Humans stands as one of Cockburn's most well-regarded records. What strikes me most about reading the review on Allmusic.com is this sentence: "Cockburn's marriage had fallen apart, he'd moved from the country to a gritty inner-city section of Toronto called Cabbagetown..." Perhaps "gritty" was once the proper adjective, but, like most areas of Toronto, things have changed. According to the latest Toronto Life Real Estate guide, the average house prices in Cabbagetown are:
- detached houses: $1,300,000
- semi-detached houses: $719,750
The area is not gritty. In fact, this area is one of the most desirable locations in downtown Toronto. I did not live in Tdot in 1980, so I have no way of knowing if Cabbagetown was once gritty. The area I currently live in was not so long ago inhabited by drug dealers and street prostitutes. Much has changed. But, back to Humans.
The record is really fabulous, but I spend most of my time wondering why on earth they chose that photo for the cover. Was that the best they had? It's not quite as bad as the recent Tony Blair Christmas card, but it is close.
It was around the time that this record was released that I consciously became aware of Cockburn. I knew who he was before then, of course, and had surely heard some songs. But, I remember watching the New Music and there was a clip of him signing Tokyo. Bruce was wearing army fatigues and maybe a beret.
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