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Coming Home

by Gerry Hannah

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1.
You Can Take It From Me 02:54
info
2.
Rejuvenation 03:52
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3.
Same Old Song Again 04:19
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4.
In The Final Days 03:46
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5.
Half Life 03:52
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6.
Living With The Lies 03:11
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7.
Lost In The Night 02:59
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8.
Sure Looks That Way 02:22
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9.
Awake Again 03:38
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10.
The Woman Reborn 04:32
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11.
Holy American Empire 02:18
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12.
Like A Fire 04:02
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13.
Winding Ribbon Of Dreams 03:51
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14.
The Madness 04:14
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about

About the Album:

On January 20, 1983, four friends and I were arrested on Highway 99 near Squamish, British Columbia, Canada. We were members of an armed revolutionary group called Direct Action, which had carried out a number of acts of sabotage with the ultimate aim of stopping the destruction of the environment and ending the nuclear arms race. After a lengthy trial, I was sentenced to 10 years in prison and my girlfriend at the time, Julie Belmas, was sentenced to 20 years. I was sent to Matsqui federal prison in Abbotsford BC and Julie was sent to Kingston Prison for Women in Kingston, ON.

Prior to becoming involved in Direct Action, I had been the bass player in a Vancouver punk-rock band called the Subhumans. After leaving the Subhumans in 1981, I began to write songs on acoustic guitar in a decidedly more folk vein. While locked up in Matsqui, I wrote some more songs and recorded a cassette tape on a portable 4–track cassette recorder. The tape, titled Songs From Underground, was eventually released on the outside in 1985.

Due to the limited resources I had while in prison in terms of instrumentation, recording and production capabilities, I had always hoped that I might someday be able to re-record the songs. As a result, 7 of the 14 songs that appear on this new album, Coming Home, originally appeared on Songs From Underground. Of the remaining 7 songs, a few of them were written during the last few years of my imprisonment and the rest were written since my release.

In a way, the songs on this recording represent an emotional history for me: a snapshot of how I was feeling and what I was thinking back then and to a lesser extent, since then as well. In an effort to share with the listener a glimpse into this place where these songs came from and to provide some context for them, I am including a short explanation for each song here. Just place your cursor on the song title and then click on the word "info" to the right of the song title to view each explanation.

If I were to try to describe the style of the songs on Coming Home, I would say they range from up beat country/folk songs reminiscent of the Waterboys or Bob Dylan, to dark alternative rock dirges vaguely similar to the sound of Joy Division or The Velvet Underground. But don't take my word for it, give it a listen.

credits

released December 2, 2014

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Gerry Hannah British Columbia

Many people may know of Gerry Hannah through his 25 year on again/off again involvement with the seminal Vancouver punk rock band the Subhumans. Others may know of him through his brief involvement with an urban guerilla group known as Direct Action (aka the Squamish Five). But all along, Gerry has also been playing guitar, singing and writing folk/rock songs behind the scenes. ... more

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