Search - Stan Rogers :: From Fresh Water

A Soul and Voice to be Treasured

Roderick Laubscher | Woodside, CA United States | 06/30/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To understand Canada, listen to Stan Rogers. In a country with a great tradition of folk singers (Lightfoot, Ian and Sylvia, etc.), Stan Rogers was perhaps the greatest of all. His career outside Canada was just taking off when he died tragically in an airplane fire in Cincinnati at the age of 33.During his all-too-brief career, Rogers never compromised his art. That resonant baritone seemed to be giving voice to the soul of Canada, sometimes in celebration, sometimes in lament, but always with a passion that the cooler crowd might find blase.All his albums are well worth owning. He wrote and released his songs in themed albums during his life, generally dealing with different geographical parts of Canada. This one generally focuses on the Great Lakes. The songs really give insight into the power those sea-like bodies of water have over the people who depend on them for their lives. Americans who take the great land to our north for granted, or write it off with the "Eh" or dummy stereotypes pay attention. When you listen to Stan Rogers, you should be ashamed that we no longer extol our own heritages and history in song as effectively as this Canadian so recently did for his country.Beyond the theme of the album, the final song on the album, "The House of Orange," is simply one of the most powerful anti-war ballads ever written and recorded, with a message applicable to all ethnic or religious strife everywhere. The liner notes say he recorded it in one take shortly before his death. You'll find no more passionate vocalization anywhere, and lyrics that give the lie to the Irish troubles.. "O'This or O'That name can't matter at all/ Or be cause enough for to war/ And meanwhile my babies are safe in their homes/ Unlike their pale cousins who cower and cry/ While Kneecappers nail their poor dads to the floor/ And teach them to hate and to die."Buy this album. After you do, I'd be astonished if you're not back here clicking to buy the rest of Stan Rogers."

One song (at least!) makes this CD worth listening to . . .

Roderick Laubscher | 04/02/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

""The House of Orange" is my favorite among many favorite songs of a favorite singer/songwriter. It should be required listening, not only for Irish Catholics and Protestants (the House of Orange), but also for Serbs and Albanians, Hutus and Tutsis, and whoever else thinks that their tree is the forest."

Clarity, decency and strength - and great music too!

organic | Penn Yan, NY United States | 09/16/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"From start to finish, every song on this CD (except for The Nancy which is weak) is wonderful and memorable, worth listening to many many times. But of all the songs, The Last Watch touches deepest, a beautiful poignant image of aging and hopelessness. Why can't more of us listen to House of Orange and know that it is true, no matter when or in what country. This CD is a gift to all of us, with deep, caring, abiding values conveyed with a clarity, decency and strength that is very rare. And a musical quality that transforms. This music is an anchor we all need. What a person Stan Rogers must have been."