Taranna Trip: Preface

TARANNA: As I mentioned in an earlier post, my Dad and I made were in Taranna recently. I bought musics, and will tell you about all of it. I plan to keep the posts super short, and to try to hone my Briefly Telling You Something Informatively skills.

(ARGUABLY UNNECESSARY) RESCUE MISSIONS: I keep a .txt list of all my music (artists and titles) on my phone. Apparently it needs an overhaul because on this last trip I bought a few items I already own. They were:

BMV:

Rheostatics – Greatest Hits. I will forever love the Rheos, and not only because they called their first album their Greatest Hits. Turns out I already had this CD. And the LP.

Atoms For Peace – Amok (Deluxe Edition). I already own the CD. And the LP. But this was a shiny lovely deluxe fold-out CD edition for cheap, which I did not have. Unnecessary? Yes but also no.

SONIC BOOM:

Rollins Band – Nice (Advance CD). This is just the album (which I already own), with some promotional content added to the CD (which I also already own). This was a rescue mission (and my third copy). Because ROLLINS.

Mounties – Thrash Rock Legacy. I already own this CD, but it’s Hawksley (et al.) and it was in the clearance for $2.99 so I could not leave it to languish. I will find it a good home.

OK. First CD from BMV posts tomorrow.

Rheostatics – Music From The Motion Picture Whale Music

Another Taranna score…

I sure do love me some Rheostatics, and for some reason I did not own this one already, so buy with confidence, did I!

Not to be confused with their studio album entitled Whale Music, this is their score/soundtrack for the film Whale Music. If you’ve read the book – and I totally recommend you read the book and then see the movie… both are excellent, I just loved the book long before I saw the flick and so I guess I figure everyone should do it the way I did it… of course – you’ll know intuitively that they absolutely nailed this project. The music is perfectly suited to the story, impeccably representing what I heard in my head when Desmond’s music was being described. Right down to adding the scratch of a 45 to Torque Torque. Brilliance.

Hit It Or Quit It? Absolute Hit.

Rheostatics – Night Of The Shooting Stars

Here’s another absolute gem from the amazing Sonic Boom, found during our most recent trip to Toronto. We played this one in the car on the way home from our trip, and I fell in love with it all over again…

Rheostatics – Night Of The Shooting Stars

I can’t pick favourites. I love all the Rheos albums. And this one is no different, chock full of great songs and creative fun genius. Honestly, that could be written about any of their albums…

I used to own this record, back when we lived in Saskatoon, and I know for sure that I suffered a total brain fart and sold it off before we moved. So often in my life, I’ve gone looking for an album and then realized I sold it off and, quite honestly, stood before my CD shelf and said “fuck!” But no matter, I’ve secured another copy and now all is right with the world again.

One of my favourite tunes of theirs opens up this one, the wonderfully titled These Days Are Good For The Canadian Conservative Youth Party Alliance. Haha what a great tune. Then there’s Mumbletypeg, the beauty of We Went West (“I find the tightest knit live in wide open spaces”) and… oh hell. Every track here is an absolute gem. A perfect record.

This band is deserving of all praise.

Buy this. Buy it yesterday.

Rheostatics – The Blue Hysteria

Here’s another gem that I found at Sonic Boom in Toronto on my trip there in May. It was $2.99, which once again shows that they sometimes drastically underprice works of art…

Rheostatics – The Blue Hysteria

I like to play word association when I think of Rheostatics: creative brilliant weird noisy adventurous colourful rawk stories intelligent fun…

See? For those of you who already know the Rheos’ work, and maybe even have heard/own this album, you’re nodding along in agreement and thinking the same thing I am, that these guys were popular, it’s true, but they should have been even bigger. It’s not a reflection on their work, so much as it’s a commentary on the state of modern rock radio that these guys weren’t everywhere all the time.

I could go into specifics for each song, like the obvious Neil Young homage of Bad Time To Be Poor, the science fiction fun of Fat, the 70s rawk (Blue Oyster Cult, anyone?) of Feed Yourself, or the roomy 60s swing of The Idiot… hell, Four Little Songs has so many songs in it all by itself… But trying to tell you about each song isn’t fair. Even listing off those few is just the tip of the iceberg. Besides, I might hear one thing, you’d hear another, so let’s just leave it as:

Rheo albums are so good, so varied, so smart, and the Blue Hysteria is another such work in their discography. It’s jangly pop, straight up rock, psychedelic beauty, crunchy metal chunks, and band geek humour all in one. This is what happens when you put superlative players together and let them give full rein to their imaginations. There’s so much going on in each track, it demands repeat listens. One spin does not do it justice.

Full marks. I loved this album.

Ani DiFranco, Julie Doiron, Rheostatics

Ani DiFranco – Not So Soft*

Second record, definitely early days, and its a classic. This record, like all others, is a real guitar showcase for her, and all the gentle, awesome tunes here add up to a superlative album of song s you cannot live without hearing. Not so soft? You got that right!

Ani DiFranco – Red Letter Year*

Right from the trippy drift-off intro track we’re well into another record of very adventurous and great full-band tracks that prove this incredible artist just keeps growing. You know her sound, you know what’s here… I always loved just her guitar but these tracks with a full band are excellent. What an album! This is great highway roadtrip music, for sure.

Ani DiFranco – Which Side Are You On?*

All gorgeous, full band beauty. These are almost theatrical tunes, with great sections of syncopation. A banjo into an electric (still old feel) and that’s only the first three tracks! Ani just keeps getting better and better, and she was fucking brilliant to start with…

Rheostatics – 2067*

I’m not even sure if I know how to write-up a genius Rheos record like this without screwing it up. How does one put words on everything contained herein? We all love the Rheos, right? So… All I’ll say is that this is fucking brilliant and you’ve gotta get this!

Julie Doiron – Woke Myself Up*

I love Julie Doiron’s music. With Eric’s Trip, all the solo and side stuff… so, my bias will show. From the opener’s great bounce rock, the acoustic and drums of the second track, the guitar waltz of track three, the gentle her and guitar of track four that builds into a full band mover, and the gorgeous acoustic/voice of track five… and so on and so on and so on… YES. Julie Doiron. Love love love.

* Bought on last year’s trip to Toronto with Mike.

Not So Soft

Red Letter Year

Which Side Are You On?

2067

Woke Myself Up

Haiku Vol. 4! Calexico, Blitzen Trapper, Rheostatics, Bob Dylan, and Pearl Jam

Calexico – A Feast Of Wire

hot clear southern nights
majestic shuffle waltz sound
last call came and went

Blitzen Trapper – Furr

whipsmart folk rock tunes
Beck and The Band all in one
much on offer here

Rheostatics – Double Live

superb live Rheos
so much talent it boggles
I miss this great group

Bob Dylan – Together Through Life

the master is back
ballsy bluesy gritty strong
so sweet and so real

Pearl Jam – Ten Redux

sublime re-release
a mind-blowing first record
you have to own this

n.b. I bought the 3-disc deluxe edition of the Ten re-release, not the glorious mega-box that (to this day) I frequently see in my dreams. Still, this set is so yummy it makes me tingly just knowing it’s sitting there, waiting for me to play it again. And again.