..."are the BEST Jangle Folk Rock you'll ever know."
Ladies and germs, from deep in the Great White North, please enjoy Canadia's The Grapes of Wrath and a splendid 1990 live performance of their hit single (in their home country) "Peace of Mind."
I should admit up front that I had never heard of TGOW until yesterday, and for obvious reasons...
...I was initially suspicious of Nelson's claim.
That said, I watched the above clip and, although it takes a while to get going, by the time the full band kicked in, I was pretty much convinced. If you're a Byrds/REM fan like me, that song sounds pretty much like heaven.
In any case, I'm somewhat chastened that the band never impinged on my consciousness until now. Come to think of it, we may need to establish some kind of blog equivalent of the Canadian Content rule around here.
And of course -- thank you, Nelson.
14 comments:
"A trip south to the US...And New York" ???
Good stuff. Just like to add that I''ve seen Brian Wilson's post-Beach Boys shows about 20 times, and one of the great pleasures is watching Nelson Bragg doing his thing.
Dave F
still suspicious of Nelson's claim some thirty years after the fact ....hope they had better shit than this ... The Byrds were never whiney wimps ....
VR
VR -- I disagree with your assessment of these guys, but more important something you posted the other day piqued my curiosity.
Did you actually see Christopher Milk live? If so -- your thoughts.
:-)
Yeah, what do I know, anyway?
Saw Christopher Milk twice, actually. Once at the Whisky and at the show I mentioned yesterday, which was a gig at UCLA. They weren't very good live. The UCLA gig was before any record deal with an early line-up. They did a few originals and covers... poorly. Alice Cooper were on the cusp of Love It To Death and they were great. As was Halfnelson, also pre-record deal. Bones (post Peppermint Trolley and pre-record deal) was a very good live band that never could bring it to the studio. Richard Perry wasn't exactly a rock band producer. They found their groove later with the blue-eyed soul which was big with beaners around here.
The other time I saw Milk they opened for Foghat at the Whisky. This was when Foghat only had the Dave Edmunds debut LP out. Sorry to say, Christopher Milk were awful that night. Foghat's on-fire performance, the best Ive ever seen them, made them look even worse. Possibly the worst band I'd ever seen play the Whisky. I think I might have some pretty good 35mm pictures if I saved them. I was warming up the camera for Foghat. I definitely have pix of the headliners. Had pizza at the Rainbow with Lonesome Dave and Rod Price afterward. Nice guys.
VR
VR -- John Mendelssohn and one of the other guys from Christopher Milk are facebook friends and I actually sort of like some of their records. I may repost a piece I did about them some years ago, and if I do -- please behave.
:-)
http://powerpop.blogspot.com/2012/01/those-who-can-rock-do-those-who-cant.html
Grapes of Wrath are ok. The use of the 12 string added little to the song.
Capt. Al
I'm not knockin' or boostin' the sometimes pretentious records. Just the live shows I saw. Liked his liner notes on the Kinks stuff.
I promise no Charlie the Tuna references.
VR - got DEFERENTIAL if you want it!
I find this gem by The Outfield much more eargasmic and ridiculously unheard and should be. I would love other ears to chime in on what they hear. These guys were criminally underrated and unheard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WN4gij4O9U
THE OUTFIELD!!!
I remember seeing them on TV just once way back in the day (Midnight Special, maybe?) and thinking they were really good. A power trio, right? Never saw or heard anymore about them.
Steve: how about giving us some info on them??
That Outfield song, which is too long, sounds like 90125 Trevor Rabin era Yes without the pizzaz. I don't care for it. The Riviera's captured it. This one doesn't.
"Your Love" was catchy but lost its flavor real fast. Pretty much one-hit wonders. And that hit owed a lot to the Police, without the great players. No surprise this band opened for "We Built This Shitty". A perfect mid-1980's schlock-match.
VR - Knee Deep In the Outfield
Steve: Checked out your prior post with Milk's "Speak Now" - I give 'em props for covering it, but that's about it. Nice try. Terry's original version has way more huevos. The subsequent Cheap Trick cover also completely blows it away.
I love Terry Reid. The first time I saw him live was by accident. We had gone to see the Dead the night before. We took some really strong acid for the show. Carrie, the girl who was driving, started to flip out at the show. The Dead were doing the Dark Star/Stephen/Eleven stuff, then suddenly hit the brakes and Broke into Mountains of the Moon. A tune none of us had ever heard before. Me and Sandy went with the flow. Carrie couldn't handle the change and got lost in the mystical nature of the song. She thought they were casting a spell on her. Honest.
We gave her five bennies, a Christmas Tree and a squirt gun. We talked her out of that weird thought tangent before Shitpants McKernan could finish a wretched Lovelight. When the Dead wrapped up, she was still just a tad shaky. So we left the show before the Fish came on (Spirit had opened).
Me and Sandy knew a couple of guys from a band that lived in Silver Lake and we spent the night. It was the start of a great fuckin' weekend. Being a good girl, I called my mom and told her everything was alright and not to worry, before the serious fornicating began.
The following night the guys took us to see Dillard and Clark. They were great. Michael Clarke was on drums. The guy from Hearts & Flowers was on guitar (Bernie Leadon). Didn't know who the bassist was. After that, we club-hopped over to the Whisky just to see what was happening. It was only the ubiquitous ISP with someone we never heard of named Terry Reid. We caught the second set.
Jesus Christ! We were in love. The whole band was cute and Terry was such a great singer. The band had great dynamics. Shit, when he covered those two Bee Gees tunes I nearly cried and came at the same time. He did a lot of stuff that never made it onto any album. Too bad.
Naturally, we didn't waste much time getting the album. I remember the girl working the register in Wallich's snobbishly laughed at me and said "Bang, Bang You're Terry Reid, huh" like I was some stupid little teeny bopper. Cunt.
I was disappointed in the LP. It only had three or four of the songs he did live. Plus the production wasn't so great. It lost a lot in the translation. I find both the Epic albums disappointing in that he was actually so much better than that.
VR
Having spent a couple of years living and traveling in Canada (though I can't believe it's been 20 years ago now...) there are a number of good Canadian bands that never are known in the US. (Like many US bands too that never make it...). Still, a great music scene in the larger cities. Though I don't get the Tragically Hip. And I guess they also gave us Justin Bieber......... I may have to reconsider....
FYI - I suppose the band Blue Rodeo has been brought to your attention. But if now - give them a listen. Esp their early '90's stuff. They've been classified more country than rock, but they can still jangle.
Oh man! I was living in the woods of East Texas in the early 90s and didn't get MTV but had Much Music through our large satellite dish, which actually kept me ahead of everybody on groups I was seeing on MM months before Mtv played anything if they did at all. I grew my hair out Grapes of Wrath / School of Fish /World Party style. None of that stuff was getting played on Mtv. For me their best song was 'You May be Right' check it out!
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