best of 1983-2012

GUEST REVIEW: Helix -“All I Want For Christmas is the Leafs to Win the Cup” by Mrs. LeBrain

While I’m qualified to talk about Helix, I’m not qualified to talk about what this single means to a Toronto Maple Leafs fan.  For that reason, I’m handing this one over to Mrs. LeBrain!

And don’t miss my exclusive interview with Brian Vollmer! Click here!

HELIX – “All I Want For Christmas is the Leafs to Win the Cup” (2012 Helix Records 7″ single)

Helix has their Heavy Mental Christmas – This is the carol I will sing to my great-grandchildren…

All I want for Christmas… Is the Leafs to win the CUP.  That is a present worth fighting for.

From my earliest memories I have been “torontomaplegirl”.  This song sings to everything that I am.  The Toronto Maple Leafs have one of the longest droughts in professional sports, but their fans, oh their fans will be loyal until the end of time.

We load up in cars and airplanes to watch them play in other cities because it is impossible to get decent seats at their Bay Street home.  We decorate our homes with a Maple theme and select our cars and clothes in that delicious royal blue that sets us apart.  (I convinced LeBrain that we wanted a blue car that I have since named Dougie Carmour.)

“Go LEAFS Go” are the first words we teach our children, and Brian Vollmer has them wonderfully placed throughout the song’s chorus.  He makes a quick reference to the hundred year old rivalry with the Montreal Canadiens in a cute way – advising that a Habs jersey would be an unpleasant gift during the Christmas season.   He also references 1967:  the last year that the Stanley Cup was in the place it belongs.  (I have kissed the Stanley Cup on 1967 during a trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1994, hoping it would bring the glory back to Toronto – we made it to game 7 of the western conference finals that year.)

The song is available in two places.  It can be found on the new Helix Best Of CD covering hits from 1983 – 2012.  Available for the serious collector is a vinyl single, autographed by Brian Vollmer in green vinyl.  It has a heavy mental “Jingle Bells” on the other side.  In future releases, the vinyl will be released in different colours.  I am patiently awaiting the Maple Leaf blue coloured single to make it into the LeBrain family home.  [The vinyl release also comes with a download code in case you can’t play vinyl — nice touch. – LeBrain]

Now we just have to get working on my Thanksgiving gift wish of firing Gary Bettman so we can get this lockout bullshit taken care of.

4/5 stars

Below:  Helix sells the single, album and T-shirt as a bundle

Way to leave the closet door open behind you while taking a photo of yourself, LeIdiot!

REVIEW: Helix: Best Of 1983-2012 (2012)

Don’t miss my exclusive interview with Brian Vollmer! Click here!

BEST OF HELIX FRONT

HELIX: Best Of 1983-2012 (Anthology, 2012 Helix Records)

Just in time for the hockey season — or not? — here comes Helix with a brand new single called “All I Want For Christmas Is the Leafs to Win the Cup”.   It’s on 7″ vinyl, but in case you can’t play vinyl, you can still get that track on their brand new anthology as a bonus track.  I’m going to let Mrs. LeBrain review the single.  Let’s talk about the anthology.

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The packaging is a bit skimpy, but Brian Vollmer autographs every copy that you order from his site, so that makes up for the lack of a booklet, in my opinion.  I’ve always been about owning a physical product, and if a CD doesn’t have a booklet to flip through, an autograph helps make up for that.

A lot of people (if you’re reading this, say hello!) don’t care about owning a physical product; to them it’s all about the music.  So let’s talk about the music.

Helix have lots of hits compilations out there available, but nothing that covers this range of material.  I’m really fond of the albums that Helix has made in more recent years.  Vagabond Bones and The Power of Rock and Roll are both up there among the band’s best work, and one of my favourite Helix albums ever is B-Sides.  I’d recommend those albums to anyone who enjoys rock and roll in the gritty, honest and catchy style that Helix specialize in.  So it’s nice to have material from those three albums in one place.

There are familiar hits here as well, including “Running Wild in the 21st Century”, the ballad “Good To the Last Drop”, and the recent remake of “Heavy Metal Love” from the Power Of Rock and Roll album.  You’ll also notice other big ones:  “Wild In the Streets”, “Deep Cuts the Knife”, and “Rock You”.  These are re-recordings, I assume because Capitol/EMI owns the originals.  I think an original version is always superior to a re-recording.  But you can understand the reason for it.  A brand new song written by the duo of Brian Vollmer and Sean Kelly called “Axe To Grind” rounds out the album.

Personal favourites:  The heavy and grooving “Danger Zone”, from B-Sides.  The undeniably catchy “Get Up!” (seriously, you won’t get this song out of your head).  “You Got the Love That I Like”, another modern and heavy one from B-Sides.  The slick and fast “Animal Inside”, from Vagabond Bones.

Omissions:  I would have loved an acoustic track from Helix’ excellent Smash Hits…Unplugged CD.

Unlike a lot of hits packages released this time of year, Best Of 1983-2012 is a really good and justified compilation.  Helix has had a hell of a lot of good music in recent years.  Even for fans like myself who have the albums already, hearing a good compilation like this really highlights some recent triumphs.

4/5 stars