Is Mash McCann known only in Montreal?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Sean Keane, Feb 4, 2004.

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  1. Sean Keane

    Sean Keane Pre-Mono record collector In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Montrealer Mash McCann (I hope I spelt his name right) recorded a tune called As The Years Go By (And as the years go by/true love will never die/A child asks his mother/do you love me/and it really means will you protect me...), and I've only heard it played on Montreal oldies radio, which doesn't exist anymore. It was usually introduced as being a record from 'Montreal's' Mash McCann. It's an appealing record. I wonder if others have heard it. Have you?
     
  2. HeavyDistortion

    HeavyDistortion Senior Member

    Location:
    Baltimore, MD
    Mashmakan was a Canadian group, not an individual, that released two LPs, "Mashmakan" in 1970, and "The Family" in 1971. As I recall, "As The Years Go By" was a hit in the US also. It sounds great on Sony/Legacy's "Artifacts, Volume I" CD.




    Ed Hurdle
    HeavyDistortion
     
  3. mavisgold

    mavisgold Senior Member

    Location:
    bellingham wa
    ... The name of the band was changed to Mashmakhan, after a type of drug being peddled by a local dealer, to become more hip with the young people, and the journey began. Pierre Senecal's "As Years Go By" was released as a single in an edited form, and became the group's first hit. The single sold 100,000 copies in Canada, 500,000 copies in the U.S., and over 1,000,000 copies in Japan ...

    more at http://www.allmusic.com/

    "As Years Go By" on the US charts for 18 weeks and peaked at #31
     
  4. davenav

    davenav High Plains Grifter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY USA
    Interestingly, I just saw a screening of a new documentary called Festival Express and it is mind-blowing!! The list of artists is incredible--The Dead, The Band, Janis, Ian & Sylvia, Buddy Guy, and Mashmakhan!

    Mashmakhan featured future Little Feat bassist Kenny Gradney and he has a good scene where he and Bob Weir are chewing out some hippies (and rightly-so!).

    Go to the visual arts forum for my post on this wonderful new find.
     
  5. Charlie990

    Charlie990 Senior Member

    Location:
    Perrysburg Ohio
    Hello All

    Legendary Border Blaster CKLW AM 800 (The Big 8) Windsor Ontario played a lot of this song back in the day. I am sure this exposed the song to many Americans and contributed to the songs success in the USA.

    Charlie
     
  6. Adam9

    Adam9 Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй.

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    I always sorta liked "As The Years Go By" and I actually saw the band perform not long after it came out.
     
  7. peter

    peter Senior Member

    Location:
    Paradise
    The song was a big hit in Vancouver too, where I am from, and I had the self-titled LP, but it got fried over the years, sad to say.
     
  8. Bob Lovely

    Bob Lovely Super Gort In Memoriam

    "As Years Go By" was a big Top 40 hit in the upper Midwest...

    Bob:)
     
  9. CT Dave

    CT Dave Senior Member

    Location:
    Connecticut
    Collectables issued a Mashmakhan two-fer CD containing both of their Epic LPs. I don't have the CD, but all of the Collectables CDs that I have that were licensed from Sony have excellent sound quality. I believe Sony engineers remaster all the CDs they license to Collectables.
     
  10. ronbow

    ronbow Senior Member

    Location:
    St. Louis MO
    Mashmakhan is notable as one of the participating band's in 1970's Festival Express, that traveled across Canada with the Grateful Dead, the Band, Traffic, Janis Joplin, Ian & Sylvia, ... heck, go to the site for more http://www.festivalexpress.com/main.html . In any event, they are documented in the film and DVD, due out soon.

    BTW, Michoacan (mich-wa-can) is one of the central states of Mexico, with a gorgeous pre-columbian culture, which, in the late 60's / early 70's was known for the exceptional quality of its finer herbal exports (or so I'm told by folks who actually remember the 60's). I don't know the exact sequence of associations, but at some point people began to refer to Michoacan - the herbal product - as meshmacan, unaware that the name had indicated the origin. Probably the corrupting influence of the band's name.
     
  11. mbfrosch

    mbfrosch New Member

    Just heard this song this morning on Q107 in Toronto.

    They were talking about Festival Express, (that's what made me Google Mashmakhan, I also typed Mash McCann) lol
     
  12. bare trees

    bare trees Senior Member

    I do remember hearing the song on the radio when I was 3 or 4. This would have been the mid 70s so the song was already old by then. Years later, I heard it constantly when CHER flipped to an oldies format. On a trivial not, the band's drummer was Gerry Mercer, who later joined April Wine.
     
  13. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    It deleted the ten-minute track that closed the second LP, probably its best track.
     
  14. Holy Diver

    Holy Diver Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    Apparently.
     
  15. Back in old days I booked a band called Trevor Payne & The Triangle for our school dances, of which Jerry Mercer was member. They changed their name to Mashmakhan after they obtained a record deal. Jerry has had a very interesting journey.
     
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