Canada's 150th - Rockin' Playlist

As Canada celebrates 150 years as a nation, I can't help but think back to my teens and twenties when this fair country was brimming with exciting musical talent. I guess it's like that for everyone... when we think about the most important music in our lives, we think back to our younger years, when we were young adults, and when we were just entering our third decade of existence. 

I enjoyed so much amazing rock'n'roll as I tuned in to Toronto's Q107 radio station back in the glory days of the 70's and 80's. From Max Webster to Teenage Head to Helix to a li'l ol' band called Rush. Canada has produced some of the finest musicians in the world... let's not forget that! And I'm sure the rest of the world knows it.  

Here's a playlist that represents where I was at musically in the late 70's and early 80's. Great tunes that were the soundtrack to my life as I negotiated the labyrinths of high school and college. A bit of a mix of rock, blues-rock, metal, prog, punk, and pop-rock, these were some of my favourites. A perfect set for celebrating this Canada Day:





Setlist:

Chain of Events - Kim Mitchell
Hot, Hot Papa - David Wilcox
Let's Shake - Teenage Head
Innocence - Harlequin
High Times - Frank Soda
Mama Let Him Play - Jerry Doucette
Shake It - Coney Hatch
Metal Queen - Lee Aaron
Heavy Metal Love - Helix
Heavy Mental Breakdown - Killer Dwarfs
New Girl Now - Honeymoon Suite
Gravity - Max Webster
Making Memories - Rush
Lay It on the Line - Triumph
Surface to Air - FM


Happy 150th Canada Day - and rock on!

Flashback to High Class in Borrowed Shoes by Max Webster

Our time travel destination today is 1977, the release of the album High Class in Borrowed Shoes by Canada's own Max Webster. For those of you who have never heard of Max Webster (most likely under the age of 40), just think "Kim Mitchell"... he was the band's founder, singer, and guitarist. Does that name ring a bell? No? Patio Lanterns? Go For Soda? Rock N Roll Duty? I Am a Wild Party?

Well, if you are still scratching your head over this, then just sit back and get schooled, son. Those of you in the know, congrats, and enjoy this flashback:

High Class in Borrowed Shoes was, I believe, the second Max album that I ever bought. Way back in the late 70's. The band had played at my high school one Friday night in 1978. Suitably blown away by their music, I snapped up their existing albums in short order. The first one I picked up was Mutiny Up My Sleeve, Max's newest release at the time. After immersing myself in that record for a few weeks, I then bought High Class in Borrowed Shoes, which had come out the year before. That album cover... whoa! That dude in the purple shorts and platform shoes... wait, is that a dude? Well, that was ol' (young, actually) Kim Mitchell, rock'n'roll circus party ringmaster. 

High Class contains several Webster standards: Diamonds Diamonds, Oh War!, Gravity, On the Road, and of course, the title track. Bitten by the Max bug, I had a tough time putting down this album. I had the pleasure of enjoying these early Webster albums on vinyl, back in those glory days of snap, crackle, pop, and hiss. When everyone owned a record player. No CDs, tapes, or MP3s... or streaming audio. 

The album kicks off with High Class in Borrowed Shoes, which roars to life via Mitchell's thick, metallic guitar grinding away like a chainsaw. Energetic, riffy, and resplendent in wacky lyrics (courtesy of band collaborator Pye Dubois). Terry Watkinson's trademark keyboard sound adds the final touch to this classic Max tune. 

The second song, Diamonds Diamonds, is a pretty little ballad - Max style. Light, breezy synthetic keys dominate for much of the song, then the rest of the band joins in... but only in a supporting role. Kim wrote the perfect three-minute song here, a mature love song delivered barely above a whisper, yet so intricate in its simplicity. 

Next up, the mad scientist on keyboards introduction to one of my favourites, Gravity. Mitchell's vocals sound pained, kind of worried... but I think that was the point. Something about a guy who's having trouble functioning in the world, stressing over every little thing. Then an (inner?) voice of positivity, urging the worrier to forget those troubles and "get a little savagery in your life". Gravity really seems to sum up the Max essence... the lyrical oddness, the angular musical approach, the perfect blend of keys and guitar. 

Words to Words begins even lighter than Diamonds Diamonds, the tasteful poetry of its lyrics most evident. There's almost a Supertramp vibe as the song picks up, but the quartet can't help but betray its Canuck roots. A beauty.

The machine-like guitar chops of America's Veins take us into heavier territory. Bizarre lyrics bounce off the inventive keyboard riffs, which in turn carom off Mitchell's axe attack. A weird and wonderful rocker unlike any other. 

Max's first album, plus my ticket stub from a show I saw in the 90's

Oh War! remains among Max Webster's heaviest songs. The staccato intro, often repeated throughout the song, is suggestive of machine gun fire, or maybe even heavier artillery. The air raid siren keyboard solo is almost bone-chilling. I love the glistening screeches as Mitchell strafes his guitar during his solo. 

On the Road is an uptempo song, sort of folky in a way. The lyrics reflect on the life of a rock'n'roll band travelling from gig to gig. Here, Kim Mitchell really shines as a vocalist... more than just a guitar man. 

Funny how an album so loaded with party tunes also boasts several very light spots. Words to Words begins softly, with a slow build to gentle soft rock. Tasty textural rhythm guitar fits nicely with keyboardist Watkinson's ethereal washes. Amongst the wonky lyrics of other songs, we occasionally get very introspective, rather emotional words on tracks like this one. 

The dramatic Rainchild features Terry Watkinson on vocals. Not too adventurous, this mainstream rock tune does bear signature Max guitar hooks and Terry's always pristine keyboard playing.  

Now on to part two of the Moon series, In Context of the Moon, a challenging exercise in progressive rock. Sort of a sequel to Coming Off the Moon from Max's first album, Context would be followed by more instalments on subsequent records. Musically, this track is all over the place, and the musicians really get to stretch out and show their chops. I particularly enjoy the melodic bass of Mike Tilka and his rhythmic interaction with drummer Gary McCracken. Thematically, I can see how Webster was influenced by the likes of record label mates Rush. Same with the musical approach. Mind you, here the science-fiction-y lyrics lean toward the abstract, with jelly rolls and comet kites in the mix. Funny and exciting all at once. 

I challenge anyone to listen to High Class and not love something about it. There is such a range of sounds and styles, from clean to crunch, and soft to shattering. High Class in Borrowed Shoes is the perfect package of Max Webster music, my recommended starter kit for Max beginners. 

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Search the site for more posts about Max Webster and Kim Mitchell... here are a few to start:

Madcap Scene With the Mighty Max Webstser

My Big Best Summer With Kim Mitchell

Distressed... About Kim Mitchell

We Bid Adieu to the Caped Crusader - Adam West

Man, in just a matter of weeks, we've lost some of the biggest names in entertainment. So sad. First, musician Chris Cornell, then James Bond actor Roger Moore, and now... Adam West, best known (to me) as Batman from the 60's TV show. West passed away last Friday, June 9th. 

Adam West as the suave and sophisticated millionaire

Bruce Wayne, alter ego of TV's Batman

I've known the name and face of West for pretty much my whole life. I'm sure I caught at least some episodes of the show's original run, though I would have been so young that I simply don't remember. As I got a bit older.... still younger than age ten.... I found the show in heavy syndication and watched it as often as possible. And as I entered my teens, I still loved the straight-faced campiness of Batman. I suppose I didn't really get the humour so much back then, but after a few more years, I definitely understood the tone of the show. Plenty of subtle and only not-so-subtle jokes for the older crowd. 

But as a young lad, I was insane about Batman. Sure, I had some of the comics in my collection... there was one from the early 1960's that I found at a yard sale, and I amassed a selection of the various Batman titles of the time (the 70's), including the Detective Comics... but my biggest influence was the TV show. I was nuts about that version of Batman, his sidekick Robin, butler Alfred, Catwoman, Joker, Riddler, and all the other villains, Batgirl, Commissioner Gordon... the whole cast. The Batcave, the Batphone, the Batpoles (!), the Bat Computer, the Batarang boomerang, Bat Shark Repellent, the Batmobile, the cycle, the 'copter - all the fun gadgets and gizmos that the caped crusaders used to thwart the bad guys. . 

As a youngster, I wanted so badly to be Batman that I built myself a Bat Utility Belt. Actually, I had two of them: one was a plastic toy army belt with little pouches, much like Batman's handy-dandy carry-all of all gadgets Bat-related. My other belt consisted of my homemade cardboard "pouches" that I attached to a real old army belt that my grandfather had given me. If only he knew. I'd switch up the belts as needed, depending on the crime at hand. I even made myself a few Bat accessories for the belt... there was my weak attempt at a Batarang boomerang, which didn't really work, but I guess it looked cool enough at the time; and I think there was something of my own invention, a "toy" repellent device that warded off any and all undesirables. 

My mother, understanding as she was about my weird imaginative passions, made me a nice long cape that wasn't too far off the one that Adam West wore as Batman. She even made a fabric cowl to match, though I only wore that on Halloween. Best Halloween ever, by the way. But for everyday crime-fighting, the cape was enough. I wanted everyone to know who was banishing evil-doers from the neighbourhood. A few other kids on the block partook in the adventures, some acting as villains while others were unofficial sidekicks. Maybe I let my brother or a best friend act as Robin now and then. 

The 1966 feature-length theatrical Batman movie was like an extended television episode. All the cast and the gadgets and Bat-vehicles and villains and the gags... what a hoot! I still love to revisit that movie once in a blue moon. The deadpan delivery of the silliest dialogue cuts me up to this day. The film has aged well. 

As a kid, and as a big kid (meaning as an adult who's young at heart), I also enjoyed seeing Adam West at work as characters besides Batman. He had parts in many 60's TV shows that I've seen, such as The Rifleman, Perry Mason, Petticoat Junction, Bewitched, and Mannix, just to name a few. He even voiced Hercules in the 1974 Shazam! show... uncredited. I caught West in cameo appearances, often as himself (including voice acting for animation), on shows during the 80's and beyond. Murphy Brown, Drew Carey Show, Rugrats, Simpsons, Animaniacs, Johnny Bravo, King of Queens, 30 Rock, Futurama, Family Guy, and Big Bang Theory. Just a handful of the ones I know for sure that I've seen. 

I can't say I've seen West in very many movies, at least not ones I can recall right now, but one appearance I'm sure of is in Robinson Crusoe on Mars (got it on Blu-Ray!). Sorry, Adam.

Quite the career, quite the life, quite the legacy. An impressive man, so talented and funny and down-to-Earth. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2012. 

Farewell, o' Caped Crusader! 

Heavy and Light Playlist

Here's something a little different: I'd like to occasionally offer up a set of songs that are setting my CD and MP3 players on fire. Yeah, you heard that right... my CD player. Not Youtube or Spotify or whatever streaming service you favour. I do discover new (and old) music on Youtube and A Journal of Musical Things and through friends, but once I truly latch onto something, I want the best quality sound on my home audio system. My Sennheiser headphones deserve only the best. As do my more modest JBL speakers. And that means CDs for this guy; I can barely stand the dynamically diminished sound of MP3 audio files, so even when I resort to my old-school portable player, I go for WMA files or whatever else sounds most faithful to the original. Now I'm not a vinyl purist... I don't have the ambition or resources to revamp my set-up to accommodate a turntable and to store the much larger record sleeves, so I have stuck with the compact disc. I still like a physical medium that includes printed artwork and liner notes. I grew up on records and tapes, and the CD packaging falls somewhere in between those two formats for legibility and enjoyment.

The original Van Halen lineup delivered the best rock of the era

Anyway, as for the actual music, I'd like to present a playlist of some of the songs that I've had in serious rotation lately. It's not all brand new, cutting edge stuff... in fact, most of it is older music, but it is what I am drawn to again and again these days. Songs that stand the test of time. 

See what you think of these heavy, light, and in-between tunes:





Tracklist:

1. Killing Technology - Voivod
2. Big Money - Rush
3. No Tomorrow - Le Matos featuring PAWWS
4. Fragile - Kylie Minogue
5. Metal Heart - Accept
6. Square Hammer - Ghost
7. Room Service - Kiss
8. That's All Right - Elvis
9. The Conjuring - Megadeth
10. Turn of the Century - Yes
11. Girl Gone Bad - Van Halen


I sort of missed out on Canada's Quebec thrash metal band Voivod back in the 80's (though I loved their music video for their cover of Pink Floyd's Astronomy Domine), but I have recently found something to love about many their early albums. So far, Killing Technology, both the record and the song, is my favourite. 

Rush's Big Money has long been a fave, ever since that metallic bouncy rock release Power Windows blew me away back in 1985. I stumbled upon Le Matos via the Quebec-produced film Turbo Kid (2015); the music soundtrack absolutely entranced me, and the track No Tomorrow - with guest vocalist PAWWS - in particular struck a chord with me. Its sweet synth-pop style has a distinctly retro-80's vibe... fun and bouncy.

I was appalled by Kylie Minogue's music back in the 80's, when I was a hard rock and progrock fan, but after a gradual process of introducing dance-pop into my listening habits, I found that I loved just about every song she recorded, especially her output from the 90's until present. There are times of the year when Kylie is all I listen to (it's good medicine)... and Fragile is representative of her best work. 

Kylie circa 2001... just getting better with age... if she ages at all

Then some searing guitars appear in the form of Accept's Metal Heart, among their greatest molten tracks from the 80's. Square Hammer is a more modern rock song, just one of the many heavy yet melodic tunes by mysterious Swedish band Ghost that I play endlessly. Room Service, by Kiss, is of course a 70's classic, influential for many guitar-slingers in subsequent decades. And I grew up on Kiss, devouring their early albums as I learned about the "dark" side of music. 

Then going WAY back, we've got Elvis' That's All Right, from 1954. I've appreciated The King of Rock'n'Roll ever since I first got into music... as I was nearing my tween years back in the 70's. This song still sounds fresh, energized, and rockin'... truly a timeless classic. Jump back to the 80's and there's a devilishly aggressive Megadeth track, The Conjuring, to set heads a'bangin'. I simply cannot sit still with this one cranked up!

Some gentler sounds from Yes now, with Turn of the Century, which displays the band's beautiful and tasteful songwriting, as well as their supreme musicianship. I think it's one of their best - and probably most underappreciated - songs. Last up on my playlist is the hard rocking gem, Girl Gone Bad, from Van Halen's 1984 album. Perhaps overshadowed by radio and MTV hits Jump, Panama, and Hot For Teacher, this track blows the roof off any building it's playing in... pure Van Halen party music!

It Was 50 Years Ago Today - Sgt. Pepper!

It was on May 26, 1967 that The Beatles released an album that would go down in history... Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. This past week has seen a flurry of commemorative activities surrounding the 50th anniversary of the album, its re-release on vinyl and CD not the least among them. Most impressive is how the recording again went straight to Number One, thereby making Sgt. Pepper the album to have spent the most weeks in the top spot in the UK. Twenty-seven weeks back then, and one week (so far) here in 2017! Pepper became third best-selling album of all time in the UK. 

The Sgt. Pepper band as depicted in the Yellow Submarine movie

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band won five Grammy awards in 1968, for Best Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Album Cover, Best Contemporary Performance, and Best Engineered Album. Then in 1993, Sgt. Pepper entered the Grammy Hall of Fame. Not bad, eh?

The album was critically lauded for its music production, songwriting, and graphic design. The overall "product", the music and its packaging, was so masterfully assembled - with no small contribution by producer George Martin, that everything about Sgt. Pepper is of historical importance to the industry. I suppose it wouldn't be fair to miss pointing out that The Beatles probably would never have dreamed up the album if it weren't for the Pet Sounds record by The Beach Boys (which I like a lot, but not nearly as much as Pepper). Pet Sounds was an inspiration and launch pad for The Beatles' LP that would surpass it. 

Rolling Stone magazine named Sgt. Pepper as number one on its list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. A well-deserved honour.

Cool fact: Sgt. Pepper was the very first album to include song lyrics! So we can thank the lads from Liverpool for that innovation... for decades since that disc, we've enjoyed printed lyrics with just about every recording on physical media. And of course, there are now scads of websites that provide online song lyrics, a service that might not even exist if it weren't for Sgt. Pepper.

Also of interest is that the Sgt. Pepper album was never performed live before an audience. The Beatles had retired from concert touring in '66 (the closest they came was in the animated film Yellow Submarine), so they went into the Pepper project knowing it would be an entirely studio production... so I guess they never had to consider "How will we do this live onstage?" Sooo much easier, right? Well, the album was no simple feat anyway, with all of the painstaking (700) hours spent on assembling the record, often using groundbreaking recording techniques. And they threw in a 40-piece orchestra to top it all off? Whew.

We all know this album inside and out, right? So I don't need to tread such familiar topics as the world famous iconic album cover of Sgt. Pepper. Suffice it to say, the artwork is still recognized as among the greatest of all time on every Top Album Covers list ever compiled. This and The Beatles' Abbey Road are always very high (like Top 5 or 10) in such rankings. I noticed Pepper was number one on many of the lists, and was baffled when it wasn't... sometimes bumped from top spot by a record cover showing a big yellow banana. What the what?

Sgt. Pepper is credited as among the earliest concept albums and art rock albums... so it was definitely instrumental (no pun intended) in the formation of the progressive rock genre. Not to mention it ushered in the era of the album. Singles took the backseat as LP (long-playing) recordings soared in popularity. So... Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd,and Rush (among others) thank you, Sgt. Pepper.

Roy Carr and Tony Tyler's "An Illustrated Record" of The Beatles,

well-thumbed but still in fine condition after nearly forty years on my shelf

Though the Sgt. Pepper album wasn't among my first Beatles purchases (read my side story here) when I was a youngster, I came to appreciate some of its songs on the radio (back when they actually played such important and timeless music). But a few years into my first musical foray, I did add a cassette tape of the Pepper album to my collection. 

I've always loved pretty much the entire album, with just a couple of exceptions... tunes that got on my nerves - or I just didn't understand them at the time. While I was crazy about several of the songs (especially Getting Better, Fixing A Hole, She's Leaving Home, and When I'm Sixty-Four), Within You Without You was just plain baffling to my young mind and ears. It seemed noisy and alien to me. But over the years, I've come to enjoy the relaxing, hypnotic qualities of the East Indian musical style. My more mature listening ear can now appreciate the exotic instruments and unorthodox yet entrancing qualities of the song. 

I've never taken to the brash, horn-driven Good Morning Good Morning. I'd say it's the weak link on the Sgt. Pepper album. Sure, George Harrison rips off some rockin' guitar licks, but the tempo feels clumsy at times, and the cheesy animal sound effects create a messy hodge-podge that I feel detracts from the song. But hey, that's just me. The rest of Sgt. Pepper is terrific, the assembly of music flowing perfectly from track to track, as any classic concept album should. And of course, there's the legendary closer for the LP, A Day in the Life (which I discuss further here).

As I revisit the album today, I'm reminded of my huge Beatles fixation for many years as a tween and a teen. I collected everything I could get my hands on, and afford, that had to do with the Beatles. I still have my Beatle books on my shelves, and I do occasionally flip through The Beatles: An Illustrated Record, a vinyl record-sized softcover coffee table book from the late 1970's, which happens to sport a colourful Pepper-era photo of The Beatles (see photo above). 

My fondness for The Beatles will never fade, even if I only listen to Sgt. Pepper once every year or so. Hey, I got in all my heavy listening when I was younger, with much more time on my hands.