Bruce Cockburn”Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaws” (1979)...

Bruce Cockburn

“Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaws” (1979)

Columbia

Well before U2, Canadian folk-rocker Bruce Cockburn was telling the world about the wonders of sexuality and spirituality and how mixed up they can get in the modern world. On this album, he becomes something of a Romantic Poet, taking the listener on a journey from first meeting (“Creation Dream”) to first whiff of love (“Hills of Morning”) to the first shocks and jolts of love’s power (“After the Rain.” Like a true Romantic Poet, he keeps nature’s beauty in the forefront of every story he tells). “Wondering Where the Lions Are,” written on the eve of the ‘80s, contemplates the possibility that love’s ecstasy will last forever, then wonders when the crash will come. By “Incandescent Blue,” Cockburn has made it past the disruptions of relationship and into something deeper. On the last and best song, “No Footprints,” he makes two tender claims: that passionate spiritual love is the only kind worth having, and that it you wait long enough, it will come.