Aaron at the KMA and I have coordinated posts today about cassette singles! If you can’t get enough,click here for his!Geoff at the 1001 has also thrown his hat into the ring, and you cansee his cassettes here!
RECORD STORE TALES MkII: Getting More Tale #356: Cassingles
Cassingle (noun): “cassette single”, a musical single release, usually consisting of two songs, on the cassette format.
A couple years ago, my parents found in their basement something I had lost and presumed would never see again: an old shoebox full of my old cassette singles! This was especially valuable to me, because a couple of those cassettes have exclusive tracks on them that have never been released on any other format. Helix’s “Good to the Last Drop” is one such single. Van Halen’s “Right Now” is another.
The shoebox also contained my prized cassette copy of the Sonic Temple Collection by The Cult. Buy cassette one (“Fire Woman”) and you can send away for the box. Buy cassette two (“Edie”) and you get three Cult cards. Buy cassette three (“Sweet Soul Sister”), and you can send away for a Sonic Temple pin. (Which I still have, just not handy for a picture.)
There are some tapes that I know I’m missing. They include three by Warrant: “Cherry Pie”, “I Saw Red”, and the horrid “We Will Rock You”, which I probably sold at garage sales when I temporarily disowned Warrant in the 1990’s! I could also swear that I owned Extreme’s “More Than Words”, but I don’t know what happened to that one. I’m not worried about it since the B-side remix track is being reissued on the deluxe edition of the Pornograffitti album. Maybe I gave it to Crazy Thunder Bay Girl!
Check out what remains of my cassingle collection below.
I found much to my horror that my original Amazon.ca Slash Puppet review had been taken and credited to some defunct site called “bandfocus.net”! I thought it would be wise to re-claim it for myself. Here it is in slightly revised form.
SLASH PUPPET – Slash Puppet (Fringe EP, 1993)
A short while ago, I reviewed the debut release by the legendary Toronto glam metal band, Slash Puppet. For a while there, it looked like Slash Puppet was destined to be the “next big thing”. They were winning awards, had national video play, and a stunning collection of hard rock material to draw from for their well-reviewed gigs.
Well, you know what happened next. Grunge took over, and the Toronto metal scene never exploded the way it was hoped. If it had, Slash Puppet would have been the band leading the charge. (With Winter Rose, I Mother Earth, Sven Gali, Russian Blue, Slik Toxik, Attitude, and so many others right behind…ahh, but I digress.)
This 1993 EP was their second release (the afformentioned debut is now available on CD as No Strings Attached, on Sun City Records). It is solid from start to finish. The singer, Mif (better known as Anthony J. Mifsud; you’ve seen him acting in the Norm McDonald comedy Dirty Work!) has a soulful, gritty, and gravelly voice that has elements of Brian Johnson and Lemmy, but really sounds like neither. Really, Mif sounds like Mif, and you have to hear the voice to get it. The band were tight, emphasizing tough riffs, killer choruses, and street-smart lyrics. No wimpy songs here. Even the sole ballad “Eyes Of A Child” isn’t a wimp-out. Not with lyrics like those, and a soulful delivery from Mif.
The lead track from No Strings Attached, “Slow Down”, reappears here, now parsed as “Slowdown”. (I believe this song is a remix with a new bass part, based on the credits. Peet Dove played bass on the original demo version but is not credited here, which leads me to believe the bass was re-recorded by new bassist Dave Carreiro. Otherwise, the song sounds almost identical to the demo version.)
Every song smokes. Slash Puppet down-shifted on speed for these songs, but traded that in for a slightly bluesier, soulful vibe. Their songwriting abilities grew by leaps and bounds between releases, no doubt enhanced by their live experience. When their debut was recorded, the band had not even played a gig yet! Slash Puppet is much more melodic than No Strings Attached, but still tough as nails.
If you’re into tough, glammy rock n’ roll with great musicianship and songwriting, Slash Puppet are the band to check out. This EP just shines. If you’re into collecting obscure albums from the era, or Canadian bands, this CD is an absolute must, although I saw one guy on ‘net claiming to have sold his copy for almost $200! I’m not sure I’d be willing to pay that much. Check thrift shops and used CD stores. I used to sell this in my store for $5.99.
This EP was mixed by Rich Chycki, probably best known for his 5.1 work with Rush!
Here’s hoping Mif and the surviving members reunite for a few more songs or shows. I’ll be there.
RECORD STORE TALES Part 146: Cassettes Part II – The Indi Years
Back in the days of the record store and M.E.A.T Magazine, I was into every indi band I could get my hands on. M.E.A.T released a series of discs, four volumes total, called Raw M.E.A.T, showcasing the best in up and coming unsigned Canadian bands. In addition, their magazine featured numerous ads from dozens of bands hawking their demo tapes. Harem Scarem, who later went on to get signed by WEA and had great success in Japan, was one. Unfortunately I never got their demo tape. Just missed it.
One band that I was heavily into was called Russian Blue, from Toronto. They were edgy hard rock. 1/4 Guns N’ Roses, 1/4 Zeppelin, 1/4 Coverdale, and 1/4 their own style. Digging their two demo tapes up (both dated 1991) I was surprised how good this band was. Not only were they good musicians with a truly great singer in Jo E. Donner, but some of the songs were exceptional. They later changed their name to Deadmoon and finally Feel, before finally releasing their own alterna-rock CD called This. (Feel This, get it?) I was seriously into this CD during my first year at the store, as it combined the hard rock vocals that I loved from the past with a current grungier sound. I gave it significant store play, since it was a current hip sound.
Two of their songs that made it onto the Raw M.E.A.T discs were standouts: “Once A Madman” and “Mama’s Love”. But ripping these tapes to disc, I re-discovered two more. The unfortunately titled “Likkin’ Dog” was a great hard rock groover. By the second tape, they were incorporating more experimental alternative sounds (ahead of their game back in 1991) and a track like “Bleed” showcases an angry riffy side.
Donner later formed a band called Ledgend with ex-Slik Toxik drummer Neal Busby, but I don’t know what happened to them after that.
Attitude were a glam rock band from Toronto who scored some video play with their song “Break The Walls Down”. Their cassette looked pro all the way, printed on heavy card stock and even featuring a separate lyric sheet. Their weakness was in the lead vocals department. By 1994 they had abandoned the hard rock stylings and gone for a thrash alternative hybrid and changed their named to Jesus Christ. Probably not a smart move. The CD (released on the major label A&M) looked terribly low budget with awful indi cover art. I recall trying to sell this in our store for 99 cents. (I unfortunately paid $20 for it brand new when it was first released in 1994! Little did I know that we would later see dozens of copies thanks liquidators. They were impossible to sell, even though it boasted a throat-wrenching cover of “Ace of Spades”.)
Lastly, Gypsy Jayne were a very talented group from Oakville Ontario. They released a song under the generic name Wildside on a Raw M.E.A.T CD first. Then they changed their name and put out a cassette. This cassette got a lot of car play back in the record store days, and when we had a tape deck in the store I even gave it some store play. Gypsy Jayne were very much in the mold of Illusions-era Guns N’ Roses. Not terribly original, but their ace in the hole was their classically trained guitarist Johannes Linstead. His talent speaks for itself today, as a nominee for a Juno award and winner of several other prestigious awards. He has several flamenco albums out today, but to me I’ll always remember him as the shredder in Gypsy Jayne, playing alongside the Axl Rose clone Andy Law. (The Gypsy Jayne cassette, Alive and Wandering, has an early flamenco piece called “Romanza”!)
The songwriting on this cassette is really excellent for what it is. Every song is different, but memorable, catchy, and with a distinct direction. If they had come out a year or two earlier, they could have been as big as L.A. Guns, Cinderella, or any of those bands.
Unfortunately, this cassette was well loved and well worn, and is barely listenable today. Hey Johannes…any chance of a reissue?
I’m going to take you back in time a bit. Back to a time before the record store….
I remember back to the 80’s and early 90’s when MuchMusic was king. Back when there was no Jersey Shore and they played actual music videos. There was no internet at that time, so you had to go to the store to buy your music (more often than not, on cassette). To hear new bands, you watched videos on Much and listened to the radio. There was no YouTube.
There was this frickin’ awesome show on Much back in the day — you remember it. It was originally only on once a week (Thursdays at 4 if I recall) and was hosted by one John “J.D.” Roberts. Yeah, the CNN guy. After he left, the hosting slot rotated between Michael Williams, Steve Anthony, Erica Ehm and Laurie Brown and then finally the late Dan Gallagher. Despite his long hair, Dan didn’t know a lot about metal — he didn’t know how to pronounce “Anthrax” and had never heard of Ratt. But that show was by far the best way to hear new metal back in the day.
That show was THE POWER HOUR.
It was so popular that they eventually had two a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4, which was awesome for me since by 1989 I was working every Thursday at Zehrs. I could still catch one a week, usually.
I remember tuning in, VCR at the ready to check out all the new videos and catch onto the newest bands. There was this band called Leatherwolf that I found via Hit Parader magazine and first heard on the Power Hour. I loved that band. There was another band called Sword from Montreal. Psycho Circus. Faith No More. Skid Row. Armored Saint. Testament. You could always count on the Power Hour to have Helix on. That show rocked.
They had some of the best interviews as well. Usually they’d have someone come in and co-host for an hour. They had everybody from Gene Simmons to Brian Vollmer to Lemmy. In depth stuff too, at times.
Then in 1990 something else cool happened. I discovered a magazine called M.E.A.T (the periods were for no reason at all, just to look cool like W.A.S.P. but eventually they decided it stood for “Metal Events Around Toronto”). M.E.A.T was awesome because it was monthly, free, and had in depth articles clearly written by knowledgable fans. There was no magazine with that kind of deep coverage. Even Slash loved M.E.A.T, at a time when Guns hated rock magazines! I loved M.E.A.T so much I eventually sent them $10 to subscribe to a free magazine. I did this on a yearly basis.
I discovered a whole bunch of great bands via that magazine. I Mother Earth, Slash Puppet, Russian Blue, Jesus Christ, not to mention they were way ahead of the curve on alternative. They had a Nirvana concert review back in 1989. They got behind Soundgarden way before they were cool. And you could count on them hanging onto the oldies. They’d put an indi band from Toronto on the cover one month, and put Black Sabbath on the cover the next month. Next issue they’d have an in-depth interview with Kim Mitchell. They’d talk about bands that nobody else did.
Their CD reviews were my bible! My music hunting was probably 90% based on their reviews, especially since by then the Power Hour had changed into the 5 day weekly Power 30 hosted by Teresa Roncon, and sucked. The started playing too much thrash and grunge and never gave the old bands a shot anymore.
Things have changed so much now. I never get into new bands anymore, back then I used to just eat them up. I guess new bands just don’t interest me anymore. I like my old time rock and roll. I did buy the new Sheepdogs, twice. The last new band I got totally and 100% excited about was The Darkness, and that was, what…2003?
Yet I can’t get into these new metal bands. The music sounds so sterile to my aging ears. The rock has lost its balls. The album I have been most excited about in 2012 was the new Van Halen — a band that is approaching 40 years old. But my God does it rock. Kiss and Black Sabbath both have new records coming out, and I’m excited about them, but I could two shits about the new Nickelback.
In a lot of ways, it’s a better time for music now. With eBay and Amazon I’ve managed to fill nearly every gap in my music collection. There are some bands that I now have complete sets of, and others that I am achingly close. I’m missing 4 Maiden EP’s and 1 Deep Purple import, for example. Back in the 80’s you didn’t have access to this. You didn’t even have access to an accurate and complete discography. It wasn’t until the internet that this kind of information was even available.
Aside from that, today kind of sucks for music. Sure, it’s easier to find new bands now, but we did OK in the 80’s. M.E.A.T turned me on to lots of bands, and they were always giving away sampler cassettes. Much played all the new videos by all the metal bands at least once, basically. You had to work a little harder, but we only appreciated the music more. It wasn’t disposable.
And there were a lot more new bands around that just plain rocked!
mikeladano.com 