MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: AARON COMEAU - EXILE

When was the last time you bought an instrumental collection? And I don't mean classical or jazz or soundtracks, something that is commonly vocal-less. Our popular listening habits have changed dramatically in the last four decades, and even Booker T. Jones sings on his albums now. It might surprise folks to realize that back in the late 50s and early 60s, bands often just played instrumentals at gigs, including guitar fans such as Neil Young and Randy Bachman.


There are retro surf bands, and of course, the beloved Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet, but they have been so few and far between, and often it's raunchy guitar rock for guitar fans. Subtle and quiet music is darn hard to find, especially if you want something fresh, modern and smart.


This is the thing, then. Aaron Comeau is an up-and-coming producer and instrumentalist from Toronto, with credits ranging from The Skydiggers (the band's go-to touring guitar player) to Sam Cash to Al Tuck. He runs his own studio, and has put together this all-instrumental set in a unique package. It's a box of five EP's, running from 11 to 28 minutes, each with a different style and theme. He handles the bulk of the playing, either piano, pump organ or guitar, but it also includes two sets and one loose cut featuring a trio with upright bass and drums.


Mood music is the wrong term, for all its connotations, but moody is right. Both the first and fifth discs, This Is What It Sounds Like and Hymns For My Father, are contemplative, and feature a familiar, antique sound that includes the full, rich chords of church music, Protestant hymns. It reminds me of what Garth Hudson said of The Band's so-called rural and Southern music, that much of the melody could be found in the Anglican hymnals he played from in his teens.


The Early Winter set features the trio, and tackles that most Canadian of feelings, when we welcome back the winter, with those touchstones of our identity; the first snowfall, the shorter days, the first time skating. Themes repeat, patterns emerge, heartwarming notes and inspiring chord changes feature in music you feel as much as you hear. Reverence, or The Rise & Fall Of The Good Ship Mathilda is the wild card set, a total improvisation with the trio, the experimental piece.


Exile would be a brave release at any time, even more so as a debut. In a world where we've lost some of the experience of actually stopping and listening to music, and feeling what it's about, perhaps it would make a good debut instrumental album for you. You can find it at aaroncomeau.bandcamp.com/.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: THE ROLLING STONES - TOTALLY STRIPPED

We know the drill, it's been the same since the 70s. The Stones make an album, go on tour, then they release a live album, and a live concert film. It hasn't changed, except they don't bother making new albums any more, since they don't sell, they just put out a super deluxe bonus something box.


Well, there was one time when they shook things up. During the huge Voodoo Lounge tour, it was decided they should shake things up for the usual live album they would record. Unplugged was all the rage then, but the Stones weren't about to slouch into MTV like all those others. They had business around the world, after all. So they designed a Rolling Stones version of unplugged, which would allow them to strip down on certain stages, and play some very different tracks in much more intimate venues. Well, 1500 to 2000 is pretty intimate for them.


The resulting album was probably a bit of a flop in sales terms, considering they could have gone the Unplugged route and sold numbers like Clapton and Rod Stewart and Nirvana. But as for quality, well ... it's easily one of the very best of the many Stones live sets before or since, thanks to the concept they created. With some tracks recorded in the studio in Tokyo with acoustic guitars and a relaxed vibe, plus others done at three shows in small venues in Europe, it was the Stones as we'd never heard them before; a bit like the old club blues band, but now perhaps the best rock and roll machine going, without the oversized silliness of the stadium.


This deluxe set lives up to its name, by giving us pretty much everything from the Stripped shows. It's four DVD's and a CD, housed in a very cool hard-cover book, with the whole story in the notes and a ton of great photos. Everything's better in small halls, as both the photos and video shows. All three of the Stripped shows are included, each with widely varying set lists. The fourth DVD is a reworked version of the documentary on the whole plan, something that didn't get a lot of airing in the first place, it was certainly new to me. The CD isn't the original one either, but a compilation of other tracks from the shows, so you can still keep that original version of Stripped too.


Wow, watching the band interact with the very close audience is great, and you can see so much better what a truly stupendous stage group they were. They were all around 50 at this point, and on top of their game still. Richards and Wood were both on fired, Wood especially enjoying playing lots of slide and acoustic leads. Jagger is so much more enjoyable without all the huge stage antics, and with everybody so close, they were really enjoying each other's company. There's a joy throughout each show, onstage and backstage, and even Charlie seemed happy to be doing something different, and obviously fun for them all.


Famously, this is where they covered Like A Rolling Stone, and it was a darn good choice, despite the corniness of the joke. But there are lots of songs that rarely, or even never made live playlists; Shine A Light debuted live here, and Keith played Between The Button's obscure Connection. The Spider and the Fly got brought back, and cool mini-sets emerged: the faux country numbers Dead Flowers, Sweet Virginia and Faraway Eyes, the early covers Not Fade Away and It's All Over Now, acoustic guitar-led takes of Beast of Burdon, Angie and Let It Bleed. Even Monkey Man shows up one night in Brixton. As Jagger jokes about having to remember all the old lyrics, "It's like being on Rolling Stones quiz show."


There are a few options of what to buy, including just the documentary, a combo pack with the doc and the CD, etc. But I sure love the big set, with all three quite different shows and the great book. If there was ever a better version of Midnight Rambler than the Paris one, I don't know it. If they ever had more fun on stage, I haven't seen it. And if Keith and Mick ever looked happier to be together on the same set, it would have been acting, because here you can't hide the pure pleasure this brought them. Oh, and Charlie smiled. A lot.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: BILL JOHNSON - COLD OUTSIDE

B.C. blues writer Bill Johnson says on the faux-autobiographical cut Nine Dollar Bill, "Don't call it jazz, it's my West Coast jumpin' blues," but don't let him fool you. No it's not jazz, but there's darn near every kind of blues on the veteran's latest. He's a deft hand at each blue style, and not afraid to branch out by throwing in lots of roots moments as well.


Night Train has some Old West mystery in it, a touch of Rawhide guitar, definitely a sundown song. Cold Outside grabs the dirty 30s feel, where cold doesn't just mean the temperature. In My Natural Ability, he take on a slow, B.B. feel: "I got an inclination for the blues, and a natural ability to lose."


As you can tell by the above line, Johnson has a natural ability with words, and the album shines musically from top to bottom, it's the all-original lyrics that make it all new and fresh. Makes A Fella Nervous is a fun cut about being a little paranoid around the police, which sounds old-time, but could be about today. He saves the

killer lyric for last; Angeleen is about a femme fatale of the heart, someone who brings only pain for those who love her. But he feels she'll meet her match, "If there is on Earth some kind of lover's justice." These are the kind of high-quality lyrics I'm far more used to hearing in the singer-songwriter world.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: TUNS

This is the supergroup that comes straight from our hearts and dreams, three of the most fun, creative rock folks in the country from the past two-plus decades.  All with Halifax ties and long-time friends, TUNS is named after the Technical University of Nova Scotia, and features Chris Murphy (Sloan), Matt Murphy (Super Friendz, Flashing Lights) and Mike O'Neill (Inbreds).  These guys revel in hook-filled, sweet-sounding guitar rock, with lots of Beatles and Who moments, while retaining just the right amount of indie cred.  In other words, the 20-year-old record nerd inside me is jumping with joy.  Actually, so is the 55-year-old record fan.  This stuff, unlike me, never gets old.

You wanna rock?  Well, how about Mind Over Matter, with its insistent bass line, machine gun rhythm guitar, and those awesome early Beatles answering harmonies ("Do-you-know/do-you-know?").  While the sound is joyous and all-important, the lyrics are a big part of the fun too, these folks love a great couplet:  "The sun is up, the rain is gone, why you feeling so put-upon?" starts To Your Satisfaction.  And what can you say about the sentimental message of opener Back Among Friends, as great a homage to pop music, their own music, and their friendship as can be:  "Maybe we're riding our luck/but from the first chord that we ever struck/rough and a little too tough/it's been easy and natural, off the cuff."

At nine tracks and 28 minutes, this is over way too fast but lets hope that means more songs left over for more albums.  I can't remember an album I love start to finish more that this in years. 

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: OLD CABIN - SATURN RETURN

Lots going on over six songs and 30 minutes, from pastoral, dreamy folk to outlandish noise to East Coast pop-rock (even though Mr. Cabin, Jona Barr, lives in Whitehorse). There's a ridiculously long list of indie stalwarts playing on the album, which was recording in several locations along the dusty trail. I'm thinking of naming that connecting road of gigs and pals and couches that the alt-Canadian music scene travels, perhaps it should be called "the poutine circuit", in homage to the famous chitlin' circuit in the 50s-60s gospel/soul/r'n'b world. But I digress.


While Barr's vocal is always buried and somewhat ragged, it's often contrasted by clear, ear-sweet elements, like the violin part on opener Where Did You Go, or the bit of organ that peaks through the sludge of that track's second, intense part, called !?!. That's the one that goes all nuts with the distortion and chaos at its end. As if in relief, the rest of the set is relatively pain-free musically at least, with the acoustic strumming of Joe, and its gentle admonishment of a friend touching, with actual nice harmonies.Anyway, a lot to digest in a short time, but that's what the repeat option is for.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: THE HOLLIES - EVOLUTION (2 LP)

In the press for more and more interesting vinyl to tempt the new record buyers, the choices are getting more and more obscure. Nobody has bought Hollies albums in years, and all I ever saw in collections were Greatest Hits; they were a singles band after all. That's despite lots of attempts to break that image; Graham Nash quit the band largely over the internal struggle to get off the Top 40 gravy train and make serious records like the more cool British bands.


I know lots and lots of record collectors and I can't think of one that owned this album, but that's because in 1967, everybody was buying Sgt. Pepper. But even The Hollies were trying to embrace the new psychedelic sounds, and this was their most serious attempt. They insisted they would only record their own compositions, and they wanted to get far out. The cover art was one of the very first psychedelic designs, and inside the songs were filled with special effects; phasing, distortion, all manner of trippy vocals.


Funny though, despite all the attempts, the best songs here have catchy pop underneath the trickery, with the joyous Hollies harmonies bursting out. They were becoming better songwriters, but not in the psychedelic scene. That was better left to the likes of The Pink Floyd; like The Rolling Stones effort of the time, Their Satanic Majesties Request, good songs were somewhat obscured, and a few dumb ideas were allowed because they were, well psychedelic, man.

There are great pop numbers here such as Have You Ever Loved Somebody and You Need Love, as fine as any of their contemporary hits. On the con side, there's the horrible Rain On The Window, with it's "pitter patter, pitter patter" vocal, and a verse pattern stolen from the earlier hit Bus Stop. Ye Old Toffee Shoppe is lame as well, with its harpsichord and "good little boys" buying sweets. I say, Terrance and Phillip.


In case you are that person who has bought this album at some time (I do not know who you are), this is the British version, not the North American. Like many British Invasion bands, they had their albums chopped down from longer lengths in Europe, and here it's 12 cuts instead of the 10 of the U.S./Canadian set. Plus, the original British album had none of their current 45's present, while here they added Carrie Anne to boost interest.


This package features the full psychedelic cover in all its glory (also edited in the North American packaging, the titles changed and cropped), and comes with both the mono and stereo LP's, so you get to decide which you like better. I find a little more depth to the stereo in this case, but both sound great, re-cut from the original master tapes, and pressed on heavyweight vinyl. As it turns out, it was an album I should have had, and it only took 50 years to find out.

MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: THE BEACH BOYS - BECOMING THE BEACH BOYS: THE COMPLETE HITE AND DORINDA MORGAN SESSIONS

Huge boxed sets by The Beach Boys for Pet Sounds and Smile, as well as the fascinating recording studio scenes in the Brian Wilson biopic Love and Mercy have created an interest in the process of making songs. Take after take have been issued, allowing us to listen to the making of a record like Good Vibrations or God Only Knows, with different parts and instruments added and subtracted, vocals flubbed, and lyrics altered. The Beach Boys are not alone in this either; the most recent of the Bob Dylan bootleg series did the very same for his 1965-66 period, including an entire disc of sessions for Like A Rolling Stone.


This two-disc set takes us back to the very creation of the band, even before they were named The Beach Boys, just some suburban L.A. kids who thought surfing might make a good topic for a hit. It's 1961, and the 19-year-old Brian Wilson had dragged his brothers, a cousin and a friend into a local low-level studio, recording for a couple named Hite and Dorinda Morgan, who pretty far down the ladder when it came to the music industry, but a chance is a chance. With a rudimentary mono recording of the song Surfin', written by Wilson and Mike Love, the group got on local radio, got named by a local radio promotion guy, made it to #3 on the charts in Los Angeles and #75 nationally. It was enough to get them in the door at the big time, Capitol Records, and stars were born, with hits such as Surfin' Sufari, Surfer Girl and Surfin' U.S.A. making them the top band in the States for the next five years.


This set shows us it wasn't that quick a process, and how important the six months working with the Morgans were to Wilson, and how much growth the band went through in this short period. Hite Morgan was no great recording genius, and didn't realize he had one right under his nose in Brian. All Morgan did was call out for a new take when a mistake wrecked the recording, and it was left to Brian on the studio floor to figure out how to get a full take from his teenage mob. At this point, they weren't great studio singers, nor were they good players. The instrumentation is as simple as can be, all that they could manage. On Surfin', the percussion is a snare drum played by Brian with his hand. But within a few takes, all heard here, they manage to get it together.


After Surfin' hit, the band was back in, looking for a second single. Now, Wilson brought in more sophisticated tunes, including Surfer Girl and Surfin' Safari. These are early versions, not the hits released a year later by Capitol. The lyrics are very different to the latter track, but the basic tunes and arrangements are fully formed, showing that Wilson had in just a few weeks gone from the simplistic to the sublime, and on his own come up with two future smash hits. The band goes through the process again, several takes of working the songs into a decent shape. But wisely, the band and their manager, the Wilson's father Murray, decided they could do better than the Morgans, and started shopping these tracks around, leading to the Capitol deal.


Some of this music has been available for years of course, and back in the late 60s the Morgans sold most of the tracks to other labels for cheap budget-priced albums. They have filled bargain bins and used stores for years, with titles such as The Beach Boys Biggest Beach Hits, confusing listeners with weaker takes of familiar songs, or a limp instrumental called either Karate or Beach Boys Stomp, 15-year-old Carl Wilson's first attempts at lead guitar. But we've never had all the takes, all the material the Morgans recorded until now. There's the rare Kenny and the Cadets single, where the Morgans hired Brian, Carl and even their mother Audree to sing on a couple of tracks to try to cash in on the Barbie doll craze. Brian's pure falsetto sounds great on that one. There's even a version of Surfer Girl where Morgan added an unknown session singer as the lead voice later in the track, which completely recasts the very famous song.


I can't say everybody will be entranced by this process, hearing several takes of the same song, and only nine different cuts over two-plus hours of listening. But if you're into the history of the great bands, and enjoy the unfolding of the important moments, this kind of set is lots of fun.