Five Bucks On By-Tor

Goodbye

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Wed, 06 May 2009 03:22:00 +0000

All things, good and bad, must come to an end. And today, after three and a half years and exactly 350 posts, it's this blog's turn to take a bow and ride off into the electronic sunset. I will continue to collect Canadian records and contribute to It Came From Canada, and I'm hoping to at some point host a DJ night at a bar featuring the music I posted here, but this is almost certainly the last of Five Bucks On By-Tor.

I'd like to thank everyone who took an interest in FBOBT over the years; I set up an account at StatCounter in December of 2006, and since then this blog had over 80,000 visitors, which wasn't half-bad for a site I got the idea for while drinking in my living room one night. The best thing about running Five Bucks was listening to all of the fantastic music I was lucky enough to dig up, but the second-best thing was hearing from music enthusiasts, Canadiana freaks and family members of artists I featured (and occasionally the actual musicians themselves), all of whom provided me with a wealth of information, feedback and motivation. It was deeply gratifying to learn that this music, which was usually out of print and/or otherwise forgotten by the culture at large, could still strike a chord with people in this day and age.

And so...thanks again, and farewell. If you're ever in a Toronto thrift store or record shop and see a guy with a red backpack and a stack of Canadian records set aside, say hello.

Gene MacLellan

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Sun, 03 May 2009 12:25:00 +0000

Country singer Gene MacLellan made his first appearance on this site way back in April of 2006. Shortly thereafter I somehow misplaced that LP, but was recently fortunate enough to find a cheap copy of this one, entitled Street Corner Preacher, on eBay. Since then I've learned a bit more about the melancholy troubadour's life and times, and as it turns out MacLellan fought a lifelong battle against depression, a battle he lost in January of 1995 when he took his own life. The liner notes on this album state that at various points in his life he worked as an apple picker, potato harvester, dishwasher and mental hospital attendant in addition to his musical career, which included stints as a gospel singer and rock band guitarist. Still best-known as the guy who wrote "Snowbird" (a massive hit for Anne Murray and many others), his plaintive take on '70s-style country is long-overdue for a rediscovery.

Street Corner Preacher was produced and arranged by Brian and Trish Ahern, and recorded at Woodland Sound Studios in Nashville and Eastern Sound in Toronto. Every song on the LP was written by MacLellan. The title track is a funky defense of those guys you see ranting about the end times on street corners, and Gene's take on "Isle Of St. Jean" is slower and groovier than The Rhythm Pals' sweeping version, but it's pretty good, too. "Face In The Mirror" is the lament of a drinker seeing his own face, alone, staring back from the mirror behind the bar at closing time, and "Hard As I Try" is a weepy lost-love ballad.

Street Corner Preacher
Isle Of St. Jean
Face In The Mirror
Hard As I Try

Allan J. Ryan

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:16:00 +0000

There isn't much about folk singer Allan J. Ryan on the internet, aside from his personal website, but these days he holds a chair in Aboriginal Art and Culture at Carleton University. His personal site includes a collection of newspaper concert reviews, and it would appear as though he was a campus favourite at Canadian universities during the late '60s.

For You To Know Me (released on Columbia in 1970) was recorded by producers Mike Berniker and John Williams, with arrangements by George Andrews, at CBS New York and Toronto Sound Studios. Ryan, who also played guitar, was backed up by an impressive assemblage of studio talent; Ray Berliner, Elliot Randall, Hugh McCracken and Eric Weissberg on guitar, John Miller and Joe Mack on bass and Buddy Saltzman on drums. The overall sound is a sort of lush folk-rock, with strings and other instruments such as flute filling out the mix. The title track is a sweeping, I'm-a-sensitive-guy epic, while "Crawfish" (credited to Fred Wise and Ben Weisman, the only song here not written by Ryan) is a lighthearted throwaway about the correct preparation and consumption of, you guessed it, crawfish. "Haggada - Testament," a fairly conventional folk number, obliquely tells the story of a Jewish religious text, and "Harlequin Haven" is a long, country-ish number with a pronounced Dylan influence.

For You To Know Me
Crawfish
Haggada - Testament
Harlequin Haven

The Jury Krytiuk Orchestra & Chorus

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:55:00 +0000

Jury Krytiuk was probably best-known as the manager of Canuck country music icon Stompin' Tom Connors, but he was also a record producer and the owner of Boot and Cynda Records. Krytiuk originally started up Boot Records in 1971 as an outlet for Stompin' Tom's records, having tried and failed to persuade a number of Canadian labels to release them, and soon added other Canadian country artists to the roster, including Con Archer, The Emeralds, Humphrey and The Dumptrucks, Sharon Lowness, Dick Nolan, Stevedore Steve and Ted Wesley. Throughout the rest of the decade and into the '80s, Boot and Cynda (Boot's budget label) expanded beyond country and bluegrass, releasing LPs by artists of a variety of ethnic backgrounds, as well as classical music by musicians such as guitarist Liona Boyd and pianist Monica Gaylord. Beyond that I don't know much about Mr. Krytiuk, but in 1972 he did produce and release this Burt Bacharach tribute LP under his own name.

A Portrait of Burt Bacharach consists of 12 pretty faithful versions of some of Bacharach's best-known compositions. The album is almost entirely instrumental, with backup singers adding some "ba-ba-ba"'s and "do-do-do"'s here and there. Unfortunately, none of the musicians are identified and, apart from identifying Krytiuk as the producer, there isn't any information about the recording of the LP. All four of the songs I've posted here are light and breezy but highly enjoyable takes on the classic Bacharach sound.

As Long As There's An Apple Tree
I Say A Little Prayer
Nikki
Walkin' Backwards Down The Road

Note: These songs have been archived at It Came From Canada.

Ranee Lee

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 16:39:00 +0000

Ranee Lee was born in Brooklyn, but moved to Montreal in 1970 at the age of 18 and worked as a dancer and played drums and tenor sax in jazz bands before beginning her career as a singer. Over the years she's recorded over ten albums, toured throughout North America and the rest of the world, written a children's book, contributed to the soundtrack of a short film named Black Soul, won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for playing Billy Holiday in Lady Day, taught at McGill University and been named to The Order of Canada. These days she's still very active as a recording artist and live performer, both as a singer and actress.

In 1980 she also recorded All Grown Up, a disco album produced by Alain J. Leroux at Experience Studio in Montreal. By the look of the liner notes pretty much every session musician in Montreal played on it, including Yaron Gershovsky on keyboards, Richard Ring on guitar and Michael Farquharson on bass. The LP isn't terribly innovative but Lee is, of course, a great singer and the playing and production are top-notch, so if you're into late-'70s disco you should find "Dancin'" (the album's first track) and "Disco Man" to your liking.

Dancin'
Disco Man

Note: These songs have been archived at It Came From Canada.

Dr. Music

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:40:00 +0000

Dr. Music (who contributed one song to the Canadian Mint compilation I posted last year) were a jazzy r&b collective masterminded by Doug "Dr. Music" Riley (see also: the From Canada With Love LP). Riley, who passed away in 2007, cast a huge shadow across the Canadian popular music scene of the '60s, '70s and '80s in his multiple roles as a composer, arranger, pianist, organist and producer. Born in Toronto in 1945, he studied at many of Canada's most prestigious classical music academies before being bitten by the jazz and rock 'n' roll bugs as a teenager. By the time he turned 20 he was playing in a Toronto r&b group named The Silhouettes and writing advertising jingles to make some cash on the side. Throughout the '70s he worked constantly as a musical director for television shows, record producer, songwriter, sideman in pop, classical and jazz groups, arranger (his first big break was working on Ray Charles' 1969 album Doing His Thing) and erstwhile leader of Dr. Music, which is where he gained the nickname. By the time the '90s rolled around Riley had shifted his focus to live performances, and by the end of the decade he'd semi-retired, but as late as 2006 he was still playing jazz festivals and touring occasionally.

As the the other members of Dr. Music...well, there were literally dozens over the years, and you're crazy if you think I'm going to list them all here, but some of the more prominent were bassist Don Thompson, singer Dianne Brooks, drummer Terry Clarke, singer/guitarist Doug Mallory, singer/saxophonist Steve Kennedy (who was also in Motherlode) and multi-instrumentalist Keith Jollimore. The group itself was originally put together in 1969 by Riley in order to perform on CTV's "The Ray Stevens Show," and went on to record three albums for GRT between 1972 and 1974 (plus a best-of in '75) before everybody went their separate ways, although did Riley resurrect the Dr. Music moniker long enough to record one last album in 1984.

Dr. Music's self-titled debut LP was recorded throughout 1971 and 1972 at Toronto Sound Studios, with production and arrangements by Riley and Kennedy, and engineering handled by Peter Houston (who recorded the original Hockey Night In Canada theme song) and Terry Brown. It's got a very early-'70s sound, with jazz, rock, funk and r&b fighting it out for space, often within the same song. "Rollin' Home," the first track on the album, is a funky number with a few Native touches sprinkled throughout and a nice extended guitar solo. "Try A Little Harder" is an Elton John-inspired stomper, while "Dreams" is a ballad with a definite cabaret flavour and some unexpected proggy touches. The manic workout "Don't Wait Too Long," is back towards the r&b side of the group's sound, and the album's closer, "Road To Love," is an epic soft rock ballad.

Rollin' Home
Try A Little Harder
Dreams
Don't Wait Too Long
Road To Love

The Majestics

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:00:00 +0000

The (mostly) instrumental r&b band known as The Majestics made their first appearance on this site a couple of years ago. A mainstay of the Toronto area's dance club scene, they were possibly Canada's foremost r&b band throughout the '60s.

This instrumental tribute LP to Otis Redding contains ten songs that the soul giant wrote and/or (in the case of "Satisfaction") recorded. It was recorded at Bay Studios in Toronto (home to many other Arc albums) by producer Tony DiMaria (who also recorded the first Majestics LP I posted), with arrangements by Eric N. Robertson. All four of the tracks I've posted here are first-rate funky r&b, but my favourite of the bunch is probably the cover of "Satisfaction," which features some pretty great drum breaks.

Mr. Pitiful
Satisfaction
Respect
Security

Pete Magadini, Don Menza, Wray Downes & Dave Young

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 14:11:00 +0000

Drummer Pete Magadini has been featured on this site a few times before, once as part of a trio, on Bobby Edwards' LP, and on the Toronto: what other city calls its main street Yonge? album. Magadini was born in Massachusetts and played in jazz ensembles across the United States before moving to Canada, where he made his home throughout most of the '70s, recorded frequently for Sackville, and worked as a music teacher.

Pianist Wray Downes was born in Toronto and as a young man studied classical music in France and England on scholarship. During the '50s he got into jazz and played throughout Europe with musicians including Sidney Bechet, Buck Clayton, and Bill Coleman. After moving back to Canada he frequently played with Peter Appleyard, studied further with Oscar Peterson and worked as the house pianist at The Town Tavern and other jazz clubs in Toronto, where he backed up legends like Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster.

Don Menza, a saxophonist, flautist, composer and arranger, was, like Magadini, born in the U.S., but never called Canada home. He started his musical career during the '60s as a member of Maynard Ferguson's orchestra before playing with Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, the Charlie Parker tribute group Supersax, Elvin Jones and many others before settling in Los Angeles, where he gained renown as a jazz educator.

Winnipeg-born bassist Dave Young split his career between jazz and classical work with the Hamilton and Toronto Symphony Orchestras. In his capacity as a jazz bassist he was a longtime member of Oscar Peterson's touring band, played in clubs with Peter Appleyard, Ed Bickert, Barney Kessel, Red Norvo, Milt Jackson and many others, and often performed as a duo with Wray Downes.

Bones Blues (Sackville 4004) was recorded in 1977 at United Media Studio and produced by Magadini and Young, with mixing at Thunder Sound by Magadini, Phil Sheridan and Sackville co-founder Bill Smith. "Solar" is a cover of a bop-era Miles Davis number originally recorded for his LP Walkin', "Old Devil Moon" is a version of a pop song written for the musical Finian's Rainbow, and "Bones Blues" is a swingin' original written by Menza.

Solar
Old Devil Moon
Bones Blues

Note: These songs have been archived at It Came From Canada.

John Boland and Beothuck

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:03:00 +0000

The country music party band John Boland and Beothuck (named after an extinct Newfoundland native tribe) was formed in Cambridge, Ontario in 1974 when Boland decided to get a few friends together to play dances. The group consisted of Boland (lead guitar), John Babb (rhyhthm guitar), Mac Babb (singer, bass), Fred O'Quinn (lead guitar) and John Rankin (drums), all of whom save Rankin (who was born in Hamilton) hailed from Bell Island, Newfoundland. Over the course of their career they backed up a wide range of Canadian artists, including Dick Nolan, Roy Payne, Michael T. Wall, Joan Morrissey and Harry Hibbs, and Mac Babb and O'Quinn also played on The Brazda Brothers' album. That's the full extent of my knowledge of John Boland and Beothuck, but I suspect that Boland is a real estate agent in Cambridge these days.

This self-titled LP was recorded at Eastern Sound Studio in Toronto by producer Bobby Munro and engineer Kevin Evans, and released in 1976 on Boot Records. Despite the group's Newfoundland roots, its sound, at least when playing on its own, stuck to country and rock and didn't really include any overt Celtic influences. "Words" is a cover of a soft-rock Bee Gees ballad, while Boland original "The Bottle" is a plaintive country number about the evils of alcohol. "Love Me, Love Me, Love," my favourite track here, is a cover of a minor hit by Canadian pianist Frank Mills (best known for the instrumental "Music Box Dancer"). The story of an old organ grinder and his pet monkey, it's as maudlin as the day is long, but the band really gets behind the song and I dig it anyway. And "That's How I Got To Memphis" is another cover, this time of a Tom T. Hall country number about following a wayward woman to the ends of the earth...or, at least, southwest Tennessee.

Words
The Bottle
Love Me, Love Me, Love
That's How I Got To Memphis

Note: These songs have been archived at It Came From Canada.

Jackie Washington

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 04:45:00 +0000

Singer, guitarist and pianist Jackie Washington was featured on this site last October, when I posted his contribution to the Mariposa 1976 soundtrack. Born in Hamilton in 1919, Washington was performing in public with one of his older brothers by the age of five, and eventually he and all of his brothers (dubbed The Four Washington Brothers) were entertaining at concerts, dances and churches. In 1941 he was drafted into the army, having previously quit the music business and worked as a porter for the Canadian Pacific Railway. After the war he got a job at a can company in Hamilton, where he played piano on his lunch break for spare change, then moved to Guelph, where he started to play around town a bit in between shifts at a buzz saw factory. In 1948 he started a five-year run as the host of The Jackie Washington Show on CHML in Hamilton, but by the mid-'50s he was working at a tavern as a washroom attendant, then at a shoe shine stand at a racetrack in Fort Erie, although he did sit in on gigs now and again.

By the early '60s, married to his second wife with a young son, he'd pretty much retired from music again, but in '64 he was introduced to the owner of a Yorkville coffee house. This led to a mid-career revival which saw him play with almost every big name in the Toronto music scene at the time, perform at festivals across the country and make several appearances on television and radio. By the early '70s he was back to playing beer joints in and around Hamilton, but in 1976 he recorded the LP I'm posting here and throughout the '80s and '90s he released several more CDs, was inducted into the Canadian Jazz and Blues Hall of Fame, and was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Humanities by McMaster University. He was still performing as recently as last August, at the age of 89!

Blues & Sentimental, a private press LP released by The Knight II (which I believe was a bar in Hamilton), was produced by Dave Essig and engineered by Bob and Daniel Lanois in March of 1976 at MSR Productions in Ancaster, Ontario. The musical line-up was Washington on guitar, vocals and piano, Tom Evans on clarinet and tenor sax, Michael Gardner on acoustic bass, Bobby Washington on electric bass, Chris Whiteley on trumpet, coronet and harmonica, Ken Whiteley on guitar and piano, and Essig on slide guitar. The album is comprised of bluesy, old-fashioned vocal jazz, distinguished by Washington's distinctive, high-pitched voice and the high quality of the playing throughout. His style always encompassed lighthearted pop as well as jazz and blues, so the four songs here are perhaps more jocular in nature than the usual traditionalist take on those genres.

Ain't That Gravy Good
Miss Otis Regrets
One Foot In The Gutter
Goin' To Chicago

Note: These songs have been archived at It Came From Canada.

On The Log

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 18:26:00 +0000

The other day I was interviewed by podcaster John Meadows for his site On The Log. If you're interested in having a listen to our conversation about Five Bucks on By-Tor and It Came From Canada, click here.

Privilege

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:16:00 +0000

The Edmonton rock group Privilege started out in the '60s known as The Lords. After changing their name to Privilege they released four singles on Capitol and MCA between 1969 and 1972, but as the article linked to above puts it, "fame was not immediately forthcoming and the group struggled." In '73 they recorded the LP I'm posting today (Cantata Canada), which was based on a stage production dramatizing Canada's history. At this point, the group's lineup was Andy Krawchuk (guitar), Harry Krawchuk (bass), Mel Degen (vocals), Gerry Dere (organ), Al McGee (piano) and Whitey Glan (drums), but throughout the '70s Privilege went through many more incarnations, one of which included Steve Perry, the future lead singer of Journey. One more LP followed in '78 (It's Been A Privilege), but that was pretty much it for the group aside from a reunion concert in 1989.

Cantata Canada (optimistically subtitled "Part One") was recorded at Studio 3 Productions in Vancouver and Century II Studios in Edmonton by producer Doug Hutton, with orchestrations by Gerry Dere and Al McGee. The LP is attractively packaged as a libretto, with pencil drawings accompanying the lyrics for each song. Privilege's sound is fairly standard '70s rock with a few progressive touches here and there, but they tailor each track's style to suit its historical subject matter. "Overture/In The Dawning" (lyrics by Will Wuttunee, music by Gerry Dere) is about the lives of the natives before the arrival of Europeans in North America, while "Beware Of The Heavy Hand" (lyrics and music by Graeme Card) details the first contact between the two societies. "Klondike" (lyrics by Carol Zazula, music by Mel Degan) is, of course, about the gold rush of 1896, and "Bookends For A Nation" (lyrics and music by Marc Jordan) is written from the viewpoint of a European immigrant moving across Canada during the early 20th century.

Overture/In The Dawning
Beware Of The Heavy Hand
Klondike
Bookends For A Nation

Note: These songs have been archived at It Came From Canada.

The Doppler Brothers

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:50:00 +0000

I can't find anything online about the satirical rock group The Doppler Brothers, but fortunately the liner notes (pictured below; is that a great band photo or what?) identify the band members; Bill Bryans (drums), Bruce Barron (guitar, bass on "The Wreck of The Eaton Centre" and piano on "Leaving Home") and Gary Hynes (synthesizer, all other bass and piano). Lyrically the Dopplers were pretty punk rock, but musically the record has more in common with Stage Fright-era The Band or The Rheostatics (who didn't exist when it was released, but still).

This EP, named Totally Impractical, was recorded in 1978 at The Sounding Board in Toronto (apparently the band's personal studio) and released by Bend It Straight Music. The singers were Sean Pigot ("Leaving Home"), Les Clackett ("The Wreck of The Eaton Centre, "Welcome To Canada" and "I Wanna Write For The Muzak Man") and Simon Leblovik ("Big Time Tragedy"), with Dyan Firth, Marion Tobin and Ilene Tobin doing backup duty on "Canada" and "Muzak." "The Wreck Of The Eaton Centre" is, of course, a parody of the Gordon Lightfoot standard "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald", while "Welcome To Canada" is a dig at the idealized vision of Canada as a haven for immigrants ("We're always glad to help somebody who's down down down on their luck/We'd surely bring the whole world over if we thought we'd make a buck"). "I Want To Write For The Muzak Man" takes on the easy-listening industry, and "Leaving Home" is a chilling satire of romantic ballads written from the viewpoint of a wife beater.

The Wreck Of The Eaton Centre
Welcome To Canada
I Wanna Write For The Muzak Man
Leaving Home

Note: These songs have been archived at It Came From Canada.

The Paupers

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:43:00 +0000

The Paupers, originally a British Invasion-style crew named The Spats, were a part of the '60s Yorkville folk scene. After their original lead singer left they changed their name, dropped the overt Beatles influence, hired a new manager (Bernie Finkelstein, who also managed Kensington Market) and moved to New York City, where they landed gigs opening for bands like Jefferson Airplane. At this point, The Paupers consisted of Dennis Gerrard (bass), Adam Mitchell (rhythm guitar, vocals), Skip Prokop (drums, vocals) and Chuck Beal (lead guitar). They quickly attracted praise from critics and the attention of super-manager Albert Grossman (who also represented Bob Dylan at this point), who landed them a recording contract with Verve. After recording their first single for Verve ("If I Call You By Some Name," which was a minor hit) they released an LP (Magic People) in '67 and set out on a yearlong tour which included high-profile gigs at Whisky a Go Go and Fillmore West. However, the grind of constant touring led to tension within the band, and Gerrard left before the release of their second album (1968's Ellis Island), followed shortly thereafter by Prokop (who went on to work as a highly-renowned session musician and co-found Lighthouse). The rest of the band soldiered on for a while, but for all intents and purposes The Paupers were finished. Mitchell went on to a solo career which included work as a producer and a couple of folk-rock hits throughout the '70s and early '80s, Gerrard released one solo album before joining McKenna Mendelson Mainline, and Beal managed a few bands before becoming a rock broadcaster and historian.

Magic People was produced by Rick Shorter, with arrangements by Shorter and The Paupers, and every song on the LP was written by Mitchell and Prokop. It's a solid late-'60s folk-rock album, particularly distinguished by Prokop's versatile drumming. The title track is a melodic folk-rock tune punctuated with bursts of manic percussion and psychedelic sound effects. "It's Your Mind" is a moodier number that segues into an extended, Doors-esque instrumental coda, while "Think I Care" is a nasty, harder-edged track with Middle-Eastern touches throughout. And "Simple Deed" is back towards the poppier side of The Paupers' sound, a tuneful singalong which also includes a bit of Mideast flavour.

Magic People
It's Your Mind
Think I Care
Simple Deed

Radio Canada International Presents...

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:30:00 +0000

Bit of a grab-bag today, courtesy of this 1982 compilation of live and studio recordings from the collection of Radio Canada International (RCI).

~~There'll Never Be Another You - Fraser MacPherson~~

Saxophonist, clarinetist and flautist Fraser MacPherson was born in Winnipeg in 1928 and was raised in Victoria, B.C. In 1948 he moved to Vancouver, where he played in local clubs, was an in-demand session musician and occasionally performed with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. He was also a mainstay on CBC radio and television, constantly toured internationally (including an unprecedented four trips to the USSR during the height of the Cold War) and was awarded the Order of Canada in 1987 before passing away in 1993. This breezy ensemble rendition of the jazz standard "There'll Never Be Another You" is taken from the LP "Jazz Canada Europe." None of the other members of the band are identified on the sleeve, which is a drag because they're all great.

~~So Low Down - Alexis~~

There isn't a whole lot of information out there about Vancouver singer-songwriter Alexis "Rose" Radlin, but I can tell you she released one self-titled LP in 1975 on Mushroom Records (which was nominated for a Juno) before moving to Windsor, Ontario and recording another album for RCI in 1978. After that it sounds like she dabbled in acting and released one more LP at some point during the '90s. "So Low Down" is easygoing, folky pop-rock reminiscent of Ronney Abramson.

~~New Funk - UZEB~~

UZEB were a prolific Montreal-based jazz fusion band formed in 1976 by guitarist Michel Cusson. They were one of the biggest bands in Quebec throughout much of the '80s, winning Félix Awards as Group of the Year in '84 and '89, Jazz Album of the Year four times, and a lifetime achievement award in 1991. A series of Canadian and worldwide tours (they were also big in France) culminated in a huge outdoor farewell concert in Montreal in 1992. "New Funk" is pretty much exactly that; a very '80s take on funk (i.e. lots of synthesizer and brittle basslines) that originally appeared on their LP UZEB Live In Bracknell.

~~Anything You Want - Bim~~

"Bim" is the stage name of singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer and broadcaster Roy Forbes, who was born in Dawson Creek, B.C. in 1953. As a teenager he moved to Vancouver and started performing in local coffeehouses, folk clubs and festivals, both solo and as a member of a duo (with Connie Kaldor) and groups (including UHF). Forbes' songs have been covered by dozens of Canadian and American artists, and during the mid-'80s he started up a second career as a record producer. He has also scored films and television shows, hosted a couple of CBC radio programs and won and been nominated for a number of West Coast Music and Juno Awards over the years. Although he's well-known for his interpretations of Hank Williams songs, the low down and blue "Anything You Want" is a Forbes original.

~~In Love Again - Bernie Senensky~~

Jazz pianist Bernie Senensky has been featured on this site before. "In Love Again," a wistful ensemble number, was written by Senensky for his 1981 LP Free Spirit.

Note: These songs have been archived at It Came From Canada.

Kali & Dub Inc.

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:04:00 +0000

The Montreal-based reggae outfit Kali & Dub Inc. was formed in 1986 by Hayes "Kali" Thurton. Kali was born in Trinidad, but in 1972 he and his family moved to Canada. While studying science at the University of Toronto, Kali got hooked on the local reggae scene (populated as it was by greats like Jackie Mittoo, Leroy Sibbles and Johnny Osborne). After a few years of gigging around Toronto he moved to Montreal, where he was a member of a couple of bands (including Selah, who opened for UB40, Steel Pulse, Gregory Isaac, Black Uhuru, and The Clash) before he put together Kali & Dub Inc. They released a couple of albums on vinyl (the EP I'm posting today and a full-length named Human Rights) and two CDs (Rise Up, which was nominated for a Juno, and Weapons of Mass Construction). Over the years, Kali & Dub Inc. won a number of Toronto and Montreal music awards and shared the stage with a lot of international reggae greats (including The Wailers, Burning Spear, Aswad, Ziggy Marley, Black Uhuru, The Meditations, and The Mighty Sparrow). These days, Kali is still very active within the Canadian reggae scene, although he performs as a solo act.

The entirety of Uncensored Reggae was written, arranged and produced by Kali, and was recorded in 1988 at Madgic [sic] Studio and Secret Studio (both in Montreal). The band consisted of Kali (lead and background vocals, guitar, bass and keyboards), Lincoln Leslie (background vocals), Allison Smith and Sophie Delorme (keyboards), Joanna Peters (background vocals and percussion), Anand Sahai (drums) and Andrew Harder (bass). Overall, the record has the prototypical '80s sound, although it doesn't get anywhere nearly as carried away with the synths and sound effects as some of the reggae from that period. "Crucial Dub" is an instrumental version of "Crucial Rock" (an easygoing party tune) while "Home Livin'" is a slightly melancholic look back at Kali's Trinidadian upbringing.

Home Livin'
Crucial Dub
Crucial Rock

Note: These songs have been archived at It Came From Canada.

Al Deric and The Blue Chips

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:38:00 +0000

Country singer Al Deric was born in Timmins, Ontario, where he began his musical career by playing dances and small festivals. After forming The Blue Chips Al moved to Kitchener, where he worked as a disc jockey and had his own show on CKCR. In 1965 Al and The Blue Chips toured Canada and traveled from British Columbia to Quebec, with a stop in Churchill, Manitoba to play for an Inuit audience. Unfortunately this is about all I can dig up on Mr. Deric, although this page states that an incarnation of the group was still active as late as 1981.

This self-titled Paragon LP was produced by Bill Bessey (who also worked on albums by Jenny Reeves and Roy Payne) and Chuck Wilton, with label boss Jack Boswell listed as the executive producer. The other members of The Blue Chips were Al's wife Rose (bass), Vernon Darrington (lead guitar) and Gord Affelot (steel guitar). My favourite song on the album is the first one, a cover of Mel Tillis' "Honky Tonk," the sad tale of a fellow trying to get some sleep in a cheap hotel but being kept up by the band playing on the first floor. Al's singing is at its best, and Darrington turns in some sharp work on guitar. "Great Big Love" is a jaunty, slightly altered version of "Big Big Love" by George Hamilton IV, and "Don't Be Angry" is a plaintive ballad that was a hit for George Jones and Stonewall Jackson.

Honky Tonk
Great Big Love
Don't Be Angry

Note: These songs have been archived at It Came From Canada.

Fraser & DeBolt w. Ian Guenther

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:52:00 +0000

Fraser & DeBolt were an offbeat folk duo consisting of singer-songwriter/guitarists Allan Fraser and Daisy DeBolt. There isn't really a whole lot on the internet about the two of them, but it looks like DeBolt was a Winnipeg girl who moved to Toronto and became a part of the late '60s Yorkville folk scene. At some point she and Fraser hooked up, formed a partnership and released this LP with guest fiddler Ian Guenther on Columbia in 1971. Another album (With Pleasure) followed in 1973, but although both were lauded by critics neither sold well and it would appear that the duo split up sometime afterward. However, both Fraser and DeBolt continue to perform as solo acts to this day.

This self-titled LP was recorded by engineers Mark Smith and Allan Moy, and it's not your typical folk album; although it was released on a major label, its rather spare sound, peppered with rough edges and experimental, dissonant touches, is reminiscent of more indie, avant-garde acts. "Gypsy Solitude" is a rambling number that manages to sound both rather traditional and very much of its time, while "Warmth" and "Stoney Day" hew closer to the folk conventions of the day. And "Don't Let Me Down," the only song on the album not written by the duo, is an aching cover of The Beatles classic preceded by an ominous-sounding instrumental lead-in.

Gypsy Solitaire
Warmth
Stoney Day
Don't Let Me Down

Freddie Pelletier

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 13:23:00 +0000

Guitarist Freddie Pelletier started out as a professional musician during the late '60s and kicked around Toronto and Nashville trying to make a name for himself before ending up in Calgary, where he put together his own band named The Northwest Rebellion. This group landed a gig as the house band at a bar named Ranchman's and backed up visiting artists from throughout Canada and the U.S. (including Ian Tyson, Al Cherny, and Ferlin Husky). During the early '70s he won a Moffat Award for Best Canadian Country Recording, put out his first LP and scored a couple of top 10 hits on the Canadian country charts, but by the time his second album was released a few years later instrumentals had all but disappeared from the radio. After taking a few years off away from the music scene, Pelletier returned and these days he performs as a duo with his wife Sheila, backs up some of Canada's best fiddlers and helps run the Pelletier Guitar and Music Camp with Sheila and his son Clint.

Canadian Country Guitar Picker was recorded in 1972 at E.K. Studios in Calgary by recording engineer Ernest Klump. The band backing Pelletier up on this completely instrumental LP included George Pistun (a member of The Cottonpickers at one point) on fiddle, Doug Amon on pedal steel guitar, Ronaldo Reyes on raquinto guitar, Rick Stevenson on rhythm guitar, Bo Davis and Lorne Pavelick (who also played with Ron Jeffery) on drums and Glen 'Stretch' Yorga on bass. "The Claw," "Happy Go Lucky" and "Natchez Trace" are crisply-played, fairly straightforward country numbers with a touch of rockabilly thrown in here and there, while "Maria Elena" has, as one might guess, more of a Spanish flavour.

The Claw
Happy Go Lucky
Maria Elena
Natchez Trace

Note: These songs have been archived at It Came From Canada.

Toronto: What other city calls its main street Yonge?

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 13:04:00 +0000

This LP, a promotional item for the city of Toronto, was commissioned by the Toronto Star and released by World Records of Oshawa. The liner notes on the back cover extol Toronto's virtues ("By luck, planning and the indefinable qualities of "good neighbouring," Toronto has avoided many of the problems that exist today in most large North American cities...the homes, trees, parks, cleanliness, and generally attractive environment in Toronto's neighbourhoods contribute a basic essence to this city's character, which in turn has motivated a living condition remarkable for its low level of urban stress. In other words, it's a good place to live!"), while the LP itself tells the story of Toronto's history. The spoken-word bits (which I've cut out of the posted samples) alternate between a straight man narrator and a grizzled old character named "The Rural Resident," who argues with the narrator and tosses off ironic asides about Toronto's supposed attributes.

Toronto... was recorded at Manta Sound in Toronto by engineer and mixer Dave Greene, with arrangements by Rudy Toth. Pretty much every session musician in Toronto played on it, including (but not limited to) Ian MacDougall (trombone), Peter Magadini (drums), Peter Appleyard (percussion), Ed Bickert and Bobby Edwards (guitar), and Moe Koffman (flute). "Lizzie Simcoe," a funky track with a country flavour by singer Cal Dodd, is a retelling of the story of Elizabeth Simcoe, wife of Upper Canada's first Lieutenant Governor and a writer whose diary provided a lot of information regarding colonial life at the time. Apparently she was also a butterfly enthusiast. "This Train" is a bluesy lounge number (sung by Terry Blue) about Toronto's history as a railway hub, while "Hogtown Hoe-Down" is an instrumental jig by fiddler Al Cherny. And "Episode 7-Oh!" (by trumpeter Guido Basso, saxophonist Gene Amaro and pianist Gary Gross) is my favourite track on the LP, a jazzy instrumental with a '70s tv show theme song feel.

Lizzie Simcoe - Cal Dodd
This Train - Terry Blue
Hogtown Hoe-Down - Al Cherny
Episode 7-Oh! - Guido Basso, Gene Amaro & Gary Gross

Note: These songs have been archived at It Came From Canada.

Denny Vaughan

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 15:58:00 +0000

Singer, arranger and pianist Denny Vaughan was born in Toronto in 1922. As a teenager he performed on radio and with bandleader Horace Lapp, before studying music at the University of Toronto and touring Europe during World War II with a revue named The Army Show. After the war he stayed in England, recorded and performed with a variety of dance bands, and developed a reputation as "The English Sinatra." In 1952 he returned to Toronto, where he made appearances on CBC radio and television, including his own variety program named The Denny Vaughan Show. At the end of the decade he moved to Montreal and led the Queen Elizabeth Hotel Orchestra until 1967, when he moved to Hollywood and worked as the musical consultant and choral director on The Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour and The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour until shortly before his death in 1972.

This entirely instrumental CTL LP, entitled simply Denny Vaughan and His Orchestra, was recorded by engineer Peter Houston (who also engineered the original Hockey Night In Canada song) with supervision by CTL mainstay Johnny Burt, but none of the members of Vaughan's orchestra are identified. "Traces" is an easy-listening cover of a pop-rock number by Classics IV, while "My Cherie Amour" is a breezy version of the Stevie Wonder hit. "Hayseedelic" is a country-ish novelty tune (written by Vaughan) and "Je reviens chez-nous" is a stately Jean-Pierre Ferland number.

Traces
My Cherie Amour
Hayseedelic
Je reviens chez-nous

Note: These songs have been archived at It Came From Canada.

Bonnie Dobson

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:41:00 +0000

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Bonnie Dobson was born in Toronto in 1940. Her older sister became friends with some of the musicians who would later form The Travellers and, inspired by their example and performances by Pete Seeger at her teenage summer camp, she got into folk music while studying at the University of Toronto. Throughout the first half of the '60s she lived in New York and Chicago, toured throughout the United States, recorded four albums for Prestige and Mercury, and returned to Canada now and again to play coffeehouses in Toronto and the Mariposa Folk Festival. In '65 she moved back to Toronto, where she made regular appearances on the CBC Radio programs "1967 And All That" and "La Ronde" and recorded the self-titled LP I'm posting here plus another named Good Morning Rain. In 1970 she decamped for England, where she recorded two more records, performed on the BBC and ITV and toured throughout Europe before more or less retiring from the music biz to work as the head administrator for the philosophy department at the University Of London.

Dobson is probably best-known for writing "Morning Dew," a folk-rock standard inspired by the post-apocalyptic film On The Beach. Dobson wrote and recorded the song in 1962, and not long afterward it was covered by Fred Neil, who changed some of the lyrics. Then, in 1966, Tim Rose heard Neil's version, recorded his own (which, admittedly, is great) and took advantage of a loophole in U.S. copyright law to gave himself a co-writing credit, which Dobson has always fiercely contested. Rose's claim to "Morning Dew" held up in court and many people subsequently thought he had written it, especially after it was covered by a wide range of artists including The Grateful Dead, Lulu, The Allman Brothers, Jeff Beck, Lee Hazelwood and Nazareth...but it's Dobson's tune.

Bonnie Dobson was recorded in March 1969 at Eastern Sound and RCA Studios in Toronto by producers Dave Bird and Jack Richardson and arranger/composer Ben McPeek. Dobson's singing is gorgeous throughout, but unfortunately none of the musicians on the album are identified. Even more unfortunately, my copy of this record is warped, rendering the first two songs on each side (including "Morning Dew," which was re-recorded for this album with an orchestral arrangement, and another standout track named "I Got Stung") pretty much unplayable. Of the songs I was able to record, "Let's Get Together" is another folk-rock evergreen recorded most famously by The Youngbloods, although Dobson's version is more bittersweet than their celebratory take on the number. The reflective ballad "I'm Your Woman" is a Dobson original and another one of her better-known songs, while "Pendant Que" is a melodramatic Francophone tune by Gilles Vigneault I've included here mainly because I like its instrumental coda, 35 funky seconds of sitar, piano, drums and strings. And album closer (and personal fave) "Winter's Going," also written by Dobson, is a rare example of a sad song about the end of winter. Why is she bummed out about the prospect of winter drawing to a close? Well, you'll just have to listen for yourself.

Let's Get Together
I'm Your Woman
Pendant Que
Winter's Going

Note: These songs have been archived at It Came From Canada.

Roy Payne

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:41:00 +0000

Country singer/songwriter Roy "The Goofy Newfie" Payne made his first appearance on this site almost two years ago, and today I've got a few selections from one of his RCA albums, this one entitled Roy Payne's Country. There still isn't a whole heck of a lot on the internet about Roy, but the liner notes do give us a bit more to go on:

"'Goofy Newfie' - country singer - entertainer - songwriter - ex-soldier - Roy is all these things but he is also much more than that - he is a sincere young man who thrills his audiences with his warm, sometimes humorous, but always enjoyable songs.

It all started 31 years ago in the thriving metropolis of Trout River, Newfoundland, where Roy first saw the light of day. Since then, Roy has had a varied career which has included a tour of duty in Egypt and Cyprus with the Canadian Dragoons. It was in Egypt that Roy got his first chance to perform in public and he soon discovered that the songs his army buddies liked best were those that were reminiscent of his Canadian home.

Following his discharge from the service, Roy was "discovered" in Toronto by Jack Starr - owner of the Horseshoe Tavern. Mr. Starr gave Roy an opportunity to display his talents as an entertainer at the Horseshoe, and also helped Roy with his songwriting career by promoting his songs through Star Music Publishing. Sit back, relax, and enjoy Roy's first album on the RCA label."

Roy Payne's Country was recorded at RCA Studios in Toronto by producer/engineer George Semkiw (who has popped up on this site more than a few times). Payne's backing band isn't identified, but he did write every song on the LP. Even though it was released by a major its overall sound hews fairly close to the first album I posted, which was on the much smaller Paragon label. "Waylon Brown" is a fairly straightforward country-rock number that kicks off with a little drum break, while "Tramps Make Good Wives" is a lighthearted defense of the singer's allegedly wayward wife. "Canadian Princess" is a spirited paean to a pretty country girl, and "Toronto Streets At Night" (my favourite track) is a gorgeous, lonesome ballad that namechecks Yonge and Dundas Streets.

Waylon Brown
Tramps Make Good Wives
Canadian Princess
Toronto Streets At Night

Five Man Electrical Band

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:23:00 +0000

Welcome back, everybody; I'm kicking off 2009 with a band I didn't even know was Canadian until I picked this album up; Ottawa's Five Man Electrical Band. The group, originally named The Staccatos, came together in 1963 and released a number of singles on Capitol between '65 and '68. One, "Half Past Midnight," was a hit in Canada, but in 1969 they changed their name to Five Man Electrical Band and moved to Los Angeles. At this point the group consisted of Les Emmerson (lead vocals, guitar), Ted Gerow (piano/organ), Brian Rading (bass) and brothers Rick (vocals, percussion) and Mike Bell (vocals, drums). They recorded a number of singles and a self-titled debut album in L.A., returned to Ottawa for a bit, then moved back to Los Angeles and hopped over to MGM after releasing one last single on Capitol ("It Never Rains On Maple Lane"). Between 1970 and 1975 they released three LPs and several singles; one of the first was "Hello Melinda Goodbye," which included a B-side named "Signs." "Melinda" didn't go anywhere, but "Signs" got some radio airplay, so in '71 it was re-released as an A-side and reached #3 on the Billboard charts (and #4 in Canada), selling over two million copies worldwide in the process (in 1990 the hair-metal band Tesla also hit big with the song on an LP named Five Man Acoustical Jam). Later that year the follow-up single "Absolutely Right" was also a substantial hit, but endless touring (with The Allman Brothers, Sly and the Family Stone, Jefferson Airplane and BTO, among others) and creative and financial differences took their toll and by 1973 everyone but Emmerson (who continued to record as Five Man Electrical Band until '75) had quit.

Good-Byes And Butterflies (which sports a pretty salacious cover for a record with a song named "Safe And Sound (With Jesus)") was recorded at Golden West Studios in L.A. by producer Dallas Smith (formerly the house producer for Liberty Records) and engineer Bruce Ellison. Rick Bell sings lead on the first two songs I've posted here; the aforementioned "Safe And Sound" is a raucous hippy gospel number, while "Dance Of The Swamp Woman" is a funky blues-rock track. Les Emmerson (who also wrote every song on the album) sings lead on the other two; "Hello Melinda Goodbye" is tuneful pop-rock with a decided late-period Beatles influence, especially during the harmonized fade-out. And speaking of The Beatles, "Together Forever" (the best song on the LP) is a spectacular high school prom-ready ballad that manages to combine the melodic touch of the Fab Four and the gorgeous vocal harmonies of The Beach Boys.

Safe And Sound (With Jesus)
Dance Of The Swamp Woman
Hello Melinda Goodbye
Together Forever

Merry Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (Yves Perret) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:55:00 +0000

FBOBT is taking a break for Christmas. Have yourself a great holiday season; I'll be back in early 2009 with more of Canada's lesser-known musical heroes!