Marc Cohn
Burning The Daze

Marc Cohn, a singer-songwriter from Cleveland, was an unfinished artist until "Burning The Daze" of 1998, despite having captured fame and attention already with his self-titled debut in 1991, which earned him a Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Undoubtedly a good album, driven by a splendid single like "Walking In Memphis," which had Cher as a grand interpreter, however, "Marc Cohn," despite presenting other great songs like "Ghost Train," "Silver Thunderbird," and "True Companion" in addition to the famous hit, cannot be defined as a completely successful and memorable work, too static, too flattened on ballads with now folk, now piano, now R'n'B, now soul twists, not suitable to withstand the test of time, predictable and at times opaque. Marc Cohn, a simple and shy character, thus loses the chance to become a so-called superstar, and following the first test, in 1993 comes a "The Rainy Season" that completely replicates the debut album, further amplifying its flaws. Up to this point, Marc Cohn can almost be defined as a one-hit wonder, and only after five years of silence, too late for the expectations of Atlantic Records that launched him and for a distracted public with a short memory, comes the redemption, the album that marks an artistic maturity finally fully reached, which is "Burning The Daze".

A beautiful album, this third discographic effort by Marc Cohn, who finally proves himself capable of overcoming his greatest weakness by managing to create a varied and nuanced album, very inspired, simple, and made up of beautiful songs that best express the great class of a refined singer-songwriter with a distinctly American taste but never gratuitously populist or pretentious. Before this album, Marc Cohn had never managed to write a breathtaking song like "Girl Of Mysterious Sorrow": a simple acoustic guitar riff with a vaguely Latin flavor, a perfectly contained crescendo in a driving and hypnotic midtempo, a melody that speaks of dust, mystery, and suffering, interpreted with exemplary intensity and balance. This exploit far surpasses "Walking In Memphis" and "Walk Through The World," the only significant highlight of the negligible "The Rainy Season," but in "Burning The Daze," it is in excellent company with many other great songs: the midtempo rock with Middle Eastern nuances "Providence", a very sweet piano-ballad like "Healing Hands", the velvety soul elegance of "Already Home", the incisive blues-rock "Lost You In The Canyon", and the disillusioned bitterness of "Saints Preserve Us".

There's really something for everyone in "Burning The Daze," and even the minor episodes prove to be very pleasant and inspired, no longer just additional running time, just think of a seductive rock-ballad like "Turn On Me", the acoustic and relaxing atmospheres of "Olana" and of a "Valley Of The Kings" punctuated by the almost tribal rhythm of the marimba, slightly exotic and captivating. The circle is closed in the best possible way by a touching "Ellis Island" in which Marc Cohn, accompanied only by his acoustic guitar and a cello, manages to evoke with sensitivity and delicacy the lives, fears, uncertainties, and hope of immigrants fleeing misery and seeking a new life in the land of great opportunities.

"Burning The Daze" is a classically styled and elegant album, recommended especially for those looking for singer-songwriting that is neither politically committed nor introspective and intimate, a sincere and personal album also enriched by the excellent vocal skills of the singer-songwriter, bolstered by a clear, warm, and slightly hoarse voice. Unfortunately, this album was not sufficiently promoted and did not receive any commercial success; Marc Cohn found himself metaphorically stranded, dropped by Atlantis who had launched him, and the follow-up to "Burning The Daze" would wait a full nine years, materializing only in 2007 with "Join The Parade," another excellent album that would fully confirm all the qualities expressed with BTD, the qualities of a now mature and top-potential seasoned songwriter.