MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: JORDAN OFFICER - BLUE SKIES

Montreal's Officer is making a lot out of his travels. Last time out, the album I'm Free came from spending six months checking out jazz and blues haunts in New York. This time, his inspiration came from a sojourn to L.A., where things got a little more varied. Officer explores R'n'B, pop, Tex-Mex, country, as well as the blues and jazz, a chance to work with all his influences.


Mostly covers, and great choices all, Officer chose to work with in a trio setting, the drums and bass playing subtle roles to his laid-back vocals, but monster guitar work. Got You On My Mind is a perfect choice, a '50's song that's been a hit both as blues and country. Shot of Rhythm and Blues is catchy as hell, his former employer Susie Arioli providing the backing vocal, a monumental groove that could fill any dance floor with fans of any style. The biggest and best surprise is The Crystals hit Then (S)He Kissed Me, shorn of its Phil Spector production, now a playful, loping tune, with Officer spitting out fast licks between lines, sounding part-way between Les Paul and Django.


Add in covers of Big Joe Turner, Leroy Carr, Fats Domino, a recent Dylan blues, When The Deal Goes Down, and a guest appearance by Tex-Mex keyboard king Augie Meyers (Sir Douglas Quintet, Texas Tornadoes) on Officer's own Takin' Off, and you have a roots explosion. But make no mistake, while the band, the arrangements, Officer's singing, the smart covers and fun are all a delight, this guy's tasty, retro guitar is astonishing.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: BUCKMAN COE - MALAMA KA 'AINA

Starting with some easy, melodic reggae numbers, I thought I had this guy pegged from the start, kind of soulful, with a good groove. But by cut three, Red Moon, he was messing with the usual, expanding and defying my expectations. There's something else going on from this Vancouver artist, lots in fact, in the music and the lyrics.


Although reggae is the dominate sound for much of the album, Coe and Co. incorporate a wildly-imaginative variety of styles, weaving them in and around the verses. Que Nos Espera is almost impossible to pin down, with big rock moments, dramatic Latin lines, strings in the reggae verse, and two languages. Love's Eternal starts with ukulele, a favourite of Coe's, Hawaiian music a big influence, really emphasizing his cool soul side. Rubber Bands is orchestra and pop, sounding very British and Beatles-influenced. Nine cuts in, and you'll probably have forgotten this started as a reggae album. Closer After All is a beautiful piece that has echoes of both Rufus Wainwright and Jeff Buckley.


Coe covers lots of bases lyrically as well, from romantic to spiritual to political. Several of the songs reflect what a lot of people feel about the environment and industry of late. Carnival Ride takes on the topic of pipelines directly, Coe observing how protesters in his area come from both aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities. And the title is a Hawaiian phrase that pretty much sums up the belief system, meaning respect the land and live in harmony. Coe certainly shows how to do that musically over the whole of this album.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: LENNIE GALLANT - SEARCHING FOR ABEGWEIT

For the past two summers Gallant has been presenting a musical theatre piece in Charlottetown that expands on his usual role of songwriter, performer and story-teller. Called Searching For Abegweit, it's been a great hit, with sold-out performances every night. Gallant tells stories, legends and lore about his beloved home province, in and around his many songs that feature the Island.


The show itself (which I had the pleasure of seeing) works on several levels, including a dynamic visual one, with projections of his sister's paintings of Island life and history behind him, as well as some multi-media work with film, etc. Gallant is a comfortable actor in this situation, still retaining his usual on-stage presence, just incorporating a bit of script and a set list of stories and songs into the show. But at the heart of it all are his songs, some of his best-loved, and some brand-new ones as well.


For this double album, not a lot of the talk is retained; after all, you'd need the whole visual experience to make it all work, and this is more the soundtrack. But you can easily get the story, which is the tale of this rather wonderful place, going back to its First People, ahead to some of the very first settlers in North America, long traditions of fishing and farming, and life in a rural setting that still holds true today.


It wasn't a stretch to incorporate several of Gallant's tunes to the play, including the beloved Peter's Dream (fishing, hard times), Which Way Does The River Run (heading out and seeing the rest of the world), and Tales of the Phantom Ship (classic Island ghost story), Tales and Back To Rustico dated back to his very first album, Breakwater from 1988. But he also brought new material to the show, including Country Store, inspired by the Gallant family business back in Rustico growing up, and Searching For Abegweit, the theme song of the production. All 22 songs from the stage show are here, featuring his dynamic young band of relatives and Islanders. Searching For Abegweit is threatening to become the next Anne of Green Gables.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: THE dB'S and FRIENDS - CHRISTMAS TIME AGAIN

Now here's a Christmas gift that keeps on giving and giving. This album started life in the 1980's, when the dB's were still a going concern, and over the years it has been reissued, but each time with more new tracks added. Brilliant! Even better is the fact these guys have always had A-list buddies to call on.


The dB's themselves are one of the great power pop groups, like ever, and not only does the band have a few cuts here, leader Chris Stamey adds more of his own. Then there's old partner Peter Holsapple, who also knows lots of folks. From his stint as a touring member of R.E.M., he was able to call on Mike Mills for a live recording of Big Star's lovely Jesus Christ, done with Jody Stephens from that group. Keeping with the Big Star theme, Alex Chilton got involved in the past, and his version of The Christmas Song is featured.


On the awesome side is Whiskeytown, Ryan Adams' old band, with an original cut, Houses on the Hill, and Marshall Crenshaw does a good one, (It's Going to be a) Lonely Christmas. New for this year is Yo La Tengo with Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, doing an old Gary U.S. Bonds song Eight Day Weekend, Brett Harris contributing a lovely take on Harry Nillson's Remember (Christmas) and Robyn Hitchcock with a wacky spoken word piece called The Day Before Boxing Day. This set is now up to 22 cuts and over an hour long. Let's hope next time they make it a double set.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: THE VELVET UNDERGROUND - THE COMPLETE MATRIX TAPES

The V.U. Matrix tapes, from a two-night stand in San Francisco in 1969, have been floating around for years on various packages, but this is the first time all available songs have been released, and all in one package. Recorded with a pro set-up installed at the side of the stage by the ownership, it was turned on to grab all four shows the group did those two nights, with some repetition but lots of variety as well.


This is the post-Cale lineup, nothing to sneeze at though, and probably better in focus and reliability. Replacement Doug Yule provided steady bass and organ when needed, plus good backing vocals for Lou Reed, now obviously in charge and the star. The group no longer felt like an art project either. This was a serious show, and could be appreciated by a more mature rock audience of that time. Not that there was much of an audience; anywhere from a dozen to a hundred, at various times in the sets. But those who were there liked it, and were appreciated back by the band.


The V.U.'s sets were still edgy, of course. Reed was still singing about heroin and S&M and NYC street life. And they could wind themselves up into a manic jam, such as the 36-minute version of Sister Ray on set three, the only time it was attempted during the run. But the tunefulness and love of pop songs that Reed also had were on display as well. The basic set featured three-minute hopeful hits We're Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together", Some Kinda Love and There She Goes Again,


Reed was also trying out some of his new stuff that ended up on Loaded, the immortal tracks Rock and Roll and Sweet Jane, the latter quite different, and closer to the speed Cowboy Junkies did it at. Yes, you could pare down this four-disc set to a two-disc one and get rid of lots of repetition (four versions of Heroin, anyone?), but each set has its own distinct charm. Set one has the only Pale Blue Eyes for instance, and closes on Maureen Tucker's always cute After Hours. And while the other three all feature 12 songs, set three only has six, thanks to the epic Sister Ray and the only appearance of Ocean. Might as well have it all.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: THE JAM - FIRE AND SKILL

Somehow The Jam never really rose above the pack in North America, while contemporaries such as The Clash and Elvis Costello were selling healthy quantities, even getting radio hits. Yet at home, they were the top band in England for a couple of years. Perhaps if they had stayed together a little longer than 1982, the public here would have caught up to them.







The group sits in a hard-to-describe middle ground between punk, New Wave, Mod and soul, with lots of hits and a good deal of misses along the way as well. But you could always count on their energy, and The Jam were known for tremendous live shows. This box has an interesting concept; it features a live set from the six different years they were recording, 1977 - 1982.







All guts and swagger when they first came to the public's attention, the group actually had four years of build-up as social club and pub regulars, doing the cover versions. When punk opened up doors for them, they just turned up the intensity and speed. The first live set here, at punk headquarters the 100 Club in London, sees them padding out the setlist with soul favourites Back In My Arms Again, Heat Wave and In The Midnight Hour, their growing interest in Mod with The Who's So Sad About Us, and Larry Williams via The Beatles cut, Slow Down. Running out of tunes for the enthusiastic crowd, they had to do a final encore of early hit In The City a second time.







A year later, a tighter band with more originals can be heard, and this is one for the big fans, with some rarer cuts indeed getting an airing, including Aunties and Uncles, and as a bonus, a very polished soundcheck version of News of the World. Disc three from 1979 saw them now a major deal, and armed with big hits that pushing the crowds into a frenzy, including the social commentary of Down In The Tube Station At Midnight. As the title suggests, maybe they were just too English with such topics, mentioning take-away curry and Wormwood Scrubs.







Disc Four saw them introducing their best album, Sound Affects, which featured some more melancholy and calmer songs including Monday, mixed in with the usual explosive cuts Start! and But I'm Different Now. For overall strength, this is the best of the shows here, The Jam at their peak. 1981's show goes from hit to hit, now that they had so many, introducing new funky songs such as Town Called Malice and The Gift.







Disc Six is one of their last-ever shows, from a closing run at the Wembley Arena in front of a huge crowd. For the final tour, the group had brought in horns, backing singers and a keyboard player, none of which really add to the songs. They were best as a power trio, bringing the energy to the songs themselves, and like the whole way the group finished, this has a feeling of disappointment to it. They were no longer a people's group, they were Paul Weller's, and he chose to pull the plug despite being outvoted a million to one.







That's water under the bridge now, and The Jam have never lost their status in Great Britain, hence this live box. It's another of these classy small packages, a four-by-six box with the six discs, some post cards, and a very strong hard-bound book with an essay that explains the times and recordings. Maybe it will convince a few more North Americans to hop on board.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: THE WEBER BROTHERS - A WEBER BROTHERS CHRISTMAS

If Canada's best band is going to take on Christmas, they're not going to mess around with a bunch of retread songs.  Instead, this most versatile of groups does what it does best, coming up with a whole new batch of tunes done in a dozen different ways.  Well, eleven actually, but you get the point.  Each one's a different style, many done in homage to a classic form.

The set opens with When Christmas Falls On Peterborough, in tribute to home, done in a rural country style, with charms of a Santa Claus parade, a cold, frosty night and an acoustic feel that would make Lightfoot smile.  Next up is the first of many radical departures, Talkin' 'Bout Christmas (Ode to Leon), which, as advertised, presents a big, organ-fired soul groove in the mode of Leon Russell:  "Talkin' bout Rudolph, talkin' 'bout Vixen, talkin' 'bout Cupid, Donder and Blitzen."

And on it goes.  Prove Your Love This Christmas is as smooth and sexy as Smokey Robinson, definitely for that time after the kids are settled down for a long winter's nap.  Snowflakes is something completely different, just piano and emotion, tinkling and gorgeous notes imitating falling snow, the singer looking for someone special visiting at Christmas:  "When I open up the door, maybe next year there'll be more/than only snowflakes." 

Then there's the wackiness of We Make Toys, a crazy, catchy, snap-along song with elves singing, kind of like those Chipmunk records only a lot more cool.  They even do a message song, in the tradition of John and Yoko and others, with What I Want For Christmas, "..is for Christians to behave like Christ, if even for one day like Christ," sounding like Roger McGuinn singing Turn, Turn, Turn.  I never thought the Baddest Band in the Land would do a Christmas album, but it turns out they have a big sentimental side.  That, and an encyclopedic knowledge of all the various holiday styles makes this another killer in their impeccable catalogue.