The Hard and the Easy [CD & DVD] by Great Big Sea (CD, Oct-2005, Zoe)

Wish fulfillment! Great Big Sea puts out the all traditional CD they wanted to, and we get to enjoy it!

A little bit of everything, with the odd distinction of being the only album to ever claim two songs devoted to horses that fall through frozen ponds.

Beginning with the mysterious but oddly likeable Come and I will Sing You, The Hard and the Easy takes you on a harmonic journey through the Atlantic maritimes.

Captain Kidd is a toe tapping, singable ode to a murderous sea captain, while River Driver is simply......stunning. It's lonely, yearning, sweet,a simple acapella tour de force. NO one does this type of thing better than GBS. I don't think anyone else would dare. These guys love and respect this material, geniuinely want to share it with the rest of us, and this shines right through. (Pun intended.) I love bass singer Murray Foster. The man has a voice like an organ.

The Mermaid, well, I won't touch that, but suffice it to say, I nearly wrecked the car when I first heard it. It's like a sick, twisted Disney song.

Cod Liver Oil is one of my all time favorite GBS songs. It's one of those that once you hear it, will stick with you all day-you'll be brushing your teeth to it, whistling it around the office, humming it under your breath while you cook dinner, whilst occasionally breaking out into refrains of "Doctor, oh Doctor!"

The two horse songs, you wouldn't think it, but totally different, and both wonderful. The Hard and the Easy is a tuneful hymn to the necessity of having good neighbors, while Charlie Horse is bouncy fun, even if it IS about a dead horse.

Don't be fooled. This may be an album of folk songs, but it is produced with love and a happy, "pop" attitude, and is some good listening.