Every Now And Then
The Best So Far... 1984-2001

 

Bright Blue

Tracks:

  1. World Turns recorded 2001
  2. Can You Feel It recorded 2001
  3. Weeping
  4. Window On The World
  5. Wouldn't Miss It For The World
  6. One Of These Days
  7. Open Your Eyes
  8. The Rising Tide
  9. Peace Train
  10. Yesterday Night
  11. Time On My Own (A Sentry's Song)
  12. Where Would I Go
  13. 2nd Avenue
  14. Who's That Girl
  15. Living In Africa
  16. Who Is The Enemy

The lyrics for 'Weeping' are here...

'Weeping' is listed as one of the 1001 South African Songs You Must Hear Before You Go Deaf and was voted the South African Song of the Century.

Musicians:

  • Robin Levetan: vocals on tracks 4, 13, 14, 15, 16
  • Tom Fox: guitar, vocals
  • Ian Cohen: bass, vocals
  • Peter Cohen: drums, backing vocals
  • Dan Heymann: keyboards on all tracks except 1, 2, 5, 7, 9

  • Basil Coetzee: sax on 'Weeping'
  • McCoy Mrubata: sax on 'Yesterday Night'
  • Peter Barnett: percussion on 4, 13, 14, 15, 16
  • Scorpion Madondo: Saxophone on 'Time On My Own'
  • Terri Cohen: backing vocals on 1, 2, 5, 7, 9
  • Tonia Selley: backing vocals on 5, 7, 9
  • Mark Goliath: keyboards on 1, 2

Release information:

November 2001, Universal, CDSRBL286 (146)

Buy this CD from Kalahari.net.

Review:
Here's what you get: several very good songs, a dozen or more excellent songs, and one Eternal Classic. Along the way: bright, crisp playing, melodies impossible to dislodge from the mind, and socially meaningful lyrics. Music for bright people.

The Eternal Classic is, of course, 'Weeping'. This song never ceases to move me, no matter how often I hear it. I play it for my English classes when introducing South Africa before reading the novel 'Cry, the Beloved Country'. An important song that utterly transcends popular music.

Other mighty fine songs are 'Window On the World' (also on the excellent two CD compilation, 'SA Top 40 Hits of All Time'), 'Wouldn't Miss It for the World', 'Open Your Eyes', 'The Rising Tide', and 'Peace Train' {Not the Cat Stevens song - ed}. There are other gems on 'Every Now and Then', but these Bright Blue songs play in my head long after the CD ends.

Bright Blue's music often refers to the great social changes y'all went through in the 80s and 90s, and unlike most songs of social commentary, these sing optimistically about the future of South Africa. This is not depressing protest music. Bright Blue has made anthems for the rising new age of South Africa.

The music accompanying the lyrics is absolutely pleasant, and rocks in places (the closing number, the anti-conscription 'Who Is the Enemy' is one of these). Bright Blue's instrumentation is like folk rock, but it's not, it's African, but it's not -- it's Bright Blue's unique sound.

Quibbles? Only one. A few of the songs linger a tad long on the fade. For the rest, the complicated playing, the so-right melodies, the deeper than "Bernasteena, I Love You" lyrics, make the words of the sub-title "The Best So Far" good to hear.

While 'Weeping' is a tough act to follow, it's not the only song on the disc. Bright Blue's other fifteen songs on 'The Best So Far' make this a must-have CD. Many of y'all must agree with me. Though 'Every Now and Then' has been out for months, it is still on One World's Top Sellers list, at #2 this week.
-- Kurt Shoemaker, SA Rock Digest, April 2002