Rusted Root – When I Woke

When I Woke* one day not long ago, I realized I’d had songs from this album in my head for days. Checking the Man Cave, I no longer had my copy from long ago. Who knows what happened to it. So I found one online for $0.70 and it arrived here in a little while.

Amazingly, I still knew every track and every note of the album. Helps that I played the hell out of it all those years ago… The opening Drum Trip would make a wonderful concert stage entrance track, while Ecstacy keeps the world music drum swirl and energy alive and well. I’ll go all hipster on you and say I loved Send Me On My Way long before it got shoved into an Ice Age movie… Cruel Sun is one of my favourite tracks on the album, absolutely gorgeous from top to bottom…

And so on throughout the whole album. Not one track here even approaches mediocre. This kind of album with a big hit on it can have the deep cuts get lost to history, but in this case every single track is a keeper. The percussion throughout is absolutely killer, driven by a world beat feel that takes in South American and African rhythms, the vocals intertwine beautifully, instrumental stabs mesh and sweep and draw the ear…

Looking them up on Wiki, I was pleased to see that they are still going, with their most recent album dropping in 2012. This sure shot hit album from 1994 was a high point, but given their talents and ear for tunes, I would easily wager that there have been other high points along the way, and I want to check into other records of theirs too.

Hearing this record again made me very happy.

* see what I did there? So clever…