Sunday Afternoon Listening Cafe #6
Lost Brotherhood, Gowan
It’s 1990. The new Gowan album has come out after a 3 year wait. I go over to my friend Bruce’s house and we excitedly put on the album. After it was over, we look at each other with disappointed eyes. Gone was the David Tinkle prog sound with a prominent piano that we loved. Instead we had a harder rock sound with lots of loud guitar.
If you had told me then that it would be become my favourite Gowan album, I would have thought something was wrong with you. But over time, I’ve come to see how this album is the culmination of his first three albums, with strong storytelling and featuring playing from Canadian rock royalty - Ken Greer, Steve Shelski, and Alex Liefson, as well as Jerry Marotta and Tony Levin1. Turns out this was the album designed to break into the US market, so Eddie Schwartz was brought in to produce and co-write the album. They overwrote and chose the 10 best, which speaks to the quality.
The album opens with a strong 1-2 punch with All The Lovers In The World (which was the big single from the album and sounded amazing in concert), and Lost Brotherhood (the second single) which has inspired the Gowan show I’m working on. The first track talks about the feelings of connection when you fall in love. The second is a very different story about falling in with a gang, featuring a soaring Liefson solo in the bridge.
Call It A Mission and The Dragon are up next, both bouncy numbers hiding some pretty heavy stuff going on in the lyrics. Then we get to the beautiful ballad Love Makes You Believe, which is about finding hope in dark times. (It’s also the title of my Gowan show!)
Don't hate the world
It only is what it is
Half of it's run by losers
They leave the rest to the kids
Fire It Up is an anthem to the power of a woman. Out of a Deeper Hunger resonates with me as a story about a man who doesn’t have the outward markings of success but is making his case to look beyond appearances to the connection underneath. This was the final single.
Tender Young Hero is about someone who found fame and is now watching it all slip away. The last two songs, Message From Heaven and Holding This Rage, are the most powerful of the album, talking about the cost of violence. Both of these songs also feature in my upcoming Gowan show.
For an added bonus, here’s the live version of All The Lovers in The World from the concert on Thursday night. The thumbnail features Gowan and two longtime members of his band (from 1985) Bob McAlpine and his brother Terry Gowan. I would dearly love to have them both in my band when I do the show. Send good vibes my way! And enjoy your Sunday afternoon listen.
This was Marotta’s and Levin’s third album with Gowan, having been drafted by David Tickle to play on the breakout album Strange Animal and its follow-up Great Dirty World.