MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: ROBERT ELLIS - THE LIGHTS FROM THE CHEMICAL PLANT

Washed in country, and steeped in sadness, Ellis brings us real-life stories with sharp insight and touching empathy.  But calling in country is just the introduction; certainly Ellis' classic twang leans you that way, but the music is an inventive hybrid that takes us all over the map.  There's the gorgeous Jimmy Webb-meets-soul melody of Steady As the Rising Sun, with strings AND pedal steel, the saloon piano of Bottle Of Wine, the haunted Western electric number Houston, and some fiery picking on Sing Along, a dark bluegrass tune.

What will stick though are the unflinching lyrics, powerful vignettes that perfectly set the scene, with complex themes but plain-spoken truths.  His Tour Song is perhaps the most heartbreaking look at the relationship-crushing life of a musician on the road with a love left behind:  "On an endless string of one-night stands, with okay girls and shitty bands, a good one comes by now and then, but I long to be back home again."  Sing Along is a flat-out condemnation of the effects of a strict religious upbringing on young people in small town America:  "That's a hell of a thing to do to a kid, just to teach him right from wrong/you can burn in hell for the rest of your days, or you can choose to sing along."  His picture of the industrial towns of the U.S., which have replaced much of the rural life, is bleak, even though the young lovers in Chemical Plant still have soul and somehow find romance:  "The lights from the chemical plant burn bright in the night like an old kerosene lamp/from a car park by the ocean, what a vision to behold."  Ellis' cover of Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years is dead-on, and sets the bar for his own writing, and damned if he doesn't match up to it.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: RUFUS WAINWRIGHT - VIBRATE: THE BEST OF

Having released a mega-CD limited edition collection of all his works and scads of rare stuff a couple of years back, Rufus now lets us mere regular fans have a set of his best in a much more affordable set. This two-disc number (a single set is available as well) collects 25 choice cuts from his career, as well as eight performance tracks from various sources. There's some wise inclusions from soundtrack work, such as The Maker Makes from Brokeback Mountain, and yes, Hallelujah from Shrek. That's nice, so we don't have to go out and get those soundtracks to own all our needed Rufus.


Early faves Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk and April Fools remind just how clever he was in the pop world, but truly his talents really showed best once he hit the Want One and Want Two albums, liberally sampled here. The Art Teacher remains one of his most riveting performances, simply Wainwright at the piano, live and spellbinding. There are new songs as well, grand ones, such as Me and Liza, about you-know-who. Best of all, his live selection from a tribute night to Leonard Cohen is included, a bang-on version of Chelsea Hotel #2. If you are a Rufus fan, this is a must.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: SARAH SMITH - THE JOURNEY

One of the bigger and better female voices in Canadian rock, Smith fronted The Joys for several years, and now has a solid solo career going out of London, Ontario.  She plays and plays and plays, a much in-demand live performer, with gigs pretty much every night across southern Ontario, and that's just this month.  This is her second solo disc, after 2012's Stronger Now (and a couple of live collections you can find at her website).  That last one featured the breakthrough track Shine Bright, which brought her lots of airplay and attention to her songwriting, and a much-remixed version also appears on this disc, such is the ongoing popularity of the tune.

Smith fits nicely between classic and modern rock, just enough production finesse to keep contemporary, but plenty of rock and roll basics covered as well.  And underneath that big and bright sound lurks a writer with a solid understanding of hooks and structure.  Believe In Me has snappy lines and a catchy chorus, straight out of the John Hiatt school.  Opening cut I Need To Know builds from verse to bridge to chorus, getting more and more addictive.  And as always, Smith's powerful vocals give everything a dramatic feel, a tension in the ballads and celebration in the rockers.  Catch her regular Wednesday residency at the Liquid Lounge in Brantford, ON this month, and visit sarahsmithmusic.com for other dates.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: LONE JUSTICE - THE VAUGHT TAPES, 1983

Back in the early 80's, a branch of L.A. punk was fused with rockabilly, and in some cases, actual country. You had Rank And File, and even X could lean that way. Lone Justice came along in 1982, quickly becoming a buzz band in the region, grabbing up a contract with Geffen Records and an initial burst of fame, particularly for lead singer Maria McKee. It was a brief career though. Despite lots of hype, big-name connections, opening for U2, getting Tom Petty to write for them, Steve Van Zandt to produce, nothing really clicked, and McKee went solo after 2 albums in 1986.


This collection of demos made in 1983 explains a lot. They were really country at the start, fused with that raw punk attitude. They were doing covers of Johnny Cash and June Carter, George Jones, as well as raw band originals, McKee sounding like a deranged Dolly. Somewhere along the line, things went more earnest, more singer-songwriter, and they tried to fit in to modern rock. Big mistake, as these dozen cuts show. They had spark, energy and stood out, always a good thing. Certainly the rest of the original band knew the score, they all had quit by the second album. Meantime, alternative country came along by the end of the decade. McKee did make some fine music solo, one excellent album called You Gotta Sin To Be Saved in '93, and has also acted and published fiction. As for Lone Justice, great promise went unfulfilled. But this kick-ass dozen recorded cheap in a couple of days beats the crap out of the group's two official discs.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: DAVID BOWIE - REBEL REBEL 40th ANNIVERSARY

The on-going reissue series of classic Bowie 45's continues with one of his biggest. Each original single is being re-launched on the 40th anniversary of its first appearance, as a limited-edition picture disc, with a unique B-side. These are beautiful pieces, excellent quality pressings and gorgeous colours on the rare photos. In short, collectors should love them.

Some of these have already become incredibly rare, fetching prices upwards of a hundred dollars. Now, don't expect that from the later ones, the secret is out and probably a lot more are being demanded and pressed. Still, you'll enjoy having any of them, you don't need the whole set unless you're, well, like me, and have to have the complete set.

Previous singles have included rare and live b-sides of the main tracks, which I consider great, instead of the old b-side which most collectors will no doubt have. So I was a bit upset to see that the flip here was simply a remix of the normal version of Rebel Rebel. But wait! I forgot that this, the U.S. mix of the 45, is drastically different than the original. It starts, not with the familiar guitar line, but instead, with the line, "Hot tramp, I love you so." The song is taken apart, bits lifted from other areas, volumes raised, edits made, it's all recognizable but a much different experience. I have this on another CD compilation, but most won't and it's a smart and quality edition. I'm not the biggest picture disc collector, but I am a big Bowie fan, and this series has me hooked.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: VARIOUS ARTISTS - 80's HITS ICONS, 90's HITS ICONS

The Icon series was launched by Universal Music to provide yet another line of best-of's or greatest hits by their many artists.  That's because those are all that the few remaining mall stores still carry other than new releases and a few classic albums, so these fill the bill, and seem new.  With Universal purchasing much of EMI a couple of years back, they have lots more new artists and catalogues to repackage in the Icon format.

That also means they can cherry-pick hits, and plug them into these types of compilations.  Both these sets are double CD's, jammed with familiar tunes still played on lots of radio stations.  It worries me that the 90's are considered retro now, but that's just because I'm old and still think it can't be more than say, 2004, until I look at my calender.  

I thought I'd like the 80's more than the 90's set, but the compilers have surprised me with pretty good selections.  I'm always up for Concrete Blonde's Joey, a great song in any decade, and as overplayed as it was at the time, Joan Osborne really did a fine job with One Of Us.  Sheryl Crow's All I Wanna Do is still fun, and New Radicals You Get What You Give is such a pop gem, I can't believe nothing else happened for them.  Sadly though, this was also the decade of Blind Melon, Sublime and Wilson Phillips.

The 80's set could have been better by far.  There are lots better choices for hits than the likes of Tiffany, Kim Wilde and Billy Squier.  For some reason, the bulk of the songs come from the early to mid-80's, and that means a lot of over-produced, dated sounds from The Fixx, Asia and Level 42.  There also seems to be an inability to make an 80's collection without including Don't You Want Me (Human League), Shout (Tears For Fears) or Karma Chameleon.  This was not my 1980's.  The 90's set does the job, but you can do better by making your own 80's mix.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: SAM ROBERTS BAND - LO-FANTASY

At first I was pretty surprised by this album, not least of all because I put the deluxe version's disc two on first, the remix collection.   Do yourself a favour, and don't. Once I got to the main disc, I was still skeptical, because of the blatant embrace of pop and uptempo grooves found on the tracks.  These were catchy songs, too catchy I felt.

That feeling has quickly worn off with a few listens.  What I've found, in fact, is what I've been looking for in a SRB album since the famous debut EP from 2002, The Inhuman Condition.  That release announced the group as a strong rock-hit machine, with Brother Down, Don't Walk Away Eileen, and Where Have All The Good People Gone.  Subsequent albums, which toughened up the sound, lack the spark and radio-friendly fun I enjoyed.  But here Roberts and Co. are back in that vein, with the happy hooks of Shapeshifters and Human Heat.  I'm groovin'.

There's more synth and electropop sounds than on the early, guitar-oriented records, and the beats are crisp and produced, but for once I don't feel like this is a bad thing. These are strong songs, big melodies, and deserve the giant polish placed on them by producer Youth (Paul McCartney, The Verve, U2).  Roberts is one of the few artists who can pull off this much synth and still sound rock, and if it grabs him higher pop presence too, good on him.