''The Walking'' is the fourth studio album by

Jane Siberry Jane Siberry ( ; ; born 12 October 1955) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, known for such hits as " Mimi on the Beach", "I Muse Aloud", "One More Colour" and "Calling All Angels". She performed the theme song to the television series ''Maniac Ma ...

. The album was released on

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...

internationally, but remained on the independent label Duke Street Records in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Critical reception

The album was initially poorly received by critics. It largely turned its back on the quirky new wave pop that Siberry had been known for; in its place was a surreal amalgam of

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

and

Laurie Anderson Laurel Philips Anderson (born June 5, 1947), known as Laurie Anderson, is an American avant-garde artist, composer, musician, and film director whose work spans performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and ...

-style

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

narratives, only one of which was shorter than six minutes. Toronto progressive radio station

CFNY CFNY-FM (''102.1 the Edge'') is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 102.1 MHz in the Greater Toronto Area, licensed to the suburb of Brampton. CFNY plays an alternative rock format. Owned by Corus Entertainment, its studios are in Downtown ...

, an early champion of Siberry's music, announced that it did not view any track on ''The Walking'' as viable for airplay on their station. Sales of the album were slow at first, although they improved when Siberry provided radio stations with a shorter edit of "Ingrid and the Footman". With the benefit of passing time, the

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

review by Sean Carruthers does a little bit of belated justice to the caliber of composition and performance of this recording: "It's her most accomplished work to date, but it's bound to lose the casual listener quickly."

Track listing

All songs by

. # "The White Tent the Raft" – 9:12 # "Red High Heels" – 7:19 # "Goodbye" – 4:17 # "Ingrid and the Footman" – 7:06 # "Lena is a White Table" – 6:41 # "The Walking (and Constantly)" – 6:16 # "The Lobby" – 6:19 # "The Bird in the Gravel" – 10:34

Personnel

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

, bells * Al Cross –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

, backing vocals * Anne Bourne – piano, organ, keyboards, backing vocals *

John Switzer John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

– bass, tambourine, percussion, backing vocals *

Ken Myhr Ken Myhr is a Canadian musician and composer. He is most noted for his work on the film '' The Accountant of Auschwitz'', for which he won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Music in a Non-Fiction Program or Series at the 8th Canadian Screen Awards ...

–

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

, backing vocals

Additional personnel

* Rob Yale – keyboards on 1 * Wendell Ferguson – electric guitar on 4 * David MacVittie – backing vocals on 4 *

Bob Blumer Bob Blumer was the creator and host of the pioneering Food Network shows ''The Surreal Gourmet'', ''Glutton for Punishment'', and the host of ''World's Weirdest Restaurants''. He is also the author and illustrator of seven cookbooks, including th ...

– backing vocals on 4 *

Rebecca Jenkins Rebecca Jenkins (born 1959) is a Canadian actress and singer. Acting She had starring roles in the 1990s CBC series '' Black Harbour'', and the films '' Bye Bye Blues'', '' Marion Bridge'', '' Wilby Wonderful'', ''Whole New Thing'', '' South o ...

– backing vocals on 4, 7 * Gina Stepaniuk – backing vocals on 4 * Cherie Camp – backing vocals on 4, 7 * Sarah McElcheran –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

on 7 * Steven Donald –

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

on 7

Charts

Album

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walking, The 1988 albums Jane Siberry albums Reprise Records albums Duke Street Records albums