). Sound Man: A Life Recording Hits with The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, the Eagles , Eric Clapton, the Faces . . . Penguin Publishing Group.
  11. ^ LeBlanc, Larry (March 12, 1994). "Cockburn targets U.S. with 'Dart'". Billboard. Vol. 106, no. 11. p. 45.
  12. ^ Saxberg, Lynn (September 22, 1994). "Cockburn retires the rocket launcher". Ottawa Citizen. p. F1.
  13. ^ a b Gettelman, Parry (April 15, 1994). "A Final Harvest of Spring Albums". Calendar. Orlando Sentinel. p. 7.
  14. ^ "Dart to the Heart: Cockburn aims for U.S. market: Ageless troubadour". The Kitchener-Waterloo Record. April 21, 1994. p. D7.
  15. ^ a b Gundersen, Edna (April 20, 1994). "North Stars". USA Today. p. 6D.
  16. ^ a b Shaw, Ted (March 5, 1994). "Record Review". Windsor Star. p. D2.
  17. ^ a b "Dart to the Heart". AllMusic.
  18. ^ a b Muretich, James (March 6, 1994). "Recent Releases". Calgary Herald. p. B8.
  19. ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 2. MUZE. pp. 442–443.
  20. ^ a b "Dart to the Heart". Entertainment Weekly.
  21. ^ a b Sharp, Jo Ellen Meyers (February 21, 1994). "Bruce Cockburn is worth a listen; Freddie Jackson rebounds". The Indianapolis Star. p. D6.
  22. ^ a b Willman, Chris (May 22, 1994). "In Brief". Calendar. Los Angeles Times. p. 60.
  23. ^ Tianen, Dave (January 14, 1994). "Cockburn's 'Dart' surprises". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 6D.
  24. ^ Holden, Stephen (September 9, 1994). "In the Flux and Flukes of Pop Fads, 21 Albums for Adults". The New York Times. p. C1.
  25. ^ Bowman, David (September 30, 1999). "Musician in a dangerous time". Salon.
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