The Light That Guides You Home Reviews
Popjournalism Review
by Jason Gladu
It's been eight years since Jim Cuddy's infectious debut, All in Time, which surprised many industry types (even Cuddy himself) when it won a Juno for best male vocalist. No one should have been stunned though, as Cuddy has been writing hit songs for Canada's seminal country rock group Blue Rodeo for the past decade.
Naturally, Cuddy's sophomore disc, The Light that Guides You Home, is full of strong, country inspired pop-rock ballads accentuated by personal heart-felt lyrics. Highlights found in the first single "Pull Me Through" is pure Cuddy, fused with a tender muted trumpet, "Married Again" is tongue-in- cheek, honky tonk, and the punch-drunk rocker "Stagger In" ends with an old-time piano melody (courtesy of his brother, Devin).
Lyrically, Cuddy seems content on playing the hopeless romantic, as he poetically sings about love, both lost and found, with some shout outs to cities like Winnipeg and Calgary. But in the middle of the album Cuddy throws in a fantastic anti-Bush song "One Fine Day" with so many stinging lines it's hard to pick one - my personal favourite is at the end: "When your kingdom's gone, And your friends moved on, We're going to watch you fall, We're going to watch you crawl, One fine day."
Overall, fans of Blue Rodeo won't find anything new here, but once again Cuddy has created a solid representation of modern roots-rock played out in his well-known and well-loved poppy formula.
The Winnipeg Sun Review
Home Sweet Home
by Darryl Sterdan
If Blue Rodeo were The Beatles, Jim Cuddy, we humbly submit, would be Paul -- the slightly poppier and more accessible yin to the Lennonesque Greg Keelor's darker and more enigmatic yang.
Hold your angry e-mails, kids; that is not a dig at Cuddy. After all, Lennon made some groundbreaking solo LPs -- but whose stuff do you hear more often? The same could be said of the Rodeo leaders' solo work.
Sure, Keelor has made some daring and unconventional choices with his psychedelic experiments. But we suspect Cuddy's second solo album will end up in heavier rotation on most fans' iPods.
Mainly because The Light That Guides You Home -- his first extracurricular full-length since 1999's All in Time -- delivers everything you know, love, want and expect from Cuddy: Impeccably crafted, slightly nostalgic country-rock and roots-pop laced with gorgeous melodies, bittersweet lyrics, heartfelt vocals and twangy sincerity.
There are cuts that gently rock like Neil Young in Laurel Canyon circa '69. There's some strummy folk with Dylanesque harmonicas and fingerpicked acoustic guitars. There's heartsqueezing piano balladry flecked with strings and a lonely, lyrical trumpet. There are jangly, Byrdsian guitars. There are fiddles that lend a Mellencampy air to the proceedings.
There are enough shout-outs to Canadian locales -- including Winnipeg -- to rival Stompin' Tom. There's a punchy rocker that kicks a little like Elvis Costello on Get Happy! There are a couple of old-timey roots numbers that wouldn't be out of place on The Band's first two discs. And there's even a rollicking honkytonk number that boasts a boisterous barrelhouse piano and the album's funniest line: "16 bottles and a wedding trunk / Oughta be a law against marrying drunk." Yeah, it's a silly love song.
But what's wrong with that? It's still a charmer.
Just like the rest of this disc.
The Guardian (PEI) Review
by Doug Gallant
Four Stars
Eight years after the release of All In Time, Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy has finally gotten around to releasing his second solo offering.
It was worth waiting for.
The Light That Guides You Home is a first-class effort all the way, sure to please long-time fans and, I suspect, attract new ones to the fold.
Produced by Cuddy and co-producer Colin Cripps, who was also on deck for All in Time, this 12-song set boasts beautifully crafted material, great vocal performances by Cuddy and special guest Kathleen Edwards and solid musicianship throughout by Cuddy and a cadre of musical friends.
It's a very personal album with several songs inspired by people in Cuddy's life and by shared experiences.
He was particularly inspired, according to one recent interview, by watching people of his parents' generation deal with the loss of their spouses after many long, happy years together.
The title track, as well as "What She Said" and "Pull Me Through" are particularly moving. Kleenex may be a good idea.
But the album has more to offer than beautiful ballads.
George Bush gets sideswiped in "One Fine Day."
Favourite tour stops are celebrated in the travelogue-like road song "Countrywide Soul," in which he specifically mentions the magic mushrooms of P.E.I., an attraction I suspect Tourism P.E.I. isn't looking to publicize.
Then there's the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction honky tonk piece, "Married Again", about an actual couple who got divorced, celebrated their divorce with way too much alcohol and woke up the next day re-married.
When all is said and done, The Light That Guides You Home is a wonderful collection of songs, one that rates right up there with the best of his work with Blue Rodeo.
If it takes Cuddy eight years to produce an album this good, I'm willing to wait another eight years for the next installment.
