Rose-Coloured Glasses

#1120: Coming Soon: Opening Season…

RECORD STORE TALES #1120: Coming Soon: Opening Season…

 

Opening weekend rarely goes as planned!

Soon we will be returning to open up the cottage for another season of sun, sand, swimming, and Grab A Stack of Rock!  We hope this season’s opening day goes without a hitch.  The last two didn’t!  Shall we recap?

2022

 

2022’s trip up was serenaded by John Williams’ soundtrack to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.  This was appropriate because we first saw that film in 1989 at the cottage.

It was a lovely opening day.  The drive up (just my dad and I) was uneventful.  Our arrival was marked by peace and quiet.  Sunny, warm, and a perfect morning to spend outdoors.

I never accompanied the family to open the cottage in my Record Store days.  Usually I was working.  If I wasn’t working, I was spending my free time going on dates with girls.  That was pretty much it.  Work and dating.  The cottage wasn’t interesting to me in those days.  It’s a different story today.  Now I spend my whole winter dreaming of opening day.

In 2022, we made good progress and by late morning, I started burning up old scrub and branches that had fallen during the winter.  I gleefully wandered around, scooping armfuls of pine needles and twigs into a roaring fire.

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There was only one issue, and it was one I should have dealt with long before.  My glasses were loose.  I had them adjusted once, and they slowly loosened again over time.  They were prone to falling right off my face if I looked down.  I should have had them fixed long before, and I should have been more careful about what happened next.

I scooped into my arms another pile of pine needles for the fire.  My glasses dropped into my arms as I tossed the flammables into the fire.  My glasses went with them.  They melted in seconds, though I frantically searching the ground in futile hope for several minutes before giving up.

The panic set in shortly thereafter!

I phoned Jen at home to see if she could locate my old pair.  No luck.  I sulked on the couch for a while, dreading the coming days with no glasses.  Then I thought to check my car’s glovebox.

Behold!  An old pair of glasses were still in the glovebox, thank God.  I was able to drive home, and continue to live my life relatively normally.

Dad and I drove to the sounds of Jon Lord, with his Concerto for Group and Orchestra, featuring Bruce Dickinson singing the second movement.  After this, I selected Johnny Cash’s American III: Solitary Man.  My dad could have driven in total silence, though I never could.

2022’s trip was salvaged.  How did 2023 go?

2023

 

April 15, 2023.  My dad and I returned, with Jen in tow.  The music selected this time was Jeff Wayne’s musical version of War of the Worlds.

I had a bad feeling this time.  @MarriedandHeels from California had promised to be my support over winter, as I dealt with seasonal affective disorder (S.A.D.).  She had a “Ragnar” marathon from April 14-16 2023. In the weeks preceding, video and audio messages from her all but dried up, even though I was still creating them daily for her.  She sent a video message from the marathon on the Saturday, but there were a number of red flags.  There was something wrong with the video message she sent, and the two that followed. None of them began with her customary “Hi Mike!”

“Is she sending these video messages to everyone?” I asked myself. Things began falling apart from that point.  My spider senses would not stop tingling, and even though she had promised to show up for the Grab A Stack of Rock shows from the cottage, she didn’t attend or even watch one of them.  Not even one.  This shadow loomed heavy over the season as it began in 2023.

The bad vibes continued as we drove home.  I almost got a speeding ticket, my first in over a decade.  As he was pulling us over, the cop got a call for an urgent accident.  He told me I got lucky, as he returned my license to me and drove off.    I switched up the music, first to Gordon Lightfoot – Complete Greatest Hits.  I had no way to know that Gordon would be gone a mere two weeks later.   I followed Gord with the Goo Goo Dolls – A Boy Named Goo.

Fortunately these bad omens did not impact the incoming cottage season.  2023 was as good as ever.

2024

 

And now, we we plan our return in 2024, we have plenty of new music from Judas Priest, Bruce Dickinson, John Williams, the Arkells, and much more to enjoy at the cottage.  What will the first album be as we drive up again?  We’ll see soon enough!

See #1120.5 for the answer!

 

REVIEW: Blue Rodeo – “Day After Day (Rose-Coloured Glasses)” (1987 Remix single)

BLUE RODEO – “Day After Day (Rose-Coloured Glasses)” (Remix) (1987 Warner 7″ single)

Blue Rodeo were off to a hell of a start.  With a debut LP produced by Terry Brown (Rush), the uncategorizable band eventually went four times platinum in Our Home and Native Land.  Their first single, “Outskirts” didn’t do much, but the followup singles sure did.  Because of its unforgettable chorus, “Rose-Coloured Glasses” was renamed “Day After Day”, with the original title in parentheses.  It was also remixed for the 7″ format.  The 7″ remix remains exclusive to the single, despite a massive Blue Rodeo box set released not that long ago.

Purchased for 99 cents by Dr. Kathryn Ladano somewhere out in the boonies (possibly Radio Shack in Port Elgin), this copy looks like it was marked for clearance.  There is a telltale burn mark on the inner ring of the record.  Anything with non-album tracks or versions was on our radar for collecting and we didn’t care about little burn marks if the record was 99 cents!

The remix isn’t drastically different; some minor changes.  The song didn’t need any help.  As one of Blue Rodeo’s best from the early days, it’s still pure delight.  Greg Keelor’s lyrics are that of a lovestruck poet, something he does very well.  He often finds himself entranced by new love.  “But there’s something in those eyes that keeps me hanging on, I’m hypnotised.”  Still he’s always grounded in his own reality.  “See a world that’s tired and scared from living on the edge too long.  Where does she get off telling me that love could save us all?”  I love everything about it.  The music is full of joy and hope just like the object of Greg’s affection.

The B-side, “Floating”, is an unlisted edit version.  Cut down from 7:53, this version runs at 7:28.  There’s about 7 seconds of noise missing from the opening, and the rest seems to be taken off of the end.  That’s means you’re not getting all of Bob Wiseman’s nutty organ soloing, but who are we kidding, you already have the album anyway.  In contrast to the A-side, this is one of Greg’s more nocturnal explorations.  Are those waves crashing that I hear?  Blue Rodeo jam on this long bomber, the title of which is descriptive of the music.  “And I feel like William Holden floating in a pool,” goes the line that gives the song its name.

This is a band that has it all:  writing, playing, and singing.  They don’t use outside writers and their live shows feature jams that go on for days.  I’m going to get a little preachy here.  If you’re going to jump on the Blue Rodeo train, may as well start at the beginning with songs like “Rebel”, “Try” and of course “Day After Day”…or “Rose-Coloured Glasses”.  It doesn’t matter as long as you get it in your ears.  Hell, Bob Wiseman on his own is a brilliant and entertaining artist.  Throw in the rest of the original lineup and you have a formidable contender for Canada’s greatest band.  Greg Keelor’s guitar playing has always been underappreciated, though Jim Cuddy’s golden voice gets all the praise it earns.  Basil Donovan’s bass is in-demand due to his innate sense of rhythm and melody.  And Cleave Anderson, the former punk drummer who went country, just has a “sound”.  It’s simple and it’s his, just like Johnny Fay.  Though the band today is larger and more versatile, original Blue Rodeo was a special thing.

5/5 stars