I’m very late getting this post out, so all you April Wine fans, please forgive me. I was saddened last month to hear of the passing of Myles Goodwyn, the main man of April Wine. I just wanted to acknowledge his voluminous contribution to Canadian rock n’ roll. Growing up on the prairies in the 70s, April Wine was omnipresent, their music woven into the culture of the times. I…
Released in September 1974, Life Is A Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me) by Reunion was instantly catchy, a definite earworm and one of those feel-good songs. The band Reunion was founded by songwriters Paul DiFranco and Norman Dolph. They had little success with the group until they tapped bubblegum pop veteran Joey Levine to revamp a song they had shelved called Life Is A Rock. “I loved it, thought…
Growing up in Central Alberta during the 1970s, 630 CHED out of Edmonton and 1140 CKXL out of Calgary were the ultimate stations to listen to – they were 70s AM radio at it’s finest. I remember that if the weather and the night were clear, the reception from these two stations would be excellent. 630 CHED and 1140 CKXL played a lot of great Canadian content; I suspect that…
Every weekend my Internet radio is tuned to SOMA-FM’s Underground 80s. Every so often this (once) unfamiliar song comes on that has such a great chorus, and I love it! After checking the Underground 80s playlist I found out it’s a song from 1983 called Ballet Dancer by an 80s group I’d never heard of – The Twins. Some minor Googling told me they were a German synth-pop duo from…
This is a reprint of an article written by Lucy Mao, which appeared on the All Music Guide website, June 15, 2022. I’m publishing it here as I thought it very interesting to take a close textual analysis of the lesser-known version of Lauper’s monster hit from September 1983. Girls Just Want To Have Fun:Excuse, Defiance, and Reassurance When most people hear the song Girls Just Want to Have Fun,…
By way of serendipity I ended up reading the Wiki on Avicii the other day, and thought what a sad story his is. He had enormous success and was loved by fans in so many countries but, in the end, it all became too much for him to bear. The lyrics of Wake Me Up speak to his emotional searching and longing – thoughts and fears we all share. Avicii,…
Well, better late than never. The enduring Rosanne Cash graced the stage of The Royal Conservatory’s Koerner Hall in downtown Toronto last Saturday night along with her incredible band (including husband Steve Leventhal), and it proved to be a terrific show. Originally this concert was scheduled for Sunday, April 11, 2021 but, like so many things the last couple of years, was postponed due to COVID-19. The crowd was overjoyed to…
I swear this child has my musical soul…
The Last Song marked the first of Elton John‘s American singles to benefit his AIDS foundation. In an interview with the gay magazine The Advocate, Elton remarked: I was crying all the time as I wrote the music… and it was very hard for me to sing it. The song tells of an estranged father coming to terms with the sexuality of his gay son, who is dying from AIDS.…
Here’s the third installment in a series of posts on song lyrics that have lifted or inspired me. This one’s from a true musical veteran – Miss Donna Summer: Stamp Your Feet S-T-A-M-P Stampin’ on the groundS-T-A-M-P Stampin’ on the groundS-T-A-M-P Stampin’ on the groundS-T-A-M-P Stampin’ on the ground Woah, yeah I’ve been round so many times beforeBroke my back, been split open so oftTried to make it to the…
New London Grammar: Californian Soil The long wait is finally over… Early Reviews PitchforkPitchfork is generally a trusted source of music criticism, but is known for being unnecessarily contrarian to provoke attention. They give the new album a 6.2 out of 10 rating: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/london-grammar-californian-soil/ AMG (All Music Guide)A more fair review, they give the album 4.5 out of 5: https://www.allmusic.com/album/californian-soil-mw0003438436
These are my favourite lyrics from Bruce Cockburn: Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight / You gotta kick at the darkness till it bleeds daylight is just brilliant. Lovers… was also later covered by Barenaked Ladies, who did a beautiful job: Lovers In A Dangerous Time Don’t the hours grow shorter as the days go by?We never get to stop and open our eyesOne minute you’re waiting…
This is a first in a series of posts on song lyrics that resonate with me, have inspired me in some way, or that I just simply like. To kick off my Essential Lyrics series, here’s one of my absolute favourite songs from the Pet Shop Boys. It’s a wistful look back at times past and the friends and lovers who have passed through our lives. There’s a lot going…
These are singers whose voices move, soothe and inspire me. Some of the artists I’ve listed with their band’s name; this is in addition to their solo efforts. The “choice cuts” for each vocalist represent either my favourite songs by these artists, or a track highlighting their incredible style, range or crafting of the song. And now, on to the list… Karen Carpenter Starting with the best… Karen Carpenter, a…
The other day I was doing a little food shopping at Rabba. The store had its sound system tuned to Toronto’s retro station Boom 97.3, and they were playing Spaceship Superstar by Prism. Prism!!… whoa…. the memories started flooding back. Ahh… Canadian rock in the early 70s… it was great. If you were a teen in the 1970s growing up in Canada, AM radio’s pop and rock music was most…
I’ve had this article on my hard drive for many years. I can’t recall exactly where or when I found the essay but I do know who the author is – it’s written by a man named Patrick Runkle. I couldn’t find too much about him on the Internet, other than he is a music producer/composer from the U.S. and is a founder of Cohaagen Music. He is also a…
You’ve probably read the title of this post and thought: “Whhaaaaa??”. It’s an unlikely combo at first glance: the film Star Wars: A New Hope coupled with the TSO (Toronto Symphony Orchestra). Not so weird actually. What a brilliant idea. Over the span of the next couple of years the Toronto Symphony Orchestra is performing the John Williams-composed Star Wars soundtracks live while the movies are projected larger than life…
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