During a trip to Encore Records in Kitchener, Ontario, I found some pretty cool stuff among their used discs. I used to work with the guy behind the counter, Chris — trained him in fact. We had a chance to catch up and discuss the difficulties of being a collector. Piles and piles of discs, an expanding collection and lack of space for it. Filing systems. How easy it is to get behind in your filing. Good to know there are still kindred spirits out there.
Thanks for the discs Chris, and without further delay…
1. VAN HALEN – In Concert
This double CD is at least partially taken from Live Without A Net, the old Van Halen home video. That’s cool to me — some of those versions, like “Love Walks In”, were the originals that I was first familiar with. It’s weird today hearing Sammy Hagar play guitar solos on Van Halen songs, but that’s how I first heard them. $9 used.
2. HELIX – Wild In The Streets (Rock Candy remaster)
PROS: These hard-to-find (in Canada) Rock Candy reissues have great liner notes and pictures. CONS: It lacks the lyric sheet from my old Capitol Records version. This one was expensive ($14 used) but the great Heavy Metal OverloRd tells me they are well worth it.
3. FISH – “Credo” CD single
Limited edition, #5945. Cool? Yeah, but how many copies did they make of a Fish single? Anyway, this has two non-album cuts, a 7″ remix of the title track and a song called “Poet’s Moon”. “Credo” itself is a great song from Internal Exile. Great cover art by Mark Wilkinson! $6 used.
4. IRON MAIDEN – Virtual XI with limited edition lenticular cover
This was a limited edition (expensive in Canada) that had a 3D cover similar to the current Kiss Monster CD. I tried to get an idea of this in the photos. Look at Eddie’s finger in relation to the boy’s headphones. You can see it’s not in the same place in the two photos. It’s much cooler in person. Now, I know Aaron is probably going to give me shit for buying a Blaze Bayley album — any Blaze Bayley album — twice. But it’s more about the Maiden collection than Blaze. This is one I’d wanted back in the day but completely forgotten about. $10 used.
REPORT CARD
Encore Records, 54 Queen St. South, Kitchener ON, (519) 744-1370
Encore is as good as as any of the stores that Aaron and I reported on in Toronto. Sure, I’m biased in that I did train the guy behind the counter, and it was great having a conversation with somebody who understands my point of view vis-à-vis collecting. But their selection is second-to-none in this town (rock, indi, roots, jazz, blues, vinyl), with fair prices, and excellent quality. Not one blemish on any of the discs that I purchased. As an added note I found a number of Guided By Voices singles for Aaron (some stealthily pictured below) — although he is apparently banned from purchasing them at this time, until he wins the lottery!
Whoops! I forgot these. Thanks to the Heavy Metal OverloRd for pointing at least one of these out.
I really should have included these in my list of 88 albums that went under-appreciated in the 1990’s. I loved these, still do, and my life wouldn’t be the same without them.
In alphabetical order:
BLUE RODEO – Just Like A Vacation (up there with Sloan as one of my fave live albums of all time)
FISH – Kettle of Fish 88-98 (my introduction to his solo music, a great set!)
HELIX – B-Sides (a misnomer: no B-sides included, but all great tracks that didn’t make albums)
GEORGE LYNCH – Sacred Groove (pure smoke!)
SANDBOX – Bionic (I guess Mike Smith makes significantly more money playing Bubbles on Trailer Park Boys)
SANDBOX – A Murder In The Glee Club (brilliant, brilliant concept album on insanity. Genius!)
REEF – Glow (I think these guys were pretty big in the UK but unknown here)
ROCKHEAD – Rockhead (see my review for all the details)
SLOAN – Between The Bridges (can’t believe I forgot my fave Sloan studio record!)
THIN LIZZY – Dedication: The Very Best Of (the song “Dedication” was my intro to Lizzy!)
BILL WARD – Ward One: Along The Way (I have a review forthcoming, one of the best solo Sabs ever)
THE WHITLAMS – Eternal Nightcap (Aussie band, saw them open for Blue Rodeo, blew me away)
ZAKK WYLDE – Book of Shadows (thanks HMO! Liked it so much I bought it twice)
I really hope I didn’t forget any more. Embarrassing. Check these out…all great albums front to back!
In alphabetical order, here’s Part 2: 88 albums that meant the world to me in the 1990′s but never got the respect I felt they deserved.
Dokken – Dysfunctional (reunion with George, adventurous album)
Steve Earle – I Feel Alright (jail obviously did him some good — his best record)
Steve Earle – El Corazon (among his best records)
Extreme – III Sides To Every Story (don’t get me started!)
Extreme – Waiting For the Punchline (a stripped-down oft-forgotten classic with Mike Mangini)
Faith No More – Angel Dust (…)
Faith No More – King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime
Fight – War Of Words (I didn’t like Halford’s followup effort but this one is brutally heavy)
The Four Horsemen – Nobody Said It Was Easy (it wasn’t easy, is why)
The Four Horsemen – Gettin’ Pretty Good…At Barely Gettin’ By (but they released two great records in the 1990’s)
Fu Manchu – The Action Is Go (started me on my Fu Manchu addiction)
The Gandharvas – Sold For A Smile (my cousin turned me onto this one while I was in Calgary)
Halford – Live Insurrection (better than any of the live albums that Priest did without him)
Harem Scarem – Mood Swings (brilliant album, you can hear Queen influences, but it’s the guitar and vocals that set it apart)
Harem Scarem – Karma Cleansing (…now a bit more progressive, like progressive-lite)
Harem Scarem – Big Bang Theory (…and now, short and to the point!)
Helix – It’s A Business Doing Pleasure (too soft for the general Helix masses)
The Hellacopters – Grande Rock (the album Kiss should have made instead of Psycho Circus)
Glenn Hughes – From Now On… (anthemic and spiritual)
Iron Maiden – Fear Of the Dark (it gets a bad rap but it pretty much got me through 1992)
Journey – Trial By Fire (I don’t think they’ve ever made a better record to be honest)
Killer Dwarfs – Dirty Weapons (ditto!)
People sometimes ask me, “LeBrain, did you ever meet anybody famous through your store?” I wish that happened more often. As it stands my list is pretty meager. I met Dave McDonald, the local weather man. He wanted in the store early one day.
My meager list:
1. London, Ontario’s “Snake the Tattoo Man”, whose biggest claim to fame was appearing on Phil Donahue, and in a Helix video (“Running Wild in the 21st Century”). He thought he deserved a discount on CD’s because, as per his words: “I’m the Tattoo Man”.
2. Country singer Beverley Mahood, a little bit after the initial fame. She’d worked with David Foster in the past. She was a regular. One time she came in and held up her CD. “That’s me!” she said. I felt like saying, “Yup…and that’s you in the bargain bin at $4.99, too!”
3. Grammy Award winning Polka King Walter Ostenek, who I’m told is a bit of a pompous ass. I talked about him in a previous installment.
4. Former Helix and Saga drummer Brian Doerner, who was a super nice guy that didn’t buy anything on that visit. However I got some drum sticks and autographs out of him later on!
5. The dad of ex-Helix and Brighton Rock guitarist Greg “Shredder” Fraser. Nice, chatty guy. Very proud of his son.
6. Blue Rodeo slide guitarist Bob Egan, who never said much of anything. Just looked around. I wasn’t sure it was him until I heard that he lived in town, and sure enough, it was Bob Egan. I believe today he occassionally collaborates with one of our store managers.
That’s about it. This isn’t exactly a booming metropolis, and we attracted the bare minimum of people with any sort of fame. During my 20’s, I used to fantasize that singer songwriter Dayna Manning who lived in Stratford would pop in, and we’d meet. That never happened.
Instead, I had Snake the Tattoo Man coming in. Good ol’ T-Rev ran into him first. He said to Snake, “If you wanna talk to a huge Helix fan, talk to Mike.” So he made a trip specifically to talk to me. What Trevor failed to get through Snake’s head is that I was a huge Helix fan, not a huge Snake the Tattoo Man fan. So Snake walked in trying to sell me Snake merch! I disappointed him by not buying one of his autographed glossy photos.
“Do you want to buy a picture of me with Phil Donahue? I signed it for you. $10. Me and Donahue. I also have me and Helix. I’ll give you a deal if you buy five.”
Thanks Trev. That was such a wonderful experience!
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!
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!
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.
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.
Brian Vollmer and I, back in in 2007 at Planet Helix!
September 7, 2012: Once again, things are getting exciting on Planet Helix. If the new single / video “All I Want For Christmas is the Leafs to Win the Cup” wasn’t enough, there’s also the new anthology, Best Of 1983-2012.
Lead vocalist and founding member of Helix, Brian Vollmer talked to us about these releases, some special upcoming dates, and a lot more.
The new single seems to be off to a good start, according to the song’s co-writer, Sean Kelly. Brian filled us in.
“Sean’s from North Bay [Ontario], and he told me we’re getting airplay up in North Bay on that song.” The video is also doing well: “We’re up over 5000 hits now, and we’re hoping that the video goes viral. It’s early in the season…there might not even be an NHL season this year!”
Oh Brian, don’t get me started on Gary Bettman!
The collector in me was excited about the vinyl release of the single. It’s also going to be on the anthology CD, but the vinyl is designed for collectors in mind.
“I had initially wanted to do vinyl on the Christmas album [A Heavy Mental Christmas], but when we wrote this song, I thought that we’d do vinyl because it’s a collector’s item. It’s kind of a novelty type of thing, and I think that it’ll appeal to not only Helix fans but also Toronto Maple Leafs fans. They might like the vinyl just to have in the rec room up in the bar. We sell it for $19.99 so it makes a great stocking stuffer for people.
“We did it on green vinyl too, to fit in with the season somewhat, and when we go through that pressing we’ll probably change colours.” Just FYI Brian: my wife, Mrs. LeBrain, is really hoping for blue!
“We’ve been trying to write a Leafs song for a couple years,” adds Brian. “We had the working title of ‘I’m Bleeding Blue & White Tonight’. And we never quite got the song together. And then we did a radio session, where we were finishing off [new song] ‘Axe to Grind’, which is also on the anthology album.” Brian was then supposed to meet up with Travis Wood, of the band Whosarmy (from the TV show Cover Me Canada, which Brian also guested on incidentally).
“I didn’t want to go too early, and just sit around at the restaraunt. So we started fooling around and all of a sudden, within a couple of minutes we wrote ‘All I Want For Christmas is the Leafs to Win the Cup’. The song was recorded within two weeks.” The hilarious video was done right after that. I forgot to ask Brian if any Habs fans are offended!
All I Want For Christmas is the Leafs to Win the Cup
You can buy the single on the green vinyl in a bundle with a T-shirt and the new CD, Best Of 1983-2012. “The Best Of album I just put out has a lot of tracks that you wouldn’t normally hear [on other best of albums] by Helix. Stuff like ‘Animal Inside’ off the Vagabond Bones album. ‘Get Up’ and ‘Fill Your Head With Rock’ from The Power of Rock and Roll album.”
Coinciding with these releases is the forthcoming Heavy Mental Christmas tour.
“Yes, we just added another date in Cornwall. We have seven dates, mostly through Masonic temples, legions, moose halls, through southern Ontario. It’s a multi-media show. We’re taking out screens, so there’s some video segues between songs, other times there’s still pictures with Christmas themes…some of the cameras that are places strategically around stage are broadcasting whatever member might be doing a solo during the song.”
You may want to consider getting your tickets now, as these shows are special indeed, and feature a new lineup. Not only will you meet the new Helix guitarist, John Claus, but “also Sarah Smith. Sarah Smith is a great London [Ontario] artist, she’s got two CDs out now under her belt, she’s a great addition to the show. Just a smiling, very talented person. She’s on with us instead of Kaleb [“Duckman” Duck, guitars]. Kaleb really didn’t want to do Christmas songs! Initially, we were going to go with one guitar player, and then I thought of Sarah.”
This turned out to be a good decision, according to Brian:
“I always walk out of our Christmas practices with a big smile on my face. I love playing the material, and it’s really fun with this group of people, to do these songs. I wouldn’t want somebody to do any of my projects that wasn’t totally into it.
“It’s a labour of love. We’ve been working on this show over a year now.”
Really?
“Setting up the website, and the tickets, and the halls, and putting together the show, learning the show, and getting the multi-media involved.” But it is truly a labour of love, and you can tell by the amount of work that Brian and the band has put in so far.
I mentioned new guitar player John Claus. As previously reported, longtime axeman Brent Doerner will be leaving Helix at the end of September 2012. Brian helps shed some light on this lineup change, and what bringing in a new member does for the band.
“We have two more dates with Brent at the end of this month. One’s at the Rockpile in Toronto, the other’s at the Masonic Temple in Stratford. That’s a multi-media show as well. Tickets are going fast for that one, I think a lot of people want to come and see Brent before he goes.
“Brent’s been in the band since about 1975. No hard feelings with him leaving at all. He just wants to pursue video production, and in fact, Brent will still be involved on a creative level with the band, helping us do our videos.
“I tell everyone that Brent, when he initially came back to the fold, he was only going to be here for six months, and he ended up staying three and a half years! He definitely was better than his word, and stayed for a long time. So I’m really grateful to him for that.”
On John Claus, who will replace Brent:
“He plays piano and guitar. He sings, so he’s a great addition to the band. Nice guy, great personlity. Whenever we hire new people in the band, we don’t want any ego trips. So, to get someone who has a nice personality and just a good human being is a nice thing to have.” John will join the band completed by longtime members Daryl Gray and Greg “Fritz” Hinz, on bass and drums respectively.
The piano aspect will come into play for future shows. Brian reveals that he and John will probably perform “Dream On”, the Nazareth cover, from Helix’s Wild in the Streets album, as a duo during upcoming Helix concerts. “And the Christmas shows, we’re doing ‘Hallelujah'” says Brian of another piano-based cover to look forward to!
It’s great to see Helix continue forward through the years. Brian has worked hard, starting in the 1970’s as an indi artist, and now today continuing down that path. Once again the band is behind their own music releases, selling it themselves. Brian has nothing but praise for the team he’s surrounded himself with in recent years.
“I write with Sean [Kelly] nowadays, he’s a great writer, nice person to work with. Aaron Murray is my producer, he studied from Danny Broadback, who won a Juno for Engineering. And Danny studied with Jack Richardson, who as you know produced Alice Cooper and the Guess Who, and all sorts of people.” Brian adds, “Moe Berg [The Pursuit of Happiness] sometimes comes in to write with us, Sean and I.”
Thanks to Brian Vollmer for updating us on all the new happenings on Planet Helix! Try to get out to see the Heavy Mental Christmas tour, and get tickets while you can!
We’d always dabbled in vinyl. We didn’t do a lot of vinyl, it was the 90’s after all, and vinyl was dead. We didn’t buy it used, but sometimes something big came out on vinyl that we had to carry. For example:
In 1994, Pearl Jam released Vitalogy on LP a week earlier than the CD. We stocked five and they sold out on day one.
In 1996, Soundgarden came out with Down On The Upside LP a week earlier than the CD, so we stocked that. I can’t remember how many we stocked, but I do remember it took years to sell them!
My copy, still sealed…that’s my handwriting too.
A bit later on, my buddy Tom opened his own branch and decided to stock used vinyl. He was the only one to try it, he had a vinyl room in the back. They phased the vinyl out rapidly after Tom moved on, as he was the chief expert buyer. However during the period that Tom carried vinyl, I filled so many gaps in my collection.
Here’s some examples. You have to remember that at the time, these might not have been out on any digital format at all, and downloading hadn’t hit us yet.
Ozzy’s Live EP, still unreleased on any digital format today.
Helix’s first two, Breaking Loose and White Lace & Black Leather albums, autographed by the late Paul Hackman. I think these were in Tom’s 25 cent bin.
Hear N’ Aid, Ronnie James Dio’s 1986 charity LP featuring exclusive tracks from Kiss and others.
Guns N’ Roses 12″ single for “Patience” with an exclusive interview with Axl on the B-side
Kim Mitchell, the legendary Max Webster frontman’s first solo foray from 1982. Easily my favourite record of his entire storied career, and impossible to find on CD under $100.
Max Webster’s Live Magnetic Air from 1979, a hard find on CD for sure.
That’s just a sampling, there were many more. And that’s just that stuff that I bought. I’m sure Tom saw many a rare disc float his way.
There was one record I’ll never forget. This sucker was worth $100 right there. It was by a band from Oshawa Ontario, called Christmas. It had a tank on the cover. I guess they had this cult following and only a small quantity of records were made, let alone survived. And musically, it wasn’t bad.
I’m glad that vinyl is back in a fairly significant way again. I enjoy buying it, and I enjoy playing it.
I want a USB turntable for my birthday. I accept gifts.
2. Country singer Beverley Mahood, a little bit after the initial fame. She’d worked with David Foster in the past. She was a regular. One time she came in and held up her CD. “That’s me!” she said. I felt like saying, “Yup…and that’s you in the bargain bin at $4.99, too!”
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