MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: MAV KARLO - STRANGERS LIKE US

I tell ya, it's next to impossible for musicians to play live, let alone mount a tour, so hats off to the intrepid Mav Karlo, who has travelled all the way from Ontario, plus spent two weeks in required isolation, just so he can play a few dates in Atlantic Canada. That's devotion. And the tour is called, naturally, the “I drove here and slept in my car and only peed on the side of the road and quarantined for two weeks, oh and the shows are all socially distanced” tour.

Wait now, Mav who? Well, you do know him, it's Menno Versteeg, the frontman of the late, lamented Hollerado, always popular on the East Coast. The band called it quits last December in a blizzard of confetti, and Versteeg has reemerged with a new name but the same open and winning personality. The eight-song set, Strangers Like Us, sees him in fine form, albeit stripped back and bit more on the singer-songwriter side than his band days. That's because it's a more introspective set, tackling a rough personal patch and how to figure out what caused the pain.

Far from a pity party, instead Versteeg, er, Mav, jumps in with his bright melodies, good humour and pop instincts intact. Heavy topics don't have to be heavy songs, as he shows in lead cut "Elevator," about highs and lows. "There are days when I feel like I'm a superman," he tells us first, then "There are days when I feel I'm a bacterium."Another great help to the mood is the other main instrument, the voice of Katy Goodman (Vivian Girls), almost a co-vocalist on the album.

Versteeg is honouring the East, as these are the first shows he is doing under the Mav Karlo name. Come out and see him, he sure went to a lot of work to come see you.

November 11 - Trailside - Charlottetown
November 12 - Derby Bar - Halifax
November 13 - Bannermans - St. John’s
November 14 - Bannermans - St. John’s
November 15 - Bannermans - St. John’s

November 18 - River House - Newport Corner, NS

November 19 - The Capitol - Fredericton
November 20 - The Timber Lounge - Moncton
November 21 - The Old Sydney Society - Sydney

 

BOOK REVIEW: KEITH R. BROWN - TRULY UNFAMOUS: Tales From The Glory Days Of Canadian Rock

The fascinating early days of the modern Canadian music industry, after the arrival of CanCon in the early '70's, is a rich source of hilarious stories and great memories for boomers, those of us who developed their love of music in this era. Where Britain had its Beatles and Stones in the '60's, Canada had April Wine and The Stampeders and a couple of dozen other homegrown talents. These were the bands that treated so many of us to our first real rock concerts, usually at the local hockey rink with plywood covering the ice and a couple of thousand teenagers crammed into the arena. Those bands, including Crowbar and Lighthouse, Mashmakhan, the early Rush, and perennial opening acts James Leroy with Denim and The Ian Thomas Band were the heroes of the road, as famous in Northern B.C. as they were in Atlantic Canada. They were on the radio, and brought a lot of magic into our lives, at least as much as we could stand on a Tuesday night with school the next day. We're going to scream, they're going to let off a smoke bomb, and my dad is parked outside, waiting for the show to end to drive us home.

Keith Brown was right in the middle of the scene during all those days, starting as the kid cleaning the floor at the rock star bar of choice in Montreal, and ending up running Aquarius Records, home to April Wine, Corey Hart and Sass Jordan. The story of how he got there is classic, in the right place at the right time, and an eyewitness and insider to the stories of the stars and the behind-the-scenes characters who ruled the scene. As a tour manager he ran the show and babysat the musicians, ruling the roost on the road and backstage at the venues. That included the big ones, like The Forum in Montreal, and the duds like the arena in Yarmouth, with the floor still covered in hay and horse dung from the agricultural fair. He met the big stars, with big problems; The Who's Keith Moon in full Loon behaviour, The Rolling Stones' truck suffering a bomb attack, and getting hired to be a "Jim-Carrier," to carry a drunk Jim Morrison to and from the stage. But the best stories come from the beloved Canuck rockers, as Brown and the bands roll across the country, pioneers in the touring business in the country.

Brown worked for the Donald K Donald group, the gang that invented the coast-to-coast tour circuit. It's a rare treat to get a seat on those tour busses, hearing the craziness and dumb luck  that went on all day and night, wondering how Brown and any of them survived. He also lets us understand just how unglamorous it all was, from bad meals and worse sleep, car crashes and bike gangs, and Mounties trying to set up April Wine on a dope bust in Tisdale, SK.Then there are the cheap laughs, back break-ups and bad burns from faulty pyro.

Brown is a surprisingly strong writer, and if you were one of those kids in the hockey rink at your first rock show, this will be a page-turner for you. He's also done a great service, getting these stories down before they are lost to history.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: JANN ARDEN - HITS & OTHER GEMS

 

With her big personality, ubiquitous media presence and tremendous wit, we often forget what brought to her prominence in the first place, her songwriting. But it doesn't take long to zip through this best-of to remind us of the quantity and the quality of her writing chops. From her first hit, "I Would Die For You," through her break-out album Living Under June, with cuts like "Could I Be Your Girl" and "Good Mother," up to 2017's "Everybody's Pulling On Me," Arden's backed up all other charms with that bedrock talent.

Her other major weapon is dynamic voice, which lets her own the covers she chooses. That includes "Insensitive," still her best-known hit, and her very strong remake of Lesley Gore's "You Don't Own Me," already a brilliant song that she manages to equal. This compilation does a good job of spreading the love a bit further than her biggest, early hits, leaving room for excellent later tracks such as "Cherry Popsicle" and "Sleepless." That does mean it's not a thorough compilation though, omitting huge fan favourites including "Unloved" and "You Don't Know Me," the Eddy Arnold cover.

Instead, this is a cross-promotion set to tie in with her popular TV show, Jann, now in season two. That means we get songs that are being featured in those shows, including the original cut "Mother Mine," with actress Zoie Palmer. There's a live version of "Insensitive," taken from a CTV-aired concert (quite good too, stripped back with piano and excellent backing vocals), and another new release, a cool cover of the Cure's "Lovesong," from Scott Helman's Hotel Sessions show. There's probably some new, young fans out there from the TV show who are just starting to learn about Jann, and this gives them a good primer, plus it has a few novelties for the hardcores.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: DAVID BOWIE - METROBOLIST

 

I know it's pretty much impossible to keep up with the constant flow of David Bowie albums and reissues, such is the volume of material being released. Lots of it is old, repackaged and tarted up, while others are new, out-takes, demos and the like, plus lots and lots of live material. A whopping six live albums from the '90's tour are being released over this fall and next spring, for instance. And don't get me started on coloured vinyl issues.

This one is even more confusing on first look, thanks to its title, and what's inside. It's old, because it's actually the album we've known all along as The Man Who Sold The World, from 1970. It's new though, because of this title, and the track versions. Original producer, bass player and lifelong Bowie pal Tony Visconti has gone back to the original masters and remixed the album, something he (and apparently Bowie) had long wanted to do. Visconti has no-one to blame but himself of course, since he both recorded and mixed the original, but it's more a question of technology at the time, and having the opportunity to do a remix. Its fiftieth anniversary has provided the hook.

The name change, by the way, is a return to Bowie's original name for the album, which was changed sometime after the recordings were made. The cover's different too, reverting to the original U.S. one. The album itself has never been one of the best-loved Bowie discs, coming as it did early on, before the Ziggy blow-up. But there are a couple of familiar tracks, including the title cut (thanks, Nirvana) and "Width Of A Circle," a live favourite. It's really a solid set, and kind of a one-off, coming between the folky Space Oddity album of '69 and Hunky Dory, stripped back and kooky. Here, Bowie was introducing his new team, the band called The Hype, basically The Spiders From Mars, but with Visconti on bass. It's a rock set, Mick Ronson in particular on fire, some of his best work with Bowie, matching up with the iconic work on Ziggy Stardust.

What's great about the remix is a more prominent and cleaner sound on each instrument, lifted out of the middle and given some space. MIck Woodmansey's drums in particular power through, and both Visconti and Ronson own their moments. This was a shit-hot band, and I think the fact they weren't noticed at the time was the fault of the material. Bowie was learning how to write these rockers, some of them felt rather dark, and they were hard to figure out. "The Man Who Sold The World" is a gem, for sure, but the album needed more of that, and not the unmemorable "Saviour Machine." Tell you what though, it's a better listen now, a good rock album for sure, and the remix will help its long-term reputation.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: JOHN LENNON - GIMME SOME TRUTH

 

I'm sure any Lennon fan worth their salt has at least one of the many greatest hits sets from over the years, whether it's Shaved Fish (1975), The John Lennon Collection (1982), Lennon Legend (1997), Working Class Hero (2005), Power To The People (2010), or one of the various box sets or soundtrack collections. So in order to celebrate John's 80th, something new would be required. What this set offers is pretty much the usual setlist, but now with newly remixed sound. The 36 tracks have been sourced from the original master tapes, and remixed according to the family's wishes. Yoko and Sean wanted first and foremost to have a cleaner sound, and increase John's vocals in the mix. They haven't messed around with the instruments, like the recent Beatles remixes for Abbey Road or Sgt. Pepper, but instead gave them a basic cleaning-up.

This is most noticeable on the early productions, singles such as "Instant Karma" and "Power To The People," produced in a lump of sound by Phil Spector. Others, such as "Cold Turkey" and "Give Peace A Chance" were simply not made with clarity as a priority. So these simply sound better, warmer in the vocals, and less sloppy. Same goes for the tracks from Rock 'n' Roll, "Stand By Me" and "Angel Baby," another album crunched together by the erratic Spector, as his talents continued to erode. The live "Come Together" from 1972 sounds way better too, Lennon now way up from in your ears.

Time to use your surround sound too, as the 5.1 mix is put to great effect. There's a little more mix fun here with the extra channels, and a very enjoyable experience listening to these very familiar tracks. Well, not all of them are very familiar. There's a couple of deep album cuts from the Mind Games lp, "Out Of The Blue" and "I Know (I Know)," plus "Angela" from Some Time In New York City, a good song from a so-so album. It's there as a replacement for the usual inclusion on these packages, the minor hit "Woman Is The (N-word) Of The World," which isn't very popular at all these days.

The other big part of this set is the very gorgeous hard-cover book. I know, it's all packaging, and they charge a ton for it, but this book is simple and smart and attractive. Instead of wasting time on self-serving essays, it's mostly made up of great photos and great individual articles on each song. And the info comes largely from Lennon himself, excerpts from various interviews, essentially the stories of the songs from the horse's mouth. You have to decide whether you need another Lennon set, but if you're wondering if there's anything new, the answer is yes.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: YUSUF/CAT STEVENS - TEA FOR THE TILLERMAN 2

Usually when veterans re-record their old hits, it's nothing radical. They may do acoustic versions, or add strings, maybe invite superstars for duets. Basically they don't change much, and the results are simply a way for their labels to milk a little more out of the same old songs.

Cat, or Yusuf, bravely reworks much of his 50-year old classic. That's mostly in the arrangements, instruments and melodies. He does make one notable lyric switch, changing "Looking for a hard-headed woman" to "found myself a hard-headed woman," which is more appropriate now for him. That song, and "Where Do The Children Play" kick things off, and are two of the least restructured tunes. But then you're hit with the beloved "Wild World." It's completely restructured, with a reggae beat and klezmer touches, accordion and clarinet.

And so it continues, more and more surprises and radical reinventions. There's even a brief hip-hop shout-out, nothing tacky, more like Yusuf being inclusive.  He does leave the venerated "Father And Son" largely unchanged, letting his older voice now handle the poignancy. But the rest of the album goes from quirky to unrecognizable, the acoustic flavour of the original replaced by bigger production and more instruments.  It's different and I still like it.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: NEON DREAMS - THE HAPPINESS OF TOMORROW

 

 

Halifax Juno Award-winning duo Neon Dreams turn the tables on '90's youthful angst with a cohesive seven-song set on how to find the positive. Singing to and for the wallflowers, loners and smart worriers, singer Frank Kadillac takes us through a semi-autobiographical trip, from being down and invisible ("Lifestyles Of The Broke And Nameless") to the closing, title track, dedicated to the friends who can help you make it through.

Along the way, the songs are filled with big alt-pop retro moments, triumphant synths and joyous choruses. Even better, these relatable and clever lyrics. "All The People is about trying to fit in, against your better instincts: "You use those words 'cause they're the words that everybody's using now/Those songs you hate, you sing along 'cause everybody's singing now." There's the crushing everyday blues, in "Lifestyles Of The Broke And Nameless," dedicated to Kadillac's younger self: "This for the young and hopeless, same pill, same diagnosis."  And even setting the scene becomes a moment of reflection: "Don't even know what I've been looking for/But I ain't gonna find it at a house party."

The band's been dropping singles and videos, and the full release comes out November 13. They've also managed to book a full East Coast tour for the month (with proper Covid-19 protocols in place). It kicks off in the Maritimes, before heading to Newfoundland for seven shows. Here are the first few dates:

Nov. 12 - Halifax Convention Centre

Nov. 13 - Halifax Convention Centre

Nov. 14 - Saint John Imperial Theatre

Nov. 15 - Moncton Capitol Theatre

Nov. 16 - Fredericton Playhouse