april wine

REVIEW: April Wine – Animal Grace (1984)

APRIL WINE – Animal Grace (1984 Capitol/EMI)

11 albums in, and April Wine were riding high!  Myles Goodwyn, Brian Greenway, Steve Lang, Gary Moffet, and Jerry Mercer bunkered down in Morin Heights with Mike Stone co-producing, and emerged with some true grace…Animal Grace.  Let’s take a dive into the nine new songs they emerged with in 1984, all but one written by Myles.

 

 

 

 

THIS COULD BE THE RIGHT ONE.

Lead track and lead single.  Great riff, accompanied by melodic keyboards.  Myles’ impassioned vocals make for a great chorus, but the lush backing vocals really sell it.  There are some cringe lyrics though –  “I just wanna please you.  To give you pleasure is a pleasure for me.”  There is a superb double-tracked guitar solo, and nice thuddy 80s drums with that processed sound that went in and out of style.

SONS OF THE PIONEERS

Second single.  It has an interesting, jagged kind of riff.  It’s an an unusual song, a little proggy in vibe.  A little spacey in atmosphere.  More cringey lyrics – “Men not afraid of fear”.  “Sons of the Pioneers” is definitely one of the most interesting songs because it’s a bit different.  There is an absolutely smashing guitar solo.  Melodic and memorable, with a lot of fun hooks and some whammy work.

WITHOUT YOUR LOVE

This killer not-ballad sounds very much like a Journey outtake from 1983’s Frontiers.  Nice keys open the track, but it does sound like a Jon Cain backing a Neal Schon riff.  Not that this is a bad thing.  Even the drum patterns remind of Steve Smith in Journey.  One of the top tracks.  Almost haunting chorus with those keyboards.  Three in a row great guitar solos with memorable hooks, this one being particularly catchy.

ROCK TONITE

Just a good time, party song with a simple sentiment:  “Let’s rock tonight!”  It is the hardest rocking song so far, with basic lyrics about letting go and rocking tonight.  Don’t want no revolution, let’s rock tonight.  It’s feels so good.  Simple message.  First song on the album without a dominant keyboard, though you can still hear them.  This song is simply based on the riff.  The guitar solo this time is less full of “grace”, and more rock and roll energy.

HARD ROCK KID (Tom Lang cover)

Shades of “I Got Your Rock” by Frehley’s Comet.  Nice low-key chugging going on in the verses, with some wah-wah guitar accents.  Sounds very typical of the era with that chorus echo – “Hard rock kid…kid…kid!”

MONEY TALKS

Very sweet saccharine chorus, again with the great backing vocals.  The song itself is a bit janky, but the chorus really knocks it out.  Again, it’s something that Frehley could have done with the Comet, but the backing vocals are more from the oldies era of the early 60s.  Not among the top tracks on an album stacked with them, but the chorus is one of the best on the album.

GIMME THAT THING CALLED LOVE

This atmospheric song features keyboards of two types:  eerie opening keys, and different eerie ones on the chorus!  It’s a really interesting and unique slow-paced song.  Maybe Alice Cooper could have recorded it on one of his 80s blackout albums?  If he has, it would be a classic today.

TOO HOT TO HANDLE

A bit Rainbow, circa “Danger Zone” from Down to Earth.  The keyboards and guitars combine into one nice, smooth opening riff combo.  The chorus features great harmonies once again, but this song isn’t a standout.

LAST TIME I’LL EVER SING THE BLUES

Here we go with the classic blues groove.  Myles’ approach to the blues here is like Kim Mitchell’s, or Van Hagar’s.  The blues is the basis, but it’s a far more fun version of the blues.  The kind of blues to dance to.  The April Wine lush harmonies don’t quite meld with the blues, but maybe that’s what makes it unique.

With Animal Grace, April Wine concocted a strong collection of songs with 80s production values perfectly in synch with what was happening at the time.  A strong album, and still enjoyable for those who miss that sound.

3.5/5 stars

Tim’s Vinyl Confessions Ep. 858: April Wine Deep Dive #11 (Animal Grace)

A few weeks ago, we interviewed Tim Durling on his new book On Record: The April Wine Album Review.  Tim has also been doing Deep Dives on each album with guests from his book.  On the episode for Animal Grace, Tim recruited both myself and Robert Lawson.  It’s a great chat so have a watch – I will be posting my written review of the album tomorrow!

NOW on TVC!

🅻🅸🆅🅴 On Record: The April Wine Album Review with Tim Durling

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man

🅻🅸🆅🅴 Episode

Episode 156: The April Wine Album Review with Tim Durling

Hot on the heels of his Fleetwood Mac and Night Ranger books, Tim is back!   This time it’s with an April Wine Album Review, and it’s a good one.  Durling tends to focus on artists that don’t already have books available.  If you’ve ever wanted to get into April Wine, this is the book and this is the show!

Unlike last time with Fleetwood Mac, Mike will be hosting while Harrison has the day off.  Cohosting, if schedules align, will be book contributor D’Arcy Briggs.

We also have, for the third week in a row, former Helix drummer Archie Gamble with a clip.  This time he’s going to tell us about Jerry Mercer’s legendary drum solo.

It’s the Sign of the Gypsy Queen, you don’t have to check All Over Town.  You can buy the book at your local Amazon.  You too can be a Roller, or a Hard Rock Kid, Tonite!  Check out the show as we quiz Mr. Durling on all things April Wine.

 

Friday August 14 at 7:00 PM EST, 8:00 PM Atlantic.  Enjoy on YouTube or Facebook.

Friday Preview! A Massive Music Haul!

I came home from work last Friday to find not one, not two, not three, not four, but FIVE parcels containing new music!  Of course, if you unbox something these days, you have to do it on camera.  All of this music will receive a closer look on our annual Good Friday Afternoon Show on Grab A Stack of Rock, tomorrow!  However, nothing can top the first look at a musical surprise!

Catch my reaction as I look at:

  • Six versions of the Darkness’ Dreams On Toast album, which will be discussed in more detail on Friday.
  • A brand new EP of previously unreleased music by Mystique!
  • Killer metal from the UK.
  • A surprise gift of a Japanese import.
  • A very special gift from Blotto!

All here in this spontaneous and magical unboxing video!  Tune in tomorrow for our Good Friday show and a deep dive into all this new music, and much more!

#410: Doing it Right

Christmas

RECORD STORE TALES MkII: Getting More Tale
#410: Doing it Right

I’ve complained about the way I was treated toward the end of the Record Store Days, but that was a small part of my life there.  In the beginning before we grew too big for our britches, it was a wonderful place to be.   There were a lot of things we did right, and there are hundreds of great memories of that era.

What did we do right, or differently, to make it so special for us?

  1. No uniforms! I remember the staff at HMV had these ugly shirts they had to wear.   We had plain T-shirts with a logo, which were optional most of the time.
  2. A better listening selection. Although the rules about this got more restrictive later on, back then we could listen to pretty much any one of the thousands of used CDs we had in stock.  Big chain stores at the time had less flexibility in their playlists.
  3. I felt a real “all for one, one for all” attitude.  It was inclusive.  I felt like we were the up-and-comers, underdogs ready to take on the big record stores.  Management were excellent at sowing this kind of feeling, that we were all on the same team even if we worked at different stores.  When the owner took a step back and let others run the show, the feeling of camaraderie changed into a feeling of exclusion.  Nothing lasts forever, but I felt much more job satisfaction when I felt like I was contributing to a real team.
  4. Rewarding the staff.   We had an annual Christmas party, and an annual summer house party.  These were epic.  “Time to release the hatch!”  As a store manager, I always did my best to reward my own staff, by buying them CDs that they wanted.  I did this voluntarily with my own cash because that’s the kind of manager I tried to be.
  5. The owner was willing to help out.  I remember him saying in a newspaper interview that he “still washed the windows sometimes.”  While I never saw him wash the windows, he was always willing to jump behind the counter when we were busy.  This continued even into my last year.
  6. People power. I don’t know if anything is more important in the workplace than the quality of the people you work with.  Work is a second home.  In some cases you spend more time with your co-workers than your family.  Both the owner and his people were very good at hiring excellent staff.  There will always be a certain percentage of bad apples and people who don’t work out, but I had the privilege of working with some of the best.  I feel genuinely blessed to have the experience of knowing and working side by side with these unique folk

I’ve somehow managed to find great places to work with amazing people.  Today I work with another completely different crew, and each and every one of them is awesome.  I’ve never seen a more diverse bunch and that keeps it fun and interesting every day!

Part 97: New Release Tuesdays

    

In the early days, Tuesdays were one of the busiest days of the week.  That was the day that new releases came out.  We’d also re-stock all our other stuff that day too.  Canpar would show up with several boxes which you would crack open to gander at the goodies inside.  It was also cool to see the new releases for the first time.  Checking out the album covers, the song titles, stocking them, seeing how they’d sell.  Any time there was a new release that I was personally into, it was twice as fun.

I still remember on my very first Tuesday, April Wine’s latest album Frigate came out.  I remember thinking, “April Wine?  Do people still buy new April Wine albums?”  (They didn’t.)

In the days before computers you’d have to make an inventory tag for each new release.  That was your trigger to re-order the title.  You’d put the tag on one copy of the CD.  If that copy of the CD was bought, you’d take the tag off, and put it on another.  When there were none left, you’d file that tag.  (We always filed by record company – there were more record companies back then, many have merged.)  Then come order day (Mondays) you’d go through the tags and re-order things that were sold out.

I remember when Kiss’ MTV Unplugged came out in March 1996.  Trevor was working the day shift, me the night.

“I left the Kiss Unplugged for you to make the tag.”

Maybe only a record store guy would get it, but that was cool of him.  That inventory tag would be in the store forever.  Little things like that meant something to us.

I remember when Radiohead put out The Bends.  We ordered three copies, and sold out immediately!  Imagine that today — ordering three copies!  But back then, as far as we were concerned, they were a band with one novelty hit.

The worst new release Tuesdays were the ones where we didn’t get something important.  Maybe the distributors stiffed us on an in-demand title.  Maybe we just missed some new hip-hop artist that we’d never heard of.  It would happen all the time.

I would always try to get in rock titles that I knew we could sell.  Rock wasn’t huge in the mid-90’s, but I did carry the flag.  I made sure we ordered 5 copies of Queensryche’s Hear In The Now Frontier album in 1997, which we sold out.  Then I ordered three more, which I also sold.  In fact, I sold out of that faster than I sold out of Notorious B.I.G.’s posthumous second album (which was twice the price, however).  I also carried Bruce Dickinson’s Accident of Birth.  I sold out of that one.  Even though the numbers were insignificant as far as our store sales went, I felt good that we were at least bearing the flag for rock during the 90’s.  Believe it or not, in 1997, we didn’t even carry the new Judas Priest.  That’s how bad it was for metal at the time.  I ordered one copy for myself, and just one copy.

New release Tuesdays were a long day – you had to rearrange the charts to accomodate for the new releases, and sometimes in the old days when we had more new releases, you wouldn’t even finish stocking until the next day.  Sometimes your fingers were sore from applying peel-and-stick security tags.  The excitement of new release Tuesdays, and the surprises in store, meant it was always a shift to look forward to.