indy mike's pick ONE tune/hour theme o' the week: O Canada...

Oh, well I'll take back Shatner. I love that record by the way. Plays great at parties.

 

Diana Krall--"The Look Of Love". Still not a huge fan of her voice (it's grown on me), but I like that entire CD thanks to Claus Ogerman's seductive arrangements. My pick is the title track. One of the few renditions anywhere that sing it somewhat seductively, rather than as "catchy pop song" like others have tried to do.

 

"It Doesn't Really Matter" -- Platinum Blonde

I loved this when I was 13. Heard it recently and... uhhh... well... let's just say that it entertains me in a completely different way now.

 

Santa Claus And His Old Lady - Cheech & Chong ... Chong was born in Edmonton

 

Crazy On You - Heart

 

Anybody like HARD rock? Mebbe we should add The Headpins I've Heard It All Before to bang our heads to! That tough chick screamin' vocal shreds yer speakercones - party on, Wayne (cheap Mike Meyers/Canadian reference tossed in for free)...

 

OK, this might be a stretch, but it was produced by Robbie Robertson....

"Beautiful Noise" - Neil Diamond, from the 1976 album of the same name.

Jim W.

 

Mike, the title is Just In Case You Wonder. Great cut! I am partial though to another Ugly Duckings song "Gaslight" one of my all-time favourite rock songs.

 

Thanks! Say, do you have an original 45 of that, or that mighty tasty looking lp on Yorkville? Who owns those masters these days? Is there a better sounding comp than that Pacemaker cd set?

 

The Swingin' Shepherd Blues - Moe Koffman Quartette ... Moe, a saxophonist, was born in Toronto ... the instrumental hit #23 in '58.

 

Try this one....

Shake Yourself Down - The Checkerlads. I've seen it come up once in a blue moon on the original Canadian label (can't think of the name) but mine's on U.S. Rca Victor, 66, 67? Great melodic garage, somewhat like early Ohio Express. Found a mint copy for $20 a few years back.

Best!

 

Like A Hurricane - Neil Young

 

R. Dean Taylor - At the High School Dance - Yep, the same R. Dean who avoided Indiana cause we wanted him back here - this is a bopper from 1959 on Bear's Shakin' Up North - Canadian Rockabilly Volume 1 - lotta good piyanner bangin' here...

 

kd lang- Wash Me Clean

 

Constant craving - K. D. Lang

 

Not really a song, but certainly Canadian and definitely a hit:

"The Americans (A Canadian's Opinion)" by Gordon Sinclair

Sinclair was a beloved, at times controversial, Toronto radio announcer who had a daily radio show. On June 5, 1973, he was so fed up with America-bashing that seemed to be a daily feature in those Vietnam-infested, inflationary, Watergate-filled times that he wrote a commentary about how Americans were the most generous yet least appreciated people in all the world. His five-minute broadcast caused a sensation; tapes of his broadcast made their way to the Lower 48 and were played on radio stations, which soon led to demand for a record to buy! Eventually, his commentary, with a backing track of "Battle Hymn of the Republic," was issued as a 45 on the Avco label.

Meanwhile, another Canadian radio announcer, who was in the Detroit market at the time (on CKLW), Byron MacGregor, did a cover version with his smooth announcer's voice and with "America the Beautiful" as the background music. Simply titled "Americans," the MacGregor version became the big-selling 45 in the US; it was certified gold as it hit the top 5 on Billboard and No. 1 in many markets. It became the biggest-selling record in the history of Westbound Records. Even today, there's enough resentment from the Sinclair family about having his thunder stolen that the "official" story of "The Americans" doesn't even mention Byron MacGregor's name!

Finally, in what would prove to be his last recording before his death, Tex Ritter, who was not Canadian, did a cover version for the country & western market, which made the top 40 of the C&W chart.

After the events of 9/11/2001, Sinclair got new attention thanks to an e-mail that circled the Internet. For once, an Internet rumor got the gist of the story correct, though several details were wrong. For example, the e-mail implied that the commentary was recent; I remember surprising a friend of mine in the office when I told him that it was done in 1973. It also said that it didn't receive a lot of attention; well, it sure did in 1973-74 (I remember clearly that Byron MacGregor appeared on "To Tell The Truth," the syndicated version). And it implied again that the commentary was from a newspaper, when it was a radio broadcast originally.

Alas, Sinclair, MacGregor and Ritter are all gone now.

 

Haunted 1-2-5 (original one, not the meek re-recording).

 

GORDON LIGHTFOOT: "Early Morning Rain"

Very early US single, from spring '65, on Warner Bros. Something fell through, because not long after he was recording for UA. One of his early classics.

ED

 

Interesting. Is this the same version that ended up on UA?


Does anyone else have a copy of the If You Could Read My Mind album that looks like this?

 

Yep.

"Ladies and gentlemen...boys and girls...presenting..."

"Pop Goes the World" by Men Without Hats! Holds up better today than "Safety Dance," I think.

 

Yes. Since Ian & Sylvia and PP&M were about to record some of Lightfoot's songs, he attracted the interest of Albert Grossman(manager of both, as well as Dylan)and John Court, who produced Lightfoot's first album. Warner Bros. was supposed to release that album(which became LIGHTFOOT)but all they issued, AFAIK, was the "Early Mornin' Rain" 45. UA put the album out by the fall of '65, but went with"Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues"/"Ribbon Of Darkness" as the 45. Despite WB's rejection, ol' Gord turned out okay, didn't he?
Wound up with the company by 1970, so no hard feelings, I guess...

ED

 

This may seem like a somewhat prosaic choice but how about "Summer of '69" by Bryan Adams? A pretty good rockin' single.
I was in a small town in Australia (Ceduna) last December to see a total solar eclipse and the day of the eclipse (which was to occur not long before sunset) saw the closure of the main streets and a few bands playing in the streets. I saw a band of very young teenagers doing a very credible version of this song with two young girls with great voices doing the singing.
Anyway it was great to hear Canadian content Down Under (it even may've made me a wee bit homesick until I thought about the weather.)


John

 

Sit Down Young Stranger is the original pressing and title of the lp. When Lightfoot scored big with the song "If You Could Read My Mind" Warner repackaged the lp to take advantage of the hit.

 

I'm sure I have a number of Ducklings 45's somewhere in the house. I used to have the Somewhere Outside album many moons ago but it unfortunately has disappeared.

The Pacemaker comp is considered the best. There was a comp lp put out in the 80's(?) with a cartoon cover of ducks.

Check out this one that's new to me:
http://www.indiepool.com/catalogue/title.asp?pn=FRWY001