Well, tomorrow is the 150th birthday of Canadia, home of Justin Trudeau, William Shatner, and Gino Vanelli.
And you know what that means.
So let's get right to it:
Best or worst post-Elvis pop/rock/soul songs by Canadian artistes (or about Canadia!)
No arbitrary rules, although if you nominate anything by Rush I will come to your house and slap you silly.
And my totally top of my head Top Five is....
5. The Guess Who --Albert Flasher
4. The Guess Who -- Dancin' Fool
3. The Guess Who -- Guns Guns Guns
2. The Guess Who -- Running Back to Saskatoon
And the number one Bacon! flavored song of all time quite clearly is....
1. Mystery Science Theater 3000 -- The Canada Song
Alrighty, then -- what would YOUR choices be?
Hello all...no, please remain seated,
ReplyDeleteI know they're definitely not power pop, but I've loved the Cowboy Junkies since way back. And the song I nominate is "Cause Cheap Is How I Feel"
"It's not the smell in here that gets to me it's the lights
I hate the shadows that they cast,
and the sound of clinking bottles is the one sure thing
I'll always drag with me from my past
I think I'll find a pair of eyes tonight, to fall into
and maybe strike a deal
Your body for my soul, fair swap
`cause cheap is how I feel"
Desolation done right, musically speaking.
regards,
RichD
Good list, Steve.
ReplyDeleteAdd "No Time", "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature", "Undun", "These Eyes", and "Laughing". Burton C. brings it.
Always thought Frank Marino and crew were good.
#1 should be -- of course -- "Take Off" by Bob & Doug McKenzie!
ReplyDelete"Ten bucks is ten bucks..."
just listened to Mr. Flasher earlier today.....How 'bout Guess Who's "Rain Dance" or their pre-fame raver, "It's My Pride?" Most of their pre-fame material is killer.
ReplyDeleteMoar Guess Who! In addition to Billy B's list, I offer up "Share the Land", "Bus Rider", the lovely "Do You Miss Me Darling", the bridge of "Glamour Boy" (Burton sings the pants off of that one even though the rest of the song is meh), and even the schlock-fest of "Hang On To Your Life".
ReplyDeleteThe Tragically Hip are an acquired taste (that I have by no means fully acquired), but they put out two fine discs in the '90s - Fully Completely and Day For Night - of which the songs "At the Hundredth Meridian" and "Nautical Disaster" are worthy examples.
I must second the Cowboy Junkies; some really fine original stuff in their catalog, and their cover of "Sweet Jane" was reputed to be one of Lou Reed's favorites.
I've seen Neil Young twice, once with Crazy Horse and once without; curiously the "with" show sucked and other didn't. But I highly recommend the 1982 "Live from Berlin" concert with an all-star band including Nils Lofgren, originally broadcast on HBO (Rhino had it available on DVD at one point; I've never found it on CD or download though), and it is worth it just for "Like a Hurricane." There's a nifty song about Berlin that closes the show and to my knowledge has never been available elsewhere.
I'm personally very fond of the Hip's "Road Apples" album. And anyone who disses the Hip will be slapped with a wet perch. "Little Bones" is a classic, or "Locked in the Trunk of A Car" from "Fully Completely"
ReplyDeleteAlso there's Big Sugar (blues/rock/reggae/jam), I've already introduced Steve to July Talk, and we continue to disagree on the genius of Nash The Slash. Hmm.. Rough Trade, Lisa Dalbello, the Tea Party, Bruce Cockburn,Digging Roots, and Kashtin also come to mind.
On the "we're sorry" side, there's Mitsou, Gowan, Michael Buble, Nickelback, Loverboy, Barenaked Ladies, Glass Tiger, etc.
And Ruch isn't that bad. Steve knows where to find me, and I have a fish.
I just saw Kathleen Edwards last night and I think she is fabulous.
ReplyDeleteHere is title track to her 2nd album: https://youtu.be/Zo7HvUlrGe4
What– no Tragically Hip?! The Guess Who were always a guilty pleasure for me. They'd churn out songs full of tasty hooks and then throw in a groaner like "Anybody here seen the fuzzy-wuzzy loving cult explosion?" They were so unpretentious a rock band that they would clap for the Wolfman without irony. Plus, they were stylistically unbound: from 'Undun' to 'American Woman' to 'Star Baby,' they planted their flag in any genre they pleased.
ReplyDeleteShriner beat me to the McKenzie Brothers. But since I hate Christmas songs, let's add their 12 Days of Christmas
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/uG4yfMD95G8
"and a beer"
You're a man of your word, Mr. Simels - thanks for posting your list.
ReplyDeleteI'll try to have mine ready later today.
Your (overworked) Toronto pal,
J. Lag
ReplyDeleteSteppenwolf - Born To Be Wild
Leonard Cohen - A Singer Must Die
The Band - It Makes No Difference & Rockin' Chair
Neil Young - Cinnamon Girl
Guess Who - No Sugar Tonight-New Mother Nature
Joni Mitchell - Eastern Rain
The Bush - I Can Hear You Calling (as done by Three Dog Night) (a favorite from my bump and grind days)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhhSpi7mIN0
No Bachman era Guess Who, Steve?
VR
Everything by the New Pornographers, save their current album, Whiteout Conditions.
ReplyDeleteWhiteout sucks eggs compared with previous albums, mostly because the Pornographers' Keith Moon-like drummer, Kurt Dahle, was replaced with the equivalent of Kenney Jones. And so Dahle's rhythmic shadings, surprise, and humor have been replaced by metronomic boredom throughout. The electric guitars are mostly MIA on Whiteout, too, replaced by 80s dance-style synths.
I blame Carl Newman for this, because he has apparently decided to go the Tegan and Sara route (bye bye, rock and roll) in an attempt to cash in. Whiteout isn't nearly as bad as Tegan and Sara's latest disco-ish work. At least Whiteout is listenable. But the Pornos sure are headed in that awful direction.
Their other six albums, however, are among the very best Canada has to offer.
I just happen to BE in Toronto with my wife for a wedding. Two, actually, neither of which is ours -- it's a long story), but off the top of my head, I'm gonna show some love to Chilliwack (and in particular the songs Groundhog and Lonesome Mary), The Odds and Sloane. More to follow.
ReplyDeleteI should add, and just for the record, that my original plan for today was to list ten Guess Who songs. Just to be a wiseguy.
ReplyDelete:-)
I'm surprised you didn't list their "Rockin'" album ten times... :) :)
ReplyDeleteJ. Lag
More faves from the days of giving Spanish lessons at the Canadian ballet:
ReplyDeleteThe Haunted - 1-2-5
Full Tilt Boogie - Buried Alive in the Blues
Mandala - Love-Itis
VR - French inhaling the dragon
Heartbroken Bopper!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd the great unsung - Crash Vegas.
Captain Al
Hey Gang:
ReplyDeleteGive our show a listen!
Captain Al
In the mid 90's I moved from NJ to Toronto for a couple of years. Yes there was / is a music scene there beyond Rush and the like. Confess I never did get the Hip. Favorite is a great Canadian band Blue Rodeo. More country than rock but the haven't disappointed for decades. For more American tastes you've got Shadowy Men. But really lots of bands- back then- that got no attention in the US. .
ReplyDeleteThough you can forget Alanis too....
May I add Martha and the Muffins' Women Around The World at Work, Steppenwolf's Renegade, Art Bergmann's Remember Her Name, along with Chilliwack's Lonesome Mary and Groundhog, The Odds' Heterosexual Man and Radios Of Heaven, Sloane's Underwhelmed, and Elephant Stone's Echo and The Machine to the list of Canada's finest?
ReplyDeleteWedding 1 this afternoon, a Hindu affair, I kid you not, in Toronto.
I did not know The Odds were Canadian. But yeah, they're great....
ReplyDeleteHow could I forget the Odds?! One of my favorite musical memories is seeing Warren Zevon in a small club with the Odds as the opening act - then they came back out as Zevon's backing band! A marvelous show.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day when I was the Wildcat's Golden Egg, one of the guys I was seeing was from B.C. He'd come to SoCal once a month on business with General Dynamics. Super cute and smart but, best of all, he played a mean game of pool. It turned me on that he was my equal. Most guys I just turned the heat on and slaughtered. They bored me. But he actually beat me a couple of times with his skill and cunning. I had to fuck him. I had to see if he could get it in gear in the sack. Unfortunately, he'd peter out after three or four rides. But it was cool. His last name was Slump, seriously. I affectionately called him and his wonderful, but exhausted, dick "Slumpy."
ReplyDeleteSo anyway, Slumpy used to come by the club and when my shift was over we'd do stuff. On one trip he brought a 45 over and told me he'd like me to dance to it at the club. It was by a Vancouver band called Mother Tuckers Yellow Duck. It starts off very much like the Byrds' "Why" but then becomes something quite different. I interpreted the song differently every time I danced to it.
It was called "One Ring Jane" and it goes like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx6cILDF_Ag&list=PLVby5c6xim5mjLjdd1-J89nmP9SFK8QIw&index=1
VR
Also, Mother Tuckers Yellow Duck vocalist, guitarist, Donnie McDougall, later joined the Guess Who, replacing Greg Leskiw.
ReplyDeleteVR