MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: LONGBRANCH/PENNYWHISTLE

Two of the most successful songwriters of the 20th century got together in L.A. in 1970 for this album, and it sold ...squat. Of course, this was a bit before either J.D. Souther and Glenn Frey became hitmakers, but they were an early part of the blooming Los Angeles country-rock community. Frey left to join The Eagles, Souther went solo (and partnered in the Souther/Hillman/Furay band) but they stayed BFF's, co-writing many of the Eagles' hits. Souther also wrote with Frey's friends too, including Don Henley and Bob Seger (Heartache Tonight). Plus he had songs on Linda Ronstadt's albums, partnered with James Taylor (Her Town Too) and had his own smash, You're Only Lonely, so he didn't begrudge Frey's huge break with The Eagles, he was doing just fine.

This album was simply just ahead of its time. The songs are good, the close harmonies really nice, and the playing is really A-1. That's because they got to use some of the very best L.A. players, including two of the very best guitar players of our day, James Burton and Ry Cooder. Larry Knechtel handled piano, just after he played the legendary part on Bridge Over Troubled Water. Then there's Jim Gordon on drums, Buddy Emmons on steel, Doug Kershaw on fiddle and Joe Osborn on bass. This is one of the best bands, like, ever. That explains why this sounds so polished now, and leads one to question how this missed.

The answer is simple enough, it was a tiny label and country flavours were still being treated with skepticism by rock fans and confusion at radio, which like pop, rock and country to be separate. It would take Ronstadt and ironically, The Eagles, to change all that in a couple of years. These are especially strong and catchy numbers, along the lines of Take It Easy, and would probably surprise a lot of Byrds/Burritos/Great Speckled Bird fans looking for another good listen from that period.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: THE TOWN HEROES - EVERYTHING (Will Be Fine When We Get To Where We Think We're Going)

Everybody's favourite music/fun duo is now twice as big, and arguably twice as musical with this gem of a new album. It's the first album as a four-piece, with guitarist Mike Ryan and drummer Bruce Gillis now joined by Aaron Green on more guitar, and Tori Cameron playing bass. The results are obvious on this album, with its thickened sound and wider scope.

The songs are filled with beautiful guitars, great ringing notes over big pulsing washes or strong chords. It's a post-New Wave sound, energetic, melodic and very urgent, each song filled with drama and the feeling there's something important being passed on. Topping all this is the passionate voice of Ryan, often at the top end of his register. He ups the ante on songs such as Only One, as he grows more intense as the song progresses, matched by the sharp guitar lines and Gillis' increased punch. It's crazy-danceable, hypnotic and haunting all at the same time, even euphoric in places.

The two-piece Town Heroes were charming and solid. Judging the results of the first four-piece album, now they're bigger and better. Check out the release shows coming up at:

Oct. 12 - The Seahorse Tavern, Halifax
Oct. 13 - The Cave, Sydney, N.S.
Oct. 19 - Hunter's Ale House, Charlottetown
Oct. 20 - Glasgow Square, New Glasgow, N.S.
Oct. 26 - Pepper's Pub, Saint John, N.B.
Oct. 27 - Plan B, Moncton, N.B.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: THE DOORS - WAITING FOR THE SUN 50th ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION

Waiting For The Sun hasn't had the best reputation over these 50 years, but a lot of that has to do with the back story as much as what got put on the record. Reacting badly to his fame and fan reaction to his image, Jim Morrison showed up drunk to the sessions, and some of the energy of the group's first two albums was missing. Also, they'd exhausted their stage repertoire of proven material, and had to stretch for more. Famously, Morrison was unable to come up with a usable version of his new epic, The Celebration Of The Lizard, supposed to be a full album side, which instead got truncated to the unmemorable smaller cut Not To Touch The Earth. To make up for the shortfalls, the band returned to some old 1965 demos for cuts to record.

Lucky. That's where they found and reworked the cut Hello, I Love You, a huge hit that helped propel the album to the top of the charts. And there were other major songs, especially The Unknown Soldier and Five To One, the latter including the memorable line "No One Here Gets Out Alive." And it's not like the rest of the album was junk, as cuts such as Love Street and Spanish Caravan enjoyable. It's just that they weren't The End.

For this edition, original engineer Bruce Botnick has overseen a brand new stereo remaster of the album, and provided detailed notes on the improved sound. There's also a new 180-gram pressing for you vinyl hounds. The bonus audio has been changed from the 40th anniversary edition, which included the several working and discarded versions of The Celebration Of The Lizard, plus an instrumental, examples of the failed work. This time, Botnick has found an old tape of rough mixes they did at the time, which are much more enjoyable, showing a few elements that were long buried, and a little more roughness to the tracks. Nine of the final eleven cuts are included. Also, a tape has surfaced of part of a show in Copenhagen in August of 1968. The fidelity is pretty rough, it's only mono, but historically it's pretty interesting, with versions of the new cuts Hello, I Love You, Five To One and The Unknown Soldier being unveiled, as well as the favourite blues Back Door Man, and a recitation of the poem (not the song) The Wasp (Texas Radio and the Big Beat). All in all, this set goes a long way to improving the image of Waiting For The Sun.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: BOB MARLEY - KAYA 40th ANNIVERSARY

Well, what to do with the Bob Marley catalogue? All his major albums have been reissued not once, not twice, but now three times in the dying CD era, but there's still demand for new editions, especially when those magic anniversary dates show up. For Kaya, his biggest chart success of his regular albums (excluding the mega-selling Legend collection, of course), it's the big 4-0, and labels are loathe to pass that by. But it's already had a bonus track added one time, and a whole live album including last time. And it's not like there were a lot of out-takes, since the friggin' album was made up of leftovers in the first place, as Marley had recorded way too much for the previous album, Exodus, and scrapped this together a few months later.

That leaves the riskiest option, the remix. Risky, because unless you really mess around with the tracks, people will just say, 'Why bother?' And when you do start deconstructing and dramatically changing things, you open the results to criticism from purists. The Marley family however hasn't shied away from such projects, allowing outsiders to come in for attempts, and letting the kids have their way with the original masters as well. In this case, it's son Stephen doing the project.

For those without the original album, it's included on disc one, with Stephen's remixes on the second. As for the original, it has a spotty reputation. Coming off the wildly successful Exodus, which solidified Marley as the crusading Third World superstar, Kaya sold great, but let down lots for its lack of political and social material. That had all gone on Exodus, and Kaya was meant to show the more easy-going side of Bob. These were love and relationship songs, plus a couple about ganja. including the title cut. It's best known for the charming Is This Love, certainly a grand track, but there's really nothing else that reaches that lofty grade. Two of the cuts are remakes of his early, pre-star Jamaican hits, Sun Is Shining, and Satisfy My Soul, and don't better the originals. However, these are all done with his great later band, and the easy feel of the album is enjoyable, if not exactly inspiring or a call to revolution.

The remixes are pretty major, with the younger Marley going back to the session tapes, and finding old demo vocals, then matching those with different takes than the final versions, often at different tempos. So rather than the usual studio effects and buried parts brought up, what we have are essentially all-new versions. So, better? Hmm, different, most of them. He leaves This Is Love pretty much alone, but a track like Crisis gets a different feel altogether. My main problem is that on a few tracks, the lead vocal from Bob now sounds odd; for some reason he was singing strangely, and the best I can do to describe it is to say it sounds a little like Adam Sandler singing Marley. That's disconcerting, right? That's how I felt. While Stephen has brightened the sound, I miss the old-school echo and more spacious mix of the originals.

The overall idea of the remix album doesn't offend me. Experiment away, next generations, as long as the original is nearby for reference and to avoid rewriting history. But in the end, I don't think this attempt adds much to our appreciation, and I'd advise finding the version with the live album instead. This set is also available as a two-album collection on vinyl.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS - LOVE JUNK DELUXE

Thirty years on, Love Junk sounds just as good, if not better. Better, because we can appreciate what a remarkable achievement it was and how much it outpaces most other music of that year. This baby holds up, outside of trends and techniques. It rocks, rocks a lot. And it's well-written, both lyrically and musically, great blasting pop songs with smart and fun lyrics. Dig it out again, or get this expanded deluxe reissue, and you'll be surprised.

It's the home of THAT song, I'm An Adult Now, the insanely catchy and buzz-worthy cut that won the band much coveted airplay on MuchMusic at the height of its power. Cut as an indie single and self-produced video, the band went from nothing to national heroes, and even sparked a U.S. bidding war for their services. Signing with Chrysalis Records, Moe Berg was asked who he'd like as a producer, and in the same way one might blurt out "George Martin" or "Quincy Jones", he named Todd Rundgren. To this day, Rundgren calls Love Junk one of the very best albums he ever did, and he did Bat Out Of Hell and We're An American Band and a whole bunch of other million-sellers. By all accounts it was a perfect relationship, Rundgren making the young group sound great, but leaving their unique qualities intact. letting them play much like a live band.

After THAT song, there's not a weak track on the album, and very little similarity among the cuts. Just think of the three best-known cuts; Adult, She's So Young and Hard To Laugh, each with a completely different tempo and structure. This is a master class in songwriting, How To Mix It Up. Then there's the connective material, the stuff that defines the band. What always stands out to me is the vocals, Berg's everyman delivery along with the slightly off-kilter harmonies from Kris Abbott and Leslie Stanwick. There are great dynamics, with choruses that slap and shine, huge sugary blasts that last. It's super-punchy and sneaky loud.

Well, I could go on, it's one of my favourite Canadian albums and yours too, eventually going platinum. This anniversary edition adds a second CD worth of more excellent cuts, including finished cuts not used on the album but completely worthy, some pre-Todd demos, live cuts and the renowned first version of I'm An Adult Now, the hit single take. There's also a very good booklet featuring memories from all the band members, written by long-time fan, Rolling Stone contributing editor David Wild. The band still does occasional dates, which rock of course, so catch 'em if you can.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: JW-JONES - LIVE

Jones is a sneaky fellow. He plays it pretty cool on the first couple of numbers in this live set, some easy-going, good time cuts, no guitar heroics. But then, on I Don't Believe A Word You Say, he absolutely shreds, tearing a new F-hole in his guitar. Then he turns Howlin' Wolf's Moanin' At Midnight into something new, a little bit of a Hendrix-psych excursion.

Guitar's only part of Jones' show, as he proves on this album recorded in Gatineau. He throws a big mixed bag of a party, from the jump blues of B.B. King's Early Every Morning to the vocal R'n'B of The "5" Royales' Catch That Teardrop. He even finds a groove for Dylan's Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You, one of the 11 previously-unreleased songs by Jones found here.

The album closes with a show-stopper, a wonderful medley of iconic guitar riffs, some 17 that everyone knows, from Hawaii Five-O to Day Tripper to Oh Pretty Woman. Best of all, Jones manages to bring the fun and fireworks from the club stage right to through to your home, definitely not an easy trick.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: TOM PETTY - AN AMERICAN TREASURE

As Benmont Tench explains in the liner notes to this four CD collection, there was much more to Petty than Free Fallin' and Refugee and Runnin' Down A Dream, and his friends and family want the world to hear it. Compiled by Petty's longtime bandmates Mike Campbell and Tench, plus his daughter and wife, the set is all about love. I'm not being trite about that, the liner notes and track-by-track comments make that perfectly clear. The goal is to allow fans to find new sides to Petty, and to focus on exceptional music that has perhaps been glossed over by most in favour of the hits.

To do that, the group (essentially his family) has chosen tracks from several different sources. Of major note is the inclusion of a handful of previously unreleased tracks, completed songs that for minor reasons were left off albums. Without a doubt, each of these is of the high quality expected of Petty albums. There are no throw-aways and certainly no duds. That includes the powerful opener Surrender, a long-time live favourite first recorded in 1976, that was used to open the group's early concerts. Again quoting Tench about why it never made an album, "I don't know what we were thinking." More such cuts follow, including an unissued single from the pre-Heartbreakers band Mudcrutch, and songs from sessions for albums such as Long After Dark, Echo and Hypnotic Eye. There's about an album's worth of such material here, and if that alone had been released, it would be considered a major addition to Petty's legacy.

There are plenty of new live tracks included, again from all over his career. These have been chosen for their intensity, emotion, and for radically different arrangements. One of the very first live versions of Listen To Her Heart comes from a radio station, small audience recording, and it's a treat to hear the group still having to fight to prove themselves. I Won't Back Down is offered in an acoustic stage version, highlighting the harmonies. Insider, from 2006, features guest vocals from Stevie Nicks, who had joined the tour. There are lots of live Petty albums, EP's and tracks out there already, but these different versions add a lot to appreciate his varied stage shows.

In addition to unused studio cuts, Petty and the group also tended to work through songs in more than one arrangement, finally settling on the one to make the final list. There are quite a few alternate versions, including the track Don't Fade One Me from Wildflowers, here presented with Mike Campbell doing a lot of fingerpicking throughout. Rebels, in an early version, has a bigger sound, more drums and a more rocking take. A string section on You're Gonna Get It is moved up in the mix on the version here, making it quite different in the Petty catalogue. And some wrongs have been righted from the '80's, as several cuts with added, dated effects like drum samples have been stripped off, returning the songs to the more organic band versions first cut.

Lastly, the compilers picked a bunch of album cuts from over the years to highlight, definitely not the well-known numbers, but examples of what they believe feature the very best qualities, especially focusing on Petty's songwriting. Yes, fans will own them already, but they really fit the flow, and remind us all of the ongoing excellence, especially from the later, lesser-heard records. Money Becomes King from 2002's The Last DJ is a great example of his storytelling, how he'd take a character and tell a wise tale, giving us a good look at his morals and true heart. While these songs have gone under the radar in his career, their excellence shines in this format.

There are plenty of more takes, live concerts, unreleased songs and even more angles to study still left over. I have the feeling it will never feel like scraping the bottom of the barrel, as Petty and his bandmates approached each song and each concert with great respect, for the art and for the tradition of rock 'n' roll bands. And the commitment to respect his music is obviously at the heart of this release. As Benmont Tench says in the notes, his heart is as broken as everyone else's.  It was one year ago today that Petty died, and it's still just as painful a realization. This helps me deal with that loss.