Canadian music

REVIEW: Polaris Cover Sessions No. 2 feat. Arkells, Joel Plaskett & Zaki Ibrahim (2016 10″ EP)

POLARIS COVER SESSIONS No. 2 (2016 coloured 10″ EP, CBC Music)

Collecting Arkells odds & ends on physical formats is an expensive prospect.  This cool 10″ EP features the Hamilton band, along with Nova Scotia’s Joel Plaskett and Toronto’s Zaki Ibrahim.  The three artists cover Canadian songs on this EP, from artists both famed and obscure.  It is a beautiful transparent blue EP, with a basic cover design.  The names of the featured artists are on the front, with the names of the artsists covered on the back.  The tracklist and credits are inside, on a coloured insert.  More on that in a minute.

Here is a breakdown of the tracks.

 

ARKELLS – “I’m Not Afraid”

Mississauga’s Owen Pallett has a career going back over two decades, previously under the name Final Fantasy.  They play violin and other instruments.  Here’ the Arkells cover of a tune called “I’m Not Afraid”, a powerful tune taking full advantage of their instrumental prowess.  Augmented by a sax section, the song opens with a synthesizer drone, and then a pulsing bassline over it.  It starts off tense and sparse, and takes a little while to launch as the arrangement slowly builds.  It explodes 90 seconds in, with singer Max Kerman breaking into a falsetto on the chorus.  The sax-soaked tune really flies at this point, propelled by drummer Tim Oxford, the engine of the Arkells.  The best word to describe this song is simple – it really cooks.

JOEL PLASKETT – “Bittersweet Memories”

Calgary’s Leslie Feist is better known on the world stage simply as Feist.  Joel Plaskett chose “Bittersweet Memories” to cover.  Plaskett plays everything but the Rhodes keys (by Erin Costelo).  Like Kerman before, he breaks into falsetto at times, but this gentle ballad has a steady beat and a vintage 70s easy listening vibe.  It’s an excellent song, with lyrics that paint a picture.  Here’s the main thing:  Feist really knows how to write a song, and Joel’s no slouch on everything he plays!

ZAKI IBRAHIM – “Show Me the Place”

The final artist to get the cover treatment is the legendary Leonard Cohen.  Zaki Ibrahim chose a song of recent vintage, “Show Me the Place” from 2012’s Old Ideas.  There’s a very low-key and soulful arrangement featuring piano, synth, drum programs and cello.  Though all of this forms a cloudy-yet-vivid atmosphere, it is Ibrahim’s vocals that really make it shine.  Her layered vocals on the chorus sound are stirring and foreboding.  It’s an incredible vocal performance in totality, featuring both restraint and expression.  This is easily an EP highlight.

Here’s the amusing thing about this EP.  There is obvious care put into both the music and the detailed sleeve notes, but they got the track listing wrong.  They switched the Arkells and Plaskett tracks.  In reality, Arkells are on side A, and Plaskett and Ibrahim are on side B.  The sleeve notes are repeated on both sides of the insert, French and English, and both are wrong.  It makes sense for the Arkells track to occupy an entire side by itself, since it is the longest at 5:19.  Funny how these mistakes get made.  The actual label on the record is correct.

A very enjoyable EP, with tracks that should be cherished by fans of all three artists.

4/5 stars

 

 

ARKELLS

  1. Jackson Square (2008)
  2. Michigan Left (2011)
  3. High Noon (2014)
  4. Morning Report (2017)
  5. Rally Cry (2018)
  6. Campfire Chords (2020)
  7. Blink Once (2021)
  8. Blink Twice (2022)
  9. Laundry Pile (2023)
  10. Disco Loadout Volume One (2024)

…and more to come

 

 

REVIEW: The Beaches – Blame My Ex (2024)

THE BEACHES – Blame My Ex (2024 FACTOR)

By now, everyone has heard the anthem “Blame Brett”, a song named for Jordan Miller’s ex, Brett Emmons of the Glorious Sons.   While we don’t have Brett’s side of the story, from Jordan’s POV, the relationship is to blame for the following “wild” phase.  “So sorry in advance, before you take off you pants, I wouldn’t let me near your friends, I wouldn’t let me near your dad.”  This exceptional single has been an earworm all year, and the band are now reaping the rewards with international touring and an appearance on Kimmel.  “Don’t blame me, blame Brett!” has become a rally cry.

“What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Paranoid” boasts a strong chorus, wicked fuzzy guitars and delectable melodies served on a plate of a great beat and fun lyrics.  “I think I’m becoming a conspiracy theorist…everyone says that love exists, but I think that it’s a myth.”  A great song that screams hit potential.

“Me & Me” plays with tempo, and goes for the accelerator with an 80s sound, and great shouted backing vocals.  One of the strengths of this band is the vocalizing by the band, making it a party atmosphere.  The party continues with “Everything is Boring” and its “ah, ah” vocals.  “Doctor please, just pill me,” sings Jordan Miller to the ADD generation.  The pace slows down on “My Body Ft. Your Lips”, a playful title.  This is a duet with an American band called Beach Weather, and the female/male vocal lines work really well.  Though it takes a minute to catch, this is a great soft, slow burner.

“Kismet” has a speak-sing style on the verses, before the chorus bursts out in exuberant upbeat excitement.  The choruses are great, with a disco flavour and a quick beat, but the verses take some getting used to.  Moving on, “Shower Beer” is a great title.  You may have heard of the concept of drinking a beer in the shower.  “I’ve got fear of missing out, I wanna get drunk and sit up, I need to be talked about,” sings Jordan Miller.

“Edge of the Earth” has proven to be a success for the band, and you can hear why.  This ballad with a beat has passionate vocals, amazing melodies and harmonies, and the right vibe for a summer cruising hit.  That’s followed by a mid-tempo number with acoustic undertones called “If A Tree Falls”, which has nothing to do with the Bruce Cockburn song of the same name.  This is a really pretty pop rocker with a nice little guitar solo that is played for vibe.  The album goes back to high-speed pop rock on the closer “Cigarette”.  “I wanna be your cigarette,” squeals Jordan Miller, on one of the album’s most fun tunes.

Here’s the big problem with this CD.  Two, in fact:

  1. Difficulty to purchase.  The only way I could get this CD was at a show (sold out) or on their website ($15 shipping).
  2. No booklet, no credits, no nothing.  Only the song titles are listed on the back, not even the band members!

This album should be in every store.  It’s a hit waiting to happen.

4.5/5 stars

REVIEW: Jaz King – Changing Gears (2006)

Review written in 2006.

JAZ KING – Changing Gears (2006)

How refreshing it is to purchase a CD in this day and age that doesn’t say “ProTools by…” in the liner notes.  That’s the kind of CD that Changing Gears, by newcomer Jaz King, is.  It’s earthy  without being too rough.  Miss King is a young Canadian singer/songwriter who’s been writing her own material for over half a decade.  It’s easy to be cynical in these days of Canadian Idol, and think that any young female coming out can’t write or play her own instruments.  Contrary to the norm, King sings, writes, and plays guitar and piano.  She’s backed by Steve Foley on guitar and drums, and Jon Van Wingerden on bass.

On first listen it would be easy to lump King in with the likes of early Jewel or Dayna Manning.  However, her voice is more breathy, more human.   Dare I say it; it’s darker.  The occasional high note does remind us Dayna Manning, but King’s material is not nearly as pop.  Whereas most mainstream artists overpolish their music in the studio, King has wisely left the arrangements to the basics performed by herself and her studio band.  The acoustic guitar parts are lush, reminding us of Jim Cuddy.  There is some nice electric guitar as well, the parts on “Close Your Eyes” reminding us of Ty Tabor.  During the intro to “Southbound” there’s some nice soft electric guitar that you can only get from a tube amp and it sounds perfectly appropriate.  The drum parts courtesy of Steve Foley fill in all the gaps, providing enough interesting fills without being overpowering.  Background vocals (uncredited) are complimentary and don’t cramp the mix.  Unfortunately the bass is mixed a little too low, which is sad as it’s the kind of dexterous playing that this reviewer loves.  If it only it were cranked a little higher.  Care to do a remix for us, Miss King?

King’s songwriting is definitely above average, demonstrating her years of working on her craft.  Her melodies are memorable and original.  Where she really shines, however, is in her lyrics.  “October” is sweet, dark, bitter and bright all at once.  This is something that some songwriters take years to achieve, but King has arrived on the scene as a fully developed lyricist.

The best track, without a doubt, is “All I Have”, which she wisely left for last.  Featuring King alone on piano and vocals, it stands out from the other tracks, but ends abruptly.  Whether she did this knowing the listening would wish the album wasn’t over yet isn’t clear, but it was a wise move.  Too many bands make the mistake of putting too much material on their debuts.  This tires out the listener, but King leaves them wanting more.  A very clever move.  Intentional?  Perhaps, or maybe that’s just the way the song sounded in her head.  Or both.

Clocking in at 35 minutes, Changing Gears gives you better value for the money than the average Weezer album.  Let’s not forget that in the storied old days of vinyl (remember vinyl?) 35 minutes represented a long album.  These nine tracks don’t overstay their welcome, though it would’ve be nice to hear King and her band do a nice bright fast one.  The packaging is extremely pro, a nice white & blue digipack.  All the photos inside and out follow an automobile motif (Changing Gears, get it?) and this follows through to the stickshift design on the disc itself.  There is a full colour four page booklet, which unfortunately suffers from the kind of pixilation you get from a bubblejet printer.  Because of this it’s hard to read the handwritten lyrics inside, which is tragic.

The great thing about a debut album like this is that usually it only hints at what the artist is capable of.  In the future, King should be able to carve out her own identity.  She has the necessary playing skills and songwriting ability to grow with each release.  An artist like this would benefit from a University tour, giving her a chance to build a national fanbase and her chops at the same time.  Let’s hope Jaz King gets that chance.

SOUNDCLOUD LINK.

4/5 stars

 

REVIEW: Gordon Lightfoot – Summertime Dream (1976)

GORDON LIGHTFOOT – Summertime Dream (1976 Reprise)

Immediately after Gord’s Gold provided Lightfoot fans with a collection of old and re-recorded hits, Gord made another one:  “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald“.  This mighty song dominated the radiowaves for years over all over the Great White North, arguably granting Lightfoot his most memorable song in his history.  His earlier material from Gord’s Gold and before might be considered the pinnacle of his album-making career, but Summertime Dream isn’t too shabby.

Opening with the musically upbeat “Race Among the Ruins”, but lyrically there is warning here.  “If you plan to face tomorrow, do it soon.”  Don’t let time pass you by.

The nautical disaster song “Edmund Fitzgerald” is second, a mostly historically accurate accounting (within reason) of a great lakes shipwreck.  The great lakes shipwreck.  The stinging guitar lick repeats while the harrowing lyrics induce chills.  Guitarist Terry Clements performed that unmistakable, haunting guitar part, the one that little Canadian kids were dying to learn how to play in their youths.  Did they have any idea they were recording such a timeless song when they were laying down the tracks?  Every feeling, every emotion, every creak of steel and wood can be absorbed through the grooves.  The way Lightfoot paints a picture with words, you feel as if were there. Gene Martynec, who played synth on Lou Reed’s Berlin album, provided light keyboard accents here. You’d miss them if they were gone.

A tender ballad, “I’m Not Supposed to Care”, gently caresses the soul with its light backdrop of pedal steel guitar.  Then, edgier electric guitars back up “I’d Do It Again”, a laid back groove with a country foundation and a rock veneer.  “Never Too Close” also shines with shimmery guitar melodies and a stunning chorus.  Then the somber “Protocol” is a war ballad ranging from days past to the Vietnam War.  “The House You Live In” showcases more pedal steel tones with a warm tune and laid back tempo.  The single “Summertime Dream” is upbeat and bright, recalling hot happy youthful days.  “Spanish Moss” is another lovely song, painting pictures of landscapes we’d like to see. Finally, “Too Many Clues In This Room” closes the album on a dark note, with lyrics aluding to both space and sea exploration.

Not Gordon’s most captivating album, but one without any skips, and one absolute monster of a song.

3.5/5 stars

REVIEW: Hollywood Monsters – Thriving On Chaos (2020 Japanese/bonus track)

HOLLYWOOD MONSTERS – Thriving On Chaos (2020 Voice Music, Japanese import)

Supergroup?  Or just a good time?  Singer/guitarist Steph Honde, drummer Vinny Appice, and bassist Ronnie Robson gathered a load of friends and recorded a fun heavy metal album of originals and covers.  There is also a healthy helping of Canadian content (such as Robson in the core trio)!

Opener “A Scream Looking For a Mouth” is a raging heavy metal track along the lines of vintage high-voltage Motorhead.  Hell of an opener.  Add Deep Purple’s Don Airey on guest Hammond organ solo, which just hits the right spot amidst all that raging.  “Speak of the Devil” continues the heavy, though not the speed, thankfully, or you’d be seeing a chiropractor from all the headbangin’.  A catchy chorus and solid riffing make it another instant winner.  Solid metal.  A chunky riff kicks off “Something Wicked”, a really fun uptempo rocker.

Things get slower and darker on the monumental “Running Up Hill”, which is instant hit material.  Ted McKenna on drums.  Instant classic, with a chorus that kills.  Regardless of the daily struggles we face, Honde reminds us, “Never surrender!”  It’s a message of positivity, and the best track on the album.

“Numb” is another good one, grinding out a riff slow an’ easy.  The added keyboards provide texture.  Even better is the beautiful acoustic ballad “In This House”.  Honde has an excellent acoustic album called Empire of Ashes, and this track easily could have fit on it.  Though he’s a rocker, he is exceptional at tender acoustic ballads.

The first cover is “I Don’t Need No Doctor” featuring Jim Crean on backing vocals.  It kicks all the expected asses, and Honde’s guitar soloing is tasty as hell.  Next up:  Canadian content with the Goddo cover “Drop Dead”, featuring Greg Godovitz on co-lead vocals and Tommy Denander on lead guitar.  It smokes, and that lead solo?  Set phasers to stun!

“Thriving On Chaos” is another impressive original.  It has a slow, dramatic riff that is somehow familiar.  Excellent songwriting, and hard to pigeonhole.  It’s followed by a very Maiden-esque song called “Fortune Teller”, which has a vibe very similar to some of the tracks on Fear of the Dark.  Fred Mika plays drums on this tempered-steel monster.

The final cover (and Canadian guest) is the Thin Lizzy cover “Cold Sweat”, as sung by Danko Jones.  Danko is the perfect guy for it!  He nails the Phil vibe, yet with his own snarl.  And the Steph Honde guitar solo?  Call the fire department!  This alchemy of Jones/Honde/Appice/Robson is pure combustion.  You can seldom go wrong with a Thin Lizzy cover, but here everything goes so, so right.

Always a surprise when the Japanese bonus track is one of the highlights.  The heavy, thumping “I Am the Best You Can Get” slays!  “Heavy” is an understatement!  Vocalist Steph Honde goes from scream on the verses, to growl on the chorus.  The droning chorus is the best part!  This one features (Canadian) Glen Drover on lead guitar and Alexis Von Kraven on the relentless drums.  The Japanese CD even comes with a printed interview with Steph Honde – though I cannot read Japanese!

Pick it up – shell out for the Japanese if it’s within your means.

4/5 stars

MOVIE REVIEW: Five Bucks at the Door – The Story of Crocks N Rolls (2020)

FIVE BUCKS AT THE DOOR – THE STORY OF CROCKS N ROLLS (2020)

Directed by Kirsten Kosloski

When she was a kid, it was director Kirsten Kosloski’s job to spend the weekend taping albums for her thrifty dad, who was always borrowing records from friends.  With a floor full of tapes and cases, Kosloski grew to love music in that intimate way that only true music fanatics can relate to.  She felt like a bit of an outsider in Thunder Bay Ontario, but her love of music helped her bond with some local punks.  The place to be was Crocks N Rolls.  She walked up to the entrance.  Owner Frank Loffredo sat in the booth.  Five bucks at the door.  Kirsten had empty pockets.  Loffredo gestured for her to go in anyway.  A life was changed that night.  She became a music journalist.  The dream job she didn’t know existed until Crocks N Rolls opened up her world.

Five Bucks at the Doors – The Story of Crocks N Rolls is a uniquely Canadian documentary.  You quickly realize that Crocks N Rolls could only be the result of Canadian geography and personalities.  We joke about Thunder Bay being isolated (though it is said that their landfill hosts a treasure trove of 80s cassette tapes), but the truth is far deeper than simple stereotypes.  Yes, Thunder Bay is eight hours’ drive away from the big cities, but it also occupies a unique crossroads on the Canadian roadmap.  Touring bands from Ontario and further east had to go through on their way west.  Western bands also had to pass through the crucible.  The only place to play was Crocks.  Most importantly, it was the right place to play.

Sook Yin Lee (Bob’s Your Uncle) calls it a “wonderful enclave of freaks and weirdos.”  Frank Loffredo was just a music fan.  He’d drive to Toronto to see a show. He dreamed of being in the New York or London scenes and drinking up the rock and roll.  Instead he did something better and he brought that vibe to Thunder Bay for everyone to share.  Bands started coming through.  Great bands, bad bands, mediocre bands.  Even if they didn’t sell tickets, Frank would book them a second time.  It wasn’t always about the bottom line.  He would live and sleep in the bar to make it work.  It was about Canadian rock music.  It was about making life bearable for the kids of Thunder Bay who dreamed of getting out.  To Frank it was like “one long day,” but to the kids it was another home.  There were no fights.  It was a melting pot of acceptance and ideas.

Bad Brains, 13 Engines, Razor, Sacrifice, DOA, Henry Rollins…Rollins on a spoken word tour no less.  Five Bucks at the Door is loaded with stories and the best has to be about Henry Rollins and being short changed $10 by Frank Loffredo.  Hank didn’t notice, but Frank had to make it right. He asked a friend to repay the $10 that Frank accidentally owed him.  He also insisted on photographic evidence of the transaction, and that evidence is part of this smorgasbord of punk rock history.

Dave Bidini (The Rheostatics), Bob Wiseman (Blue Rodeo), and many more Canadian artists have acres of stories to tell.  A bunch of tree planters and a canoe?  From Frank’s mom’s home-made spaghetti dinners for the tired band members, to the name of the place.  It looked like an Italian restaurant and the logo looked like it had a bowl and a spoon.  “It was a dumb name,” says Frank.  But the important thing was that “the audience was as much of the show as the band.”  That’s clear by the testimonials and amazing black and white photos.  Scratched and unretouched.

Crocks closed in 1996.  It was no longer sustainable, and then as if adding insult to injury the original place burned down.  But in 2007, Loffredo gave it another go.  Naming it Crocks N Rolls flat out indicated this was to be a continuation of the original.  As before, it’s all still in the family, with a new generation now working with Frank in keeping the rock rolling in Thunder Bay.

Five Bucks at the Door is a refreshing reminder that there are some crucial things we need in life.  Connection, belonging, and music.  Frank brought all three to the teenagers of Thunder Bay that longed for it.  It’s a story that needs to be told, and you owe it to yourself to check it out.  It’s available for streaming for free until September 20, 2020.

5/5 stars

Epic All-Canadian Live Stream featuring Mr. Books

History was made Friday night!

Please welcome Mr. Books himself, Aaron from the KMA.  The subject this week:  Top 11 Canadian albums of all time.  An absolutely epic discussion unfolded with so many different genres being touched upon.  As remarkable as the lists were (five in total), it’s also quite astounding when we talked about all the albums we left out!

Lists submitted by:

  • Derek from Thunder Bay
  • Mr. Books
  • LeBrain
  • Darr
  • Dr. Kathryn Ladano

With Deke coming in from Lake Superior, Aaron from Georgian Bay, and myself on the shore of Lake Huron, we had three massive bodies of water covered.  What should we call ourselves?  The Great Lakes Consortium?

For a look at the shape of streams to come, check out the end of the video.  We brought in Uncle Meat, Rob Daniels from Visions in Sound, and Kevin/Buried On Mars.  While six at a time is a lot, it sure was fun to see everybody together for the first time!

I can’t help but take a little bit of pride in all this.  My very first live stream was March 20, the week lockdown began. Eager to make connections with others in isolation, I hit that “live” button on my Facebook app just to see what would happen. It ended up being a lot of fun and it so happened that others liked it too. A few weeks later, we figured out how to get Uncle Meat to co-host and he came up with the now infamous “Nigel Tufnel Top Ten” format.

But there were limitations, because we had to use a Facebook phone app if I wanted to have a co-host.  This reduced the scope of awesome people available to share the screen with me.  Finally Kevin directed me to Streamyard which solved numerous problems.  After months of trying to figure out how to stream to Facebook (where my audience is) without having to use Facebook, Streamyard worked.  For the first time after many months of trying, Aaron has finally co-hosted a show.  A milestone!  So yeah, I’m proud of myself and proud of the awesome friends who have co-hosted along the way.  We made something here that is catching on with people.  I owe Meat a huge debt for being the first co-host and coming up with the Nigel Tufnel Top Ten concept.

Look at the first stream below, and look where we are now.  We’ve come a long way.

O Canada! Friday Live Streamin’ returns with “Maple” flavoured lists!

The list format returns!  It’s another “Nigel Tufnel Top Ten”, and this time it’s a doozy.  How do you narrow down the top albums from an entire country, and arrange them on a list?  I dunno, but there are some of us that are going to try.  Wish us luck.

How you get in on the mayhem?  It’s easy.  Just go to Facebook: MikeLeBrain on Friday August 14 at 7:00 pm E.S.T.  There you can participate in the fun with your commentary, as we count down…

THE TOP 11 CANADIAN ALBUMS OF ALL TIME

No greatest hits; all genres permitted.  A monster of a task indeed.  Four lists have been submitted.  Co–hosts have been booked.  If all goes according to plan (which it should due to an hour-long test stream last week) we will have two of the most knowledgeable Canadian music fans on board for what promises to be an epic discussion.

Join me tonight at 7:00 pm E.S.T., eh?

REVIEW: Gordon Lightfoot – Complete Greatest Hits (2002)

GORDON LIGHTFOOT – Complete Greatest Hits (2002 Rhino)

You just have to laugh when you see something called “Complete” Greatest Hits.  Complete?  Says who?

I don’t see “Ribbon of Darkness” on Complete Greatest Hits, and where is “Bobby McGee”?  I do see 20 terrific songs that you shouldn’t live your life without.  Gord’s Gold is the benchmark, but because it’s missing Gordon Lightfoot’s best known song — “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” — it isn’t enough.  (Gord’s Gold also featured two sides of re-recordings because Lightfoot supposedly couldn’t listen to his early work.)  The best way to get “Edmund Fitzgerald” and Lightfoot’s other best known songs in one purchase is to go for Rhino’s Complete CD.

The experience starts with “Early Morning Rain” from Gord’s first LP Lightfoot! (1966).  Gord’s calling cards are two:  his baritone voice, and his songwriting.  “Early Morning Rain” shows of the perfection of both.  You’ll get chills.  “In the early morning raaaaaaain…”  Undoubtedly, Gordon Lightfoot is one of Canada’s greatest songwriters of all time, and “Early Morning Rain” is all the evidence you need.  If that’s not enough, there are fortunately 19 more incredible tracks.

“For Loving Me” from the same LP boasts some intricate acoustic picking and more of that voice.  The vibrato, the control, the expression…nobody could touch Gordon Lightfoot.  In recent years his voice has been reduced to a powerful whisper, but nothing on this CD dates past 1986.  His voice is double-tracked on “Go Go Girl”, another unforgettable song from 1967’s The Way I Feel.  His storytelling lyrics always make you wonder who and what inspired the songs.  “Only a go-go girl, in love with someone who didn’t care.  Only 21, she was a young girl, just in from somewhere.”  There’s so much there between the lines, while the acoustics pluck away in dense patterns.

After three succinct beauties, here comes Gordon’s epic:  “Canadian Railroad Trilogy”.  The Canadian Pacific Railway was built on hardship and dreams, and Gord captures that and more in a multi-textured composition.   “An iron road runnin’ from the sea to the sea.”  Not only is this song his greatest lyric, but the diverse vocal parts could be his strongest work.  Hard to imagine that that he was only on his second album.

1968 brought the brooding ballad “Pussywillows, Cat-tails”.  Backed by strings, the dream-like song paints a picture rather than spelling out a story.  “Naked limbs and wheat bins, hazy afternoons.”  Then “Bitter Green” is brighter, though with similar countryside imagery and a story about lost love with a twist ending.  Moving on to 1970, “If You Could Read My Mind” is one of Lightfoot’s most renowned songs.  It went to #1 in Canada, and in 1997 it hit the dance charts in a cover version by Stars On 54.  Gord’s version is one of the most passionate laid to tape.  Written about a divorce, the feelings were raw.

1971 brought the bright “Cotton Jenny” and the uplifting “Summer Side of Life” from the album of the same name.  The latter features subtle organ and rich backing vocals, broadening the palette.  “Beautiful”, a soft and romantic ballad, came from 1972’s Don Quixote, and hit the Billboard Hot 100.  This CD then skips past the #1 album Old Dan’s Records (Complete Greatest Hits, huh?) and goes straight to “Sundown” from the album of the same name.  I always loved the front cover of Sundown, with Gord in sandals smoking a cigarette in a barn.  For the first time, there’s an electric guitar solo, but the song is most notable for the strong chorus.  “Carefree Highway”, also from Sundown, has lush strings and another chorus that is impossible to forget.  I highly recommend playing this one while driving down country roads on a Sunday afternoon.  “Rainy Day People” from 1975 (the same year he did the Gord’s Gold re-recordings) features more backing instrumentation than earlier material.  The lush, countrified music didn’t do him any harm when the track went Top 10 in Canada (and #1 on the adult contemporary charts).

All this leads to “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”, probably the greatest songs about a sea tragedy ever written.  With a big electric guitar as the main hook, the song is completely unlike all the Lightfoot hits that came before.  There is even a soft synthesizer part.  It went to #1 on every applicable chart in Canada, and #2 in the US.  Though simpler in structure, “Edmund Fitzgerald” is the only song to rival “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” as his greatest epic.  It’s also one of Gordon’s most chill-inducing lyrics, with a vocal part to match.

Everything after this can only seem anticlimactic.  “Race Among the Ruins” is the strongest track post-“Edmund”, as Gordon included country slide guitars and other accoutrements.  The final five (“Daylight Katy”, “The Circle is Small”, “Baby Step Back”, “Stay Loose” and “Restless”) are not slouches, but simply not as striking as the earlier songs.  Though the recordings are more sophisticated, it’s hard to top your earliest hits.

The liner notes to this CD point out that your first exposure to Gordon Lightfoot was probably via a cover.  Perhaps Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, or the Tragically Hip.  I suggest making “Edmund Fitzgerald” your first Gordon Lightfoot if you haven’t heard one of his classics already.  This CD is the best way to get it.

5/5 stars

 

* Deke, have you ever listened to the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald while sitting on the shore of lake gichi-gami?  That’s on my bucket list.  

#638: BNL

GETTING MORE TALE #638: BNL

First year of university involved “frosh week”.  All the new students would have events and basically just party for a week.  I wasn’t into that and I only attended the first night.  It concluded with an Australian comedy band playing some amusing novelty songs.  Wish I could remember their name.

My friend Andy, who was accepted at  the University of Waterloo, had different entertainment for frosh week.  “We had this shitty band called Barenaked Ladies,” he told me.  Barenaked Ladies?  The fuck was that?

Barenaked Ladies were an acoustic group from Scarborough Ontario who specialised in quirky and often humorous original songs.  Little did I know that their Yellow Tape demo was making waves.  I was focused on what was happening in Canadian metal.  It didn’t take long after that Waterloo gig for the band to gain national awareness.  Their excellent cover of Bruce Cockburn’s “Lovers in a Dangerous Time” got a nation wide release on a tribute album called Kick at the Darkness. The quintessentially Canadian music video was in constant rotation.

And for comparison:

The Cockburn cover was impressive.  It showed off the central vocal harmonies of Steven Page and Ed Robertson, and it was obvious the band were schooled on their instruments.  Barenaked Ladies didn’t focus on mainstream instruments, preferring double bass and congas.

My sister became a fan quickly, and when their first official album Gordon was released in ’92, she dove right in.  Before long she had a vast collection of Barenaked rarities, including a bootleg tape she recorded herself at a Kitchener show.  Some of the bands’ most popular songs with fans were not on Gordon, such as “McDonalds Girl” and the Public Enemy cover “Fight the Power”.

I casually followed the band along with her, appreciating their lyrical cleverness and occasional emotional depth.  I helped her collect rarities at record shows.  She sent pianist/percussionist Andy Creeggan a vintage 1977 Darth Vader sticker to put on his congas.  And he did.  And it can be seen in some video footage if you look hard enough.

I went to see them with her on their 1996 Born on a Pirate Ship tour.  I was impressed with a lot of their new songs, especially the intense “Straw Hat and Old Dirty Hank”, a track about an Anne Murray stalker. They played it live at that show (which featured Mike Smith aka “Bubbles” in opening band Sandbox).

As soon as Steven Page hit the stage, he seemed to be simmering.  He was dressed in his goofy shorts as usual, but he seemed…angry?  Intense.  It really came out in “Straw Hat and Old Dirty Hank” which boiled over.  I gained a real appreciation for the band that night, and also for Steven Page as an artist.  Whatever was bothering him that day (if that was indeed the case), he poured it into the show.  It was an incredible night.

Unfortunately for us, Barenaked Ladies evolved into the mainstream over the years.  Both of us lost interest as they changed.  Andy Creeggan left the band after their second album Maybe You Should Drive, which meant the congas were gone.  Jim Creeggan traded his big stand up bass for an electric more often.  The emotion seemed to drain from their albums as time went on.

I wasn’t very surprised when Steven Page left the band in 2009.  As their music became more campy and often aimed at kids, Page was less comfortable.  His drug bust in New York was the real shock, since he was caught doing cocaine.  That certainly clashed with the band’s family friendly image.

The band carried on and Page went solo, but there’s a new twist.  On March 25 2018, Barenaked Ladies will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.  It’ll be done during the Juno Awards broadcast, and Steven Page will be returning to perform with them.  “I hope it’s fun,” said Page.  “I honestly haven’t been in the same room as the other guys – all the other guys at once – since I left the band. It’ll be good to see them all, but it’s going to be odd. It’s not like we’re getting back together.”

Odd indeed, but stranger things have happened.  Will you be checking out the big reunion on March 25?