NEIL PEART – “The Hockey Theme” (2010 single, iTunes)
For my international friends and readers, you’re just going to have to take my word for it that this little tune is one of the most iconic pieces of music in our nation’s great history. Mike Myers called it “Canada’s second anthem”. If you’re home on a Saturday night, it’s a given that any true hoser is watching Hockey Night In Canada. That theme song was the anthem that said, “Alright fans, go get your beer and your jerseys, the action starts now.”
I won’t get into the details of why this song isn’t the theme to Hockey Night In Canada anymore, but the song was picked up by another network, and it still kicks off hockey games every week — just not on Hockey Night in Canada.
In 2010, Neil Peart did a drum and horns version of the theme song, and put it up for sale on iTunes. People bitched that they had to pay $1.29 for a song that was barely over a minute long. All I can say to those people is, don’t buy it. It you’re really huffing and puffing about paying $1.29 for a simply incredible piece of music by the world’s greatest drummer, then it is possible that you may in fact have no soul.
If you’re familiar with Neil’s work on the Burning For Buddy albums, then you already know that he tends to really kick traditional arrangements in the nuts. And that’s what he does here. He turns “The Hockey Theme” into a stomping, fill-laden anthem that is perfect for kicking off just about any mix CD that you have in mind.
Now, if we could only get an actual hockey season happening this year, we’d be talkin’!
It is hard to believe that this monumental album, a piece of rock history, was only issued on CD in Japan! Finding a domestic LP or cassette isn’t hard (I’ve owned it on all three formats including CD) so hunt your record shops. I know Wendy Dio has a CD/DVD reissue lined up, hopefully including the full album, single edit, and the video and interviews. If you’re reading this Wendy…
At the time, all funds went to starving people in Africa, hence the name Hear N’ Aid. The inspiration was something fairly obvious: No heavy metal people outside of Geddy Lee was involved in the numerous famine relief projects of the time! (Geddy sang a lead on the excellent “Tears Are Not Enough” (1985) by Northern Lights, but nobody metal could be seen in “Do They Know It’s Christmas” or “We Are the World”.)
“Oh, you knoooow that we’ll be there!”
Showing the world that heavy metal bands and fans aren’t a bunch of assholes, Jimmy Bain and Vivian Campbell of Dio came up with the concept for Hear N’ Aid.
The main track, “Stars”, by Hear N’ Aid is a tour-de-force. Written by Bain, Campbell and Dio, this is essentially an epic extended track with a soft intro and heavy verses, and tons of guests. They assembled virtually every major metal singer who was willing and available to take part. That means you will hear Quiet Riot singers Kevin DuBrow and Paul Shortino (still with Ruff Cutt at the time) singing together for the first and only time in history! Rob Halford, Don Dokken, Eric Bloom, Geoff Tate, Dave Meniketti, and Dio himself all take lead vocal slots too.
When the guitar solo kicks in, prepared to be blown away. With Iron Maiden guitarists Dave Murray and Adrian Smith playing backing harmonies, you will hear the monstrous talents of George Lynch, Yngwie Malmsteen, Vivian Campbell, Craig Goldy, Neal Schon, Buck Dharma, Carloz Cavazo, Brad Gillis and Eddie Ojeda all taking a few bars. No charity track had ever attempted to assemble not just singers, but guitar players, on one track before.
All this is backed by drummers, bassists and keyboard players from Dio and Quiet Riot. There are more backing singers than I can name, but most notably, Derek Smalls and David St. Hubbins from Spinal Tap. Of course.
The rest of the album is filled out by songs donated by bands who couldn’t take part in the song, but still wanted to help the starvation situation in Africa. Therefore you will get a live “Heaven’s On Fire” from Kiss, from their Animalize Live Uncensored home video. This is the only place that the audio track was released on. There is an unreleased live “Distant Early Warning” by Rush, and rare ones by Scorpions and Accept as well.
Tracklist:
1.Hear ‘n Aid – “Stars”
2.Accept – “Up to the Limit” (live)
3.Motörhead – “On the Road” (live)
4.Rush – “Distant Early Warning” (live)
5.Kiss – “Heaven’s on Fire” (live)
6.Jimi Hendrix – “Can You See Me”
7.Dio – “Hungry for Heaven” (live)
8.Y&T – “Go for the Throat”
9.Scorpions – “The Zoo” (live)
The discussion came up during Thanksgiving. I had the laptop up at the cottage, and the whole family listening to the 80’s Weekend on our favorite rock station, 107.5 Dave FM. As part of it, they played “Time Stand Still” by Rush.
I asked my sister Kathryn, “Is this your favourite Rush of the 80’s?”
“No,” came the answer. “I prefer ‘The Pass'”.
So that got me thinkin’. Yeah, “The Pass” was an awesome song! Sure it’s not “YYZ” or “Subdivisions” or one of those better known 80’s anthems, but it stands up. I enjoyed the production, with the emphasis on Geddy’s bass as the main hook. I always preferred this song to the first single from Presto, “Show Don’t Tell”. I was disappointed that “The Pass” was not one of the Rush singles chosen to be on their compilation, Chronicles. “The Pass” is well crafted song, lyrically relevant, emotional yet tough.
No “Tom Sawyer”? No “Subdivisions”? No “2112”? This baffling compilation had zero involvement from the band, and should probably be avoided. There are plenty other Rush comps — official Rush comps, longer and with better variety of tracks — to satiatate your need for the holy trinity.
I do give whatever exec put the track list together credit for including ancient classics like “The Necromancer” and “Circumstances”…but this set of obscure album tracks mixed with singles makes little sense. It will only disappoint those looking for a good one CD Rush collection with all the songs they know. And real Rush fans don’t need to buy discs like this.
RECORD STORE TALES PART 108: Building the Store, Part 2
Last time, Statham posted something about a dream he had, of us putting together our own record store. I wish I could have had the experience of opening a store without doing work! The reality of it varied. On the couple of times I helped set up a store, it was hardly glamorous.
The first time was when we opened up the first store that I managed. It was the biggest one so far, lots of stock, all crap. Junk. Shite. Basically what we did was, maybe starting six months in advance, just buy lots and lots and lots of stock. Before long we had, I dunno, maybe 5000 discs, all garbage. Dozens of Jann Arden, Spin Doctors, Michael Bolton…I had so much Michael Bolton that he took up three fucking rows! I even had rare Michael Bolton. Nobody had rare Michael Bolton! Nobody wanted rare Michael Bolton! Then you’d go to the Metallica section, nothing. Kiss, a couple copies of Kiss My Ass. And we had soooo much country. We had buckets of country. And rap artists that you nor I have ever heard of.
Waltz back over to the rock section and browse the classics. Did we have any Floyd? Nothing. Led Zeppelin? Just the tribute album, Encomium. Meat Loaf? Bat 2, but not Bat. We had a couple of Rush discs, like Counterparts, but nothing from the 70’s. No Maiden. No Miles. No Dylan. No Hendrix.
We had no standardized pricing scheme back then. So, if I was pricing Eric Clapton’s Unplugged at $9.99, the guy next to me might have priced it at $11.99 because maybe he liked it more. It was very subjective. Sometimes you knew what a CD was worth brand new and based it on that, sometimes it was so common that it didn’t matter, and sometimes nobody had a fucking clue. We’d try to fix the pricing it as we went, but it was slow. After we opened, a customer would come up with three copies of the same album. “This one is $8.99, this one $9.99, and this one $11.99. Is that because one is more scratched?” Logical question! But no, we just cocked up.
It took weeks to manually input and price all those discs. Shelving them took a couple more days. Making the header cards, setting things up, all told we were at it for maybe a month. Then the big day came and we did our opening. We were only half-equipped: there was no second computer yet, and only half of our CD players for listening station had been bought. Signs were still arriving to be put up.
I’ll never forget our sign that showed up that said, “WE PAY CSAH FOR YOUR USED CDS!”
Regardless of how crappy the stock was, it sold! I couldn’t believe it! There were only a few decent albums and I figured once they were gone, that was it. That wasn’t the case at all. People kept buying the old rap and country discs. Tanya Tucker? Check! We had lots! And people were buying it!
Then, used stuff started coming in at a rapid pace. Crazy stuff too. I remember this one huge Tangerine Dream box set coming in, on the Thursday of the first week.
After we opened and good stuff started coming in by the box full, all the hard work seemed like it was paying off. But the setting up was long and tedious, and I couldn’t stand Todd, who was also on setup duty. But who gives a crap? I spent weeks doing nothing but data entry while listening to music (our own music, which we brought in – of course). I rocked a lot of Deep Purple those weeks. It was awesome.
I remember that I had just found two Purple albums that I wanted: Concerto For Group and Orchestra, and King Biscuit Flower Hour. I also rocked Purpendicular, which had just come out, as much as I could. Todd didn’t understand the music at all. All he was interested in listening to was Floyd, nothing else. He played Bush once or twice, but otherwise it was all Floyd. He really, really liked P.U.L.S.E. And he just murdered Floyd for me, for a long time.
When I listen to albums like Concerto and Purpendicular, it brings me right back to doing data entry in that store. Not a bad soundtrack to work to.
It is difficult to recall a better debut album than this 1976 masterpiece by the four-headed enigma known as Max Webster. Kim Mitchell (vocals/guitars), Mike Tilka (bass), Terry Watkinson (keys) and short-tenured drummer Paul Kersey, along with lyricist Pye Dubois, seemingly emerged fully-formed with this immortal classic. Right from the feedback kicking off “Hangover”, this album feels like it was custom designed for awesome sauce.
When I first heard it, I recall finding the album artwork mildly disturbing and the music jittery and off-putting. That was first listen. Then, Trevor bought it (and numerous others) for me for my birthday one year. THANKS T-REV!
It only took two more listens to appreciate this album for what it is: A paradoxically funny yet progressive masterpiece that runs the gamut from bizarre to blues to rock to country to campfire,with poetic lyrics to match. From the seemingly out-of-control “Hangover” to the mournful “Lily”, this album really does have it all.
Of note: This album was produced with Terry Brown, who helmed many Rush classics.
Like Frank Zappa’s bastard children, Max Webster emerged from Sarnia Ontario, perplexing and rocking audiences from coast to coast. Despite the diversity in sounds and challenging arrangements, this band was not short on melody and managed to create catchy songs out of the most absurd material, such as “Toronto Tontos”. Yet this is balanced by songs like the groovy “Here Among the Cats”. Regardless, it’s impossible to get either song out of your head. Mitchell’s soloing on “Here Among the Cats” is stunning, by the way.
You can’t understate how important, groundbreaking, and fantastic this album is. Just listen to the upbeat “Blowing The Blues Away”, or “Only Your Nose Knows” for a taste of the best music that Canada has ever put up for offer. “Summer’s Up”…”Coming Off the Moon”…not a bad song in the bunch. I understand that there are deluxe Max editions available now. I think I might pick one up and see how they are.
I think I’ll start with Max Webster! (Note: Don’t tell Mrs. LeBrain, but I did order it from Amazon a few moments ago.)
Since pictures speak a thousand words, I’m going to let the pictures do most of the talking this time.
The countdown resumed Saturday afternoon. “Love Gun” from Alive II was my pick. We were inundated with Mammoth, more Tool, more Maiden, and awesomely enough, “Watermelon Man” by Herbie Hancock, light years ahead of its time. We also heard from old stanby’s such as Rush (“Between the Wheels”), and others like Crosby, Stills & Nash, Dire Straits, and Starship (?)(thanks Zach).
The #1 song on the countdown was Kyuss’ “Gardenia”. Oh what a beauty. Must get.
Meat’s going to post the whole countdown when he’s back online (see: last installment) which should be soon. Thank God for warranties.
Speaking of warranties, my car deck had to be replaced. Sausagefest’s rainstorm killed it, I guess. It took with it the new Tenacious D disc. But the unit was covered on warranty so all is well.
It’s always sad when Sausagefest is over, and we always look forward to the next one. It reminds me of what it was like to be a kid. At the end of summer holidays, sometimes you waved goodbye to friends and said, “See you next summer,” and you just can’t wait for next summer to come. That’s what Sausagefest is like. I’d do it again next week in a heartbeat!
That’s really not a good excuse to give away an autographed Rush disc, man. But, as Burgess Meredith said so wisely in Clash of the Titans, “A divine gift should never be questioned, simply accepted.” And are Rush not gods of rock?
Canada Day Weekend, 1997. Rush were closing up their final bunch of dates on Leg 2 of the Test For Echo tour (June 30 and July 2). Tom, myself, Trev, and several other record store guys had the whole weekend off and went to see Rush on the Monday show, which was the first of the two shows. Outdoor show, at Molson. We did not know that a few months later, Neil Peart would experience unbelievable personal tragedy. For years, it appeared that we had seen some of the final Rush shows, ever….
One of the guys,Troy, brought his younger brother Tyler. Tyler worshipped Zeppelin. Still does. He named his (black) dog “Zep”. Back then, he was 17 and had never heard Rush. He thought Bonham was absolutely the greatest drummer who ever lived. We told him, “Tyler, Bonham was god-like. But you haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen Neil Peart.” He scoffed.
We brought some beer in the trunk of the car, and snuck into the bushes and had some drinks. We stumbled into several groups of people in the bushes, drinking, smoking (cigarettes I’m sure) and partying. It was great. We were all there, every one of us, to bask in the glory that is Rush. It was a giant communal party. Some people were already out of it, and slurring, “Duuuude…they’re gonna play 2112 dude! We are the priests of the temples of the sphinx! (sic)”
Indeed, I had heard from one of my customers at the store, that Rush were playing all of side 1 of 2112 on this tour. What would that sound like? Could Geddy even sing it anymore?
There was no opening act. There was instead a brief intro before Rush hit the stage to “Dreamline”.
At the halfway point, Rush did indeed play side 1 of 2112 (as chronicled on their Different Stages LP). They took a brief break before coming back to finish the show. These being the last Toronto shows of the tour, the roadies were out there clowning around, playing with puppets, all to the delight of the patriotic crowd.
Of course, the Professor did his unbelievable drum solo. This was around the time that Freddie Gruber had been teaching Neil, and Peart was beginning to feel jazzier in his style.
Tyler was blown away. “You were right…that guy was almost as good as Bonham!”
Tom and the rest of the guys were so blown away, they actually bought some more tickets from scalpers and came back to see the second show on July 2.
By far, the best and most patriotic Canada Day Weekend I ever had was seeing Rush. What could be more patriotic than rocking to Canada’s official ambassadors of music?
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