Mail From Cataraqui: KMA Edition

Posted on by keepsmealive Posted in posts by aaronTagged ,

Mail From Cataraqui: KMA Edition

subtitle: The AAAA Welcomes New Residents!

Recently, Mike received awesomeness in the mail from the illustrious Geoff over at stephen1001. Well, it appears stephen1001 has been very busy because a parcel arrived here at the KMA’s Ontario offices this week as well!

First, let me express incalculable thanks to Geoff for these goodies!! Holy crap, man, I couldn’t believe it!

As Mike said in the intro to his post on the parcel he received, “The only thing sweeter than the arrival of an Amazon order, or that of imported Transformers toys from China, is surprise mail from a fellow music lover.” I couldn’t agree more. Now, Mike reports that he had received a cryptic email from Geoff about possible items for his collection… I don’t recall receiving such emails, so this parcel arrived out of the blue!

And what an amazing collection of items it is!

1) Chart Club Magazine CD1: Sloan – Work Cut Out (1998)

Listed as “1 of 8500 released with May, 1998 issue of CHART MAGAZINE,” this Limited Edition promo contains the excellent Sloan track Work Cut Out. Originally, this song was an exclusive track on the Japanese edition of the album Navy Blues. I know I never heard it, back in 1998! Years went by and, finally, Sloan released this on their digital-only B-Sides Win compilation in 2010. I did get that compilation, but this is the first physical copy of the song I’ve ever seen. I have to think is is fairly rare.* Sloan fans unite!! HOLY CRAP THANK YOU GEOFF!

2) Watchmen – Beach Tunes (1996)

I did not even know this CD existed. On the front cover it says it’s “A Limited Edition CD Single For Fans Only.” Discogs doesn’t list it. A quick Google search only coughed up a request on a Pearl Jam message board for anyone owning one these to consider selling it.*

Listed as MCA Canada MCADS 9629, it says right on the CD that it was promotional-only. I’m thinking fan club? Can anyone confirm this guess? Oh my goodness, this is incredible.

The tracks were all exclusive:

01 Lucky As I Am (previously unreleased)^
02 Boneyard Tree (live)^^
03 I’m Still Gone (live)^^^

^ I did a Google search, and only found lyrics for it, and a Youtube video (audio only). I guess it’s rare?
^^ Recorded live in Hiversum, Holland, May 1995.
^^^ Recorded live at Sunfest ’94, Gimli, Manitoba

Oh my goodness. I cannot wait to hear all of this goodness!

Geoff. Geoff! GEOFF!! These are truly stunning gifts. THANK YOU!! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!

 

* If you’ve Googled your way to this post in your own search for a copy of these CDs, sorry, I won’t ever sell these pieces of gold. But rest assured, they are living in a loving home with a huge Sloan and Watchmen fan. Good luck to you in your search!

21 thoughts on “Mail From Cataraqui: KMA Edition”

  2. Reply
    mikeladano says:

    Absolutely killer. Where does he find this stuff? I never saw either in my time at the store (that I can remember).

    It probably comes as no surprise that I have the Japanese Navy Blues! It was very expensive.

    Like

  3. Reply
    stephen1001 says:

    You’re welcome, You’re welcome, You’re welcome!

    I can confirm the Watchmen was a fan club treat – I was on a bunch of mailing lists in the 90s and bands used to send neat newsletters, stickers, even the odd promo cd. I remember CanCon groups like 54-40, The Watchmen, and the Hip were among those who seemed to make an effort to communicate with fans in that way.

    I think I got the Sloan (excuse me, Slooooooooooan!) one with a free chart magazine at Edgefest ’98. A great Chris Murphy tune that I was thrilled to send to a great new home, enjoy!

    Like

    1. Reply
      keepsmealive says:

      SO. AWESOME.

      I remember I was something close to a Hip fan club member for a while. I had a little black card in my wallet with gold writing on it, but I don’t remember ever getting anything from them. Maybe I did it wrong. Hahahaaaa.

      THANKS AGAIN!!!!!!!!

      Liked by 1 person

          1. Reply
            stephen1001 says:

            Probably a bit of column a, bit of column b – because it was before the days of entering codes online (ticket pre-sales etc). Probably just a neat novelty to have in the wallet!

            Like

            1. Reply
              keepsmealive says:

              I did 30 seconds of Googling and found this on canadianbands.com:

              “IN VIOLET LIGHT saw the light of day in the summer of ’02. Recorded primarily in Nassau with producer Hugh Padgham, it was packaged with a membership card for the band’s online fan club, which offered three bonus tracks for download – “Forest Edge”, “Problem Bears,” and “Ultra Mundane”.”

              If this is the card we had, I am EXTREMELY disappointed that I do not have those three bonus tracks (if I ever did have them…). But IVL was in 2002. My memory could be faulty, but I would have thought this card was from before that?

              Liked by 1 person

                1. Reply
                  keepsmealive says:

                  Yeah, Phantom Power sounds about right. More researches are required.

                  I have really missed out on Tragically Hip b-sides, rare tracks. I could never find many, over all these years. I really hope they do a release (a boxed set!) of b-sides. I figure, what, 4 CDs? 6 CDs? They could charge whatever they wanted, I would be a first-day buyer of that set.

                  Liked by 1 person

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