MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM CHRISTINE MCVIE

How delightful is this? Of all things, a relaxed, happy, almost-Fleetwood Mac album in the vein of Tango In The Night. It's filled with bright, bouncy tracks, first a Lindsey one, then a Christine. That classic rhythm section of John McVie and Mick Fleetwood provides their tight, soft backing as well. All that's missing is, well you know who.


That's the real story here of course, as this was supposed to be the big comeback album for the group, after Christine McVie rejoined for the 2014 On With The Show tour. Heck, that's even one of the tracks here. But while everybody else started working on the album, Stevie Nicks backed out, focusing on her own career as well. So once again, the world's most dysfunctional band proves they still can't really get along, despite their best efforts.


It was eventually decided to get on with it, but instead of calling it a Mac album and having to explain why no Stevie (oddly, she continues to tour with them), they took this different route to highlight the songwriting and singing efforts of Buckingham//McVie. This time, there's none of Buckingham's studio shenanigans, as he tempers the wacky and provides tight, glossy and gorgeous pop numbers such as Love Is Here To Stay. It's a hypnotic thing floating along on a cushion of lovely voices from the two of them, and his jangly acoustic guitar. He can do this stuff in his sleep, but so what, it's great music-making, and I'm always glad when he doesn't sabotage his pop with sharp left turns.


The big news though is the return of Christine McVie to songwriting after her long hiatus. She sounds great, like she hasn't missed a beat, and first single Feel About You is a welcome return to those classic numbers that radiate with warmth. The first few songs (side one for your vinylists) are the best, and her Too Far Gone sounds like some generic 70's number, but as always, Buckingham makes every number sound great at least. They'll probably lose out on about two million copies in sales by not calling it Fleetwood Mac, but it was probably worth it instead of going through the soap opera and added Nicks to the mix.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: U2 - THE JOSHUA TREE 30th Anniversary Edition super deluxe box

Everybody that knows me knows I love a great big ol' box set. I dig into those suckers with gusto, have a ball spotting all the slight differences in out-takes, revel in the previously unreleased cuts, enjoy a period live concert, and of course, enjoy reading along in a sumptuous, well-researched, lengthy book. I'm willing to advice you consumer/fans to part with large amounts of money when the value is there, and usually, the people that make them come through with the goods.


Having said that, I'm disappointed that a major band such as U2 has offered up a lot of smoke and mirrors with this Super Deluxe box to celebrate their biggest album, The Joshua Tree, on its 30th. Maybe their heart wasn't in it. These things are all the rage now, obviously profit-generating for labels, and it was probably loudly suggested it would be a good move for all. But they picked a very bad time to put it out, a week after the Sgt. Pepper set, and by comparison, there's a whole lot to love and study with that, and not much new here at all.


What we get is four CD's, yes, but three of them will be familiar to fans. Disc one is the album proper, fair enough. Disc two is a very excellent live show at Madison Square Garden back in the day, the album fresh and exciting for fans, and the band at a performing peak. But CD 3, where they have put the remixes from the album, is just six cuts long, a little over 30 minutes. Yes, there are new and significant versions here, but nothing monumental. For those hoping for excitement in the b-sides and out-takes of Disc 4, guess what? It's the same disc, almost identical to the bonus featured in the 20th anniversary issue of the album back in 2007. Hmm. So is the album mix. Hey, so is the only historical note, from Bill Flanagan, a one-page thing, 10 years old.


So what the hell is filling up this very heavy box, bigger than the Beatles' one? Photos, two sets of them. You might recall the band has a long relationship with the artists Anton Corbijn, and it was their trip to the California desert that gave the album its name. So is that the bulky book? Nope, there's some prints of his in a nice envelope, eight of them, roughly album-cover size. The real space-filler here, and costly item is a hardbound book of shots by that world-famous photographer, umm, The Edge. For your $140, half the size of this thing is a coffee table-sized collection called The Joshua Tree: Photographs by The Edge, featuring his black-and-white shots of the desert, the mountains, and his bandmates looking cool.


Hey, here's another thing. That live show is only 75 minutes, and I checked the setlist from Sept. 28, 1987, and it's been edited down by four songs to fit on one CD. Why not include those on that 30-minute one? And was there really nothing left to say about this album for new liner notes? Those Beatle people certainly found lots of interesting stuff to put in their 144-page book.


U2 are doing what their fans want this year, they are touring The Joshua Tree album, playing the whole thing at their shows. It might be a bit of a comedown for them, but that's the business these days. If they are spending all that energy life each night, you'd think they could have made sure their fans got a bunch more in that expensive box set they are offering as well.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: MARTIN HARLEY & DANIEL KIMBRO - STATIC IN THE WIRES

Here's one of those albums where you reach for the credits to see who wrote this or that classic, only to discover they are all brand new. Harley is the songwriter, and a slide guitar wiz. Then you check to see what tiny southern hamlet he's from, where he no doubt soaked up classic roots and blues inspiration from original masters. That's when you find out he's actually from Cardiff, Wales. Harley's been building his North American fan base over the past few years, first with his self-named Trio, and now in this duo setting with acoustic double bassist Kimbro. Add drummer Derek Mixon, and that's pretty much the whole record, except for a killer dobro part by the undisputed king, Jerry Douglas, on the cut Feet Don't Fail Me.


You have two choices here for your listening pleasure: You can go all the way through checking out Harley masterful slide playing or his acoustic guitar work, the interplay with Kimbro and the drums and occasional piano, and relax in his smooth, plaintive vocals. Or, you can pay closer attention to the choice songwriting in a variety of roots styles. Dancing On The Rocks is a moody acoustic piece with room for some lengthy instrumental parts, Harley dazzling on several lead breaks in lower notes. Trouble has its roots in New Orleans jazz, his slide doing the cornet breaks, Kimbro pumping through with a tuba-like bass line, and then taking a solo on bowed bass. Postcard From Hamburg is a sad reflection from the road, with Harley spends most of his time. This was a new pair for me, and I'm very pleased to get to know them.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: JEFFERY STRAKER - DIRT ROAD CONFESSIONAL

Saskatchewan's Straker is on the road so much, he's become more of a child of Canada, which partially explains why his latest was made with different producers in studios all over the country. Such individual talents as Daniel Ledwell and Royal Wood had their hands in, from Halifax to Toronto to Winnipeg To Regina. But there's no lack of cohesion to the album, which speaks to the strength of vision here.


Straker's that rare performer these days, a singer-songwriter behind a piano. Before you can say Billy Joel, there's lots of full band material here, the keys more responsible for all the rich melodies rather than always dominating. Having said that, Thousand Miles Away is a gorgeous piano ballad, so yeah, he can do that when he wants as well.


Some of the songs, including that one, speak about the constant travel, missing those at home, but finding solace in the best views and the new friends. Beauty In The Grey is directly about the musician's life as a solo performer, "Another view of the country from here behind the wheel." But as the tour through the album progresses, things get rocking, with the lighthearted Boom Boom ("You're like Ringo Starr just tapping on my chest"), and the early '60s of Sweet Sweet Nothings. With his warm voice, Straker does get in an Elton John-styled number, called Queen of Broken Souls, and it's a grand one, one of those women-in-pain numbers that Bernie Taupin used to write in the '70's. There's even a yellow brick road in it. As a piano man, Straker can do lots, and do that too.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: THE BEATLES - SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND Anniversary Editions

If you're one of these people who hum and haw about how foolish these reissues are, filled with early takes and slightly different mixes, just do me a favour and listen to the tracking session for She's Leaving Home here. No Beatles, no vocals, just the string section playing their part. It's beautiful, incredible really. Or listen to the first Pepper-era work, the single Strawberry Fields Forever, and hear how this relatively simple song became complex over the course of a weekend, Lennon lowering the key, starting with the chorus instead of the verse, and added the famous mellotron opening. It was, in the words of George Martin, the birth of the psychedelic music era.


Yes, we've celebrated this album a million times. I'm old enough to remember both its release, and the first big anniversary in '87, when everybody was pointing out "It was 20 years ago today." Bits and pieces of session material has come out, but this is the real windfall, with Apple finally cluing into the fact that we want to hear these archaeological takes. Frigs sake folks, it's probably the most popular album of all time, we know every sound inside and out, so its a blast hearing the variations and how the band and Martin did their magic, one brilliant idea at a time.


Here are your options. There's a two-disc set at 28 bucks that gives you the main album with the brand-new Giles Martin remix on one, and the entire album plus the Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane single in different takes on disc two. You can do that on double vinyl for forty bucks, minus the Strawberry/Penny cuts. You can get a single disc with just the new mix, that's $21 right now. Or, you can shell out about $200 (tax in) to get four CD's, a blu-ray and a DVD, and hear things like Paul, John and George trying to work out harmonies and handclaps in the studio to Penny Lane. It's actually pretty riveting, if you like The Beatles.


There's a lot more in the Super Deluxe box. In addition to the two CDs of alternate material, the fourth disc is the fan-favourite original mono mix of the album, arguably the version you need the most, as that's where the most time was spent in the first place, as stereo still hadn't made it to most teenager's bedrooms. The blu-ray/DVD (they have the same content) includes a very good TV documentary done on the album on its 25th anniversary, featuring McCartney, Starr and Harrison, plus George Martin in the studio with the original tapes, doing that great thing where they pull down some of the tracks to reveal single parts you may not have noticed before. It's Ringo on maracas! You also get some promo videos (nothing new) and the brand-new Giles Martin mix for 5.1 and hi-res stereo.


All these different mixes will have you spinning, but the younger Martin has done a great job of highlighting some moments that offer a slightly different experience. It's not necessarily better, but it is a bit clearer I'd say, and its fun to hear Ringo's drums boom out of the speakers now on With A Little Help From My Friends, or hear Lennon's somewhat basic guitar as part of the magic final mix of Strawberry Fields Forever. Oh, and you know the end of Good Morning, Good Morning, with all those crazy animal noises? Well when the cat shrieked, my beloved companion Mr. Peaches snapped out of his respite here on the couch beside me, startling us both.


Then there's this crazy big, hard-cover 144-page beast of a book that I tried reading in bed the other night, and which smacked me hard on the nose when I drifted off. It hurt. It's that big. I can't tell you if these are going to come down in price or not over the next few months, maybe at Christmas I suppose, but look, they really have done it up right, and I think you'd have to be a curmudgeon to complain too much, there's a ton of new stuff here, and it's Sgt. Bleeding Pepper, it's amazing there's anything new. And I am a notorious curmudgeon, just ask Mr. Peaches. But I truly think the box is worth your $200 if you can swing it. Perhaps sell your own, inferior pet, suggests Mr. Peaches.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: SERENA RYDER - UTOPIA

Stompa was certainly a game-changer for Ryder. She'd already been a favourite, with Junos and solid reviews, but after the success of that single, and the Harmony album from 2012, she could add platinum to her resume. That's the trifecta right there; sales, awards, critical praise.


Ryder has apparently been working feverishly since then, with over 100 songs at the ready, and it sounds like all the big, catchy ones where chosen for her new collection, with Stompa energy all over it. Electric Love has that infectious beat, and finds her embracing techno and dance. It's pretty obvious stuff, especially in the lyric department, but fun still, and made glorious with her gutsy pipes. Got Your Number is another crazy, catchy track, this time with a little more soul to it, a cut that Amy Winehouse would have loved. Even her ballads, such as Sanctuary, are now bigger and brighter productions. Ryder has fully moved from singer-songwriter to pop now, but it's certainly pop with substance, and lots of dynamic performance skills.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: STEWART LEGERE - QUIET THE STATION

From the beautiful Halifax collective The Heavy Blinkers comes Stewart Legere with his first-ever solo project. The album was long in fruition (four years) but it's heavy on rewards, with 14 cuts, each as gorgeous as the next. The Blinkers are known for their richness, and while Legere follows that path in melodies, words and arrangements, it's more of an acoustic approach, lots of guitar songs rather than piles of sounds. What there is lots of is vocals, with plenty of Legere's friends showing up on each cut. He takes the lead and a second voice joins. There are a couple of full guest appearances, from Jenn Grant and Rose Cousins, and full support throughout from Kim Harris, Melanie Stone and Don Brownrigg. Blinkers mainman Jason MacIsaac produces along with Legere, and they keep it gorgeous throughout, absolutely ear-pleasing.


If one is inclined, there's a story to find in the emotional songs, or at least a heart to observe. Without bitterness, a great love ends, and Legere puts it all out there in a series of reflective songs. He's searching too, not so much for answers, but more for kindred souls who think about love and friendship and goodness and how to appreciate it and give it back. There are sad moments for sure ('I should have left you before I met you' is one sentiment) but it's done with grace, and made with elegance. Legere is a fine singer as well, and the listening experience is completely rewarding.