CD Odyssey Disc 1890: Dr. Hook

I hunted this next album out of the bargain bin of my local record store. One advantage of collecting music on what many consider to be an outdated format (CD) is that people are always shedding their old stuff.

Disc 1890 is… Sharing the Night Together and Other Favorites

Artist: Dr. Hook

Year of Release: 1989 but featuring songs from 1975 to 1979

What’s up with the Cover? A picture of the band, who either just moved into a recently renovated apartment, or are at a photography studio.

Either way, these guys do not look like they are about to share the night together, although some look like they didn’t go to bed.

How I Came To Know It: I grew up with a lot of these songs, and noting exactly zero crossovers with a different compilation already in my collection, decided it was worth the small investment.

How It Stacks Up: This is a compilation album, and so doesn’t stack up.

Ratings: Greatest Hits records don’t get rated, so if you want to know what I think about this one, you’ll have to read the article.

I know most of the songs on “Sharing the Night Together” due to being strapped into the back seat of my mom’s early sixties pale blue Rambler as a kid. The car and the hit-making prowess of Dr. Hook had a similar run for me through the early and mid-seventies, before both faded into obscurity. The car, after it broke down and we couldn’t afford to fix it, and Dr. Hook for what I assume are similar reasons.

This particular compilation is a collection of later songs and comes after Dr. Hook dropped the “and the Medicine Show” part of their title. Both albums feature songs about sex, drugs and rock and roll, but this later compilation has less of the middle topic, making dropping the ‘medicine show’ understandable.

Whatever the topic, Dr. Hook is well-named, as these songs are soft rock gold, and there is no going gold in the world of soft rock without a hook. These tunes have the inoffensive easy flow of radio-friendly music, with only a safe hint of danger. Are they talking about sex and drugs…on the radio?!? Why yes, they are, but they’re doing it softly, so your parents won’t mind (also they’re the ones tuning it in on the drive to the grocery store).

Let’s start with the sex, which is referenced plenty on this record. The opening track is “Sexy Eyes” which is about meeting a woman at the local disco/dance hall/honky tonk with a certain look in her eyes crossing the room toward our narrator. Based on the groove of the song, I’d suggest disco is the most likely scenario. The song has a mid-tempo funky guitar and the high prancing of an organ filling in for a jazz flute that would have felt equally at home.

The song is built for dancing at all three speeds: 1. A thin bit of air between partners, with plenty of tease in the hips 2. Hands on hips or shoulders, replete with sway and meaningful glances, and 3. Legal in public because your pants are still on. Pick your contact level based on whatever is mutually agreed.

The mid-to-late seventies was the era of free love and fun times, minus the idealism of the sixties, and Dr. Hook has all of the outcomes covered. Maybe that dance number from “Sexy Eyes” turns into the playful “Sharing the Night Together,” with an invite home, complete with sexy whispers and promises of “we could bring in the morning, girl/if you want to go that far”.

Or maybe it turns sour, as on “When You’re In Love With a Beautiful Woman” which sees the world through the sad, jealous eyes of some mistrusting joker with low self-esteem, worried that ‘his’ girl’s previously sexy eyes have become prone to wandering. Counterpoint: maybe she’s just tired of dating a guy who is always asking what she’s looking at or who was just on the phone.

And it is here where the record has a bit of an “ick” factor (or “of its time” if you are feeling charitable), because for all the sexual liberation inherent in a Dr. Hook song, there are moments where these tunes show their age. Worst of all is “If Not You” where our singer, opens with:

“Who's gonna water my plants?
Who's gonna patch my pants?
And who's gonna give me
The chance to feel brand new?”

Um…yuck.

OK, on to the drugs and partying, and the album has a couple of fine entries in Dr. Hook’s previous party songs (think “Cover of the Rolling Stone”, “Freaking at the Freaker’s Ball”). On this compilation we have “The Millionaire” a song about a guy without a lot going for him other than the inheritance of a rich uncle, and my personal favourite, “I Got Stoned and I Missed It” - the original version of Afro-Man’s “Because I Got High” only funnier with a better hook.

Before I exit, I should note that Dr. Hook is not all sex and novelty songs, and there are genuine moments of emotional resonance. The best is “A Couple More Years”. This heartfelt tune is cowritten by lead singer Dennis Locorriere and long-time Dr. Hook contributor/writer Shel Silverstein.

This song is a world-weary expression of sadness, experience and comfort, all balled together. I first discussed this song back at Disc 1653 when I reviewed a cover of it on Waylon Jennings’ album, “Are You Ready for the Country”. It isn’t often you can out-vocal ole Waylon, but but there is something about the high quaver in Locorriere’s voice that takes this song to the next level.

This record is a good way to explore a little of the latter half of Dr. Hook’s heyday. You’ll find a little groove, a little sway, a few solid pop hooks and generally (but not always) inoffensive rock and roll.

Best tracks: Sexy Eyes, A Couple More Years, When You’re In Love With a Beautiful Woman, The Millionaire, I Got Stoned and I Missed It

CD Odyssey Disc 1889: Sleater-Kinney

Merry Christmas! I am writing this sitting in a pair of cream-coloured pajamas and a gold robe (both vintage), feeling quite decadent. I hope you are having an equally sumptuous and relaxed holiday. Perhaps as part of your routine you would like to enjoy a small dose of musical criticism. If so, consider this my Christmas gift to you.

Disc 1889 is… Dig Me Out

Artist: Sleater-Kinney

Year of Release: 1997

What’s up with the Cover? The band pays homage to the Kinks’ album, “The Kink Kontroversy” (thank you Internet, as I did not know this independently).

Rather than going on about that thing I learned without effort, let us reflect on the amateur photography of 1997. 1997 was relatively early for digital camera availability, so I suspect these were film photos that were developed.

The downside to film was that you only got about 20 photos, good or bad. As a result a lot of photos have the quality of the ones on this album cover, which look overexposed (no post-photo editing) and glary.

How I Came To Know It: I knew about Sleater-Kinney back in the day, but didn’t really dig into their music until later. I had a feeling I would like what I heard, and I was right. “Dig Me Out” was just one of a flurry of purchases I made in recent years to round out my collection of this awesome band.

How It Stacks Up: I have six Sleater-Kinney albums. I originally ranked 2019’s “The Center Won’t Hold” (Disc 1294) as #1 and reserved the #2 slot for “Dig Me Out”. But the truth is that the two records are both perfect, and so different from one another it is impossible to compare them. They are both #1, but I don’t allow this, so I am going to give “Dig Me Out” precedence and move it up to top slot.

Ratings: 5 stars

“Dig Me Out’s” immediate impact is a visceral one. This record shrieks at you with a defiant call from the peaks of rock and roll. This is music for scaring your mom and make your dad harrumph in disapproval (n.b. dad was also scared but harrumphed to mask his discomfort).

The vocal style is pure punk and the brassy back-throat snarl of Corin Tucker rings out like a war cry across a roiling plain of battle. Brownstein’s vocals are a calmer counterpunch to this battery, but no less emotive. Together, the pair sonically slap you until they’re sure you’re paying attention. Then they slap you one extra time because…rock and roll.

While the vocals are the easy access point, there is a LOT going on with “Dig Me Out”. The individual instruments, if played in isolation, would feel stark and incomplete. It’s the artful way the trio play together that creates something special. A couple of simple guitar riffs that mixed together create a layer of syncopation and aggression that let you know there is a lot more going on here than the chord or two of your average punk song.

Now insert Janet Weiss on drums, pounding out a panoply of beats that are sneaky creative, and you end up with a record that can be enjoyed for its technical excellence, its creative songwriting, or just for thrashing your hair around angrily when life irritates you.

A timely disclaimer amidst the hyperbole here. Life will still irritate you after the experience but a listen to “Dig Me Out” will make you feel better, if for no other reason than providing a voice and outlet for the irritation.

Like the music, the lyrics lead with the visceral, and then dig down into something more profound after they settle. The title track is born of a frustration so deep the singer wants to tear themselves out of their own skin.

Other songs are grounded in the wellspring of desire, drama, or even dance, with each expressed in the key of measured rage. On “Words and Guitar” the emotion is so overpowering all that can be expressed is words and guitar, rendered down to their Platonic ideals. Words and guitar are just words and guitar, and the music and delivery will tell you everything you need to know of their importance beyond that.

On “Little Babies”, Sleater-Kinney even bend old sixties pop forms to their will, twisting radio friendly arrangements and images of domesticity into something gritty and powerful.

“Dig Me Out” is like being buried in a fine ash. It catches in your throat, hot and gritty, but look a little further and you’ll see the source – an erupting volcano in the distance, all beautiful fury in shades of yellow, orange and red.

Great stuff from a great band that has changed their sound over the years but never stopped climbing the mountain of awesome. “Dig Me Out” is them at the peak.

Best tracks: All tracks

CD Odyssey Disc 1888: Mean Mary

Welcome back to the CD Odyssey, where for the second review in a row we have a talented woman with a warble in her voice. A Creative Maelstrom – now with twice the warble!

Disc 1888 is… Portrait of a Woman (Part 1)

Artist: Mean Mary

Year of Release: 2022

What’s up with the Cover? A lovely portrait of Mary James (aka Mean Mary), courtesy of artist Roselin Estephania.

James appears happy in this photo, although she may not yet realize she is under a butterfly attack. Don’t concern yourself. Butterfly attacks are rarely lethal and besides the back cover of the album has a cat batting at the butterfly, so help is on the way...

How I Came To Know It: I learned about Mean Mary through her 2024 album, “Woman Creature (Portrait of a Woman Pt. 2)” (reviewed back at Disc 1796) and I have since dived deep into her collection. “Portrait of a Woman, Part 1” comes from that.

How It Stacks Up: I now have six Mean Mary albums (and I’m on the hunt for two more). Of the six I already have, I put “Portrait of a Woman, Pt. 1” in at #6, which promotes “Blazing: Hell is Naked” up to #5 in the process.

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

Mean Mary is one of the greatest discoveries in my musical journey in many years, and I dove into “Portrait of a Woman, Part 1” with joy in my heart and anticipation of greatness. In the end, it falls short of greatness but still lands a solid record from an artist who doesn’t make bad ones.

If you are new to Mean Mary, she’s a singer-songwriter with a birdlike warble to her voice, and magic in her banjo-pickin’ fingers. While she sings about plenty of modern experiences, Mean Mary is an old soul, and thing will feel very ‘old timey’ throughout. If you don’t like folk music, and prefer things slathered in pop post-production trickery and a lot of instruments that require electricity to work, then this may not be for you. This is folk music for folksters, made without apology.

Things start with Mary’s talent on the banjo, which is considerable. Her playing is bright and sunny even by banjo standards. Expect these songs to put a jump in your step. Witness the delightfully merry instrumental “Merry Eyes”, a mid-tempo meander which will give your cockles a good warming.

Later in the record Mary will double down on the virtuosity, with a fiddle instrumental called “Butterfly Sky” where she channels her inner Scot with a heavy but precise action on the bow that summons up hints of Charlie McKerron and John Morris Rankin. As someone who can barely find 10 chords on a guitar, the idea that someone like Mean Mary can shift styles and instruments with such easy grace is even more impressive.

Every Mean Mary has at least one narrative gem, and on “Portrait…” that song is “Cranberry Gown”. It tells the story of a woman who purchases a beautiful dress but falls on hard times and has to sell it. Years later she finds a replacement dress in a thrift store that rekindles all the same magic. The dress lifts her spirits to the point that even on days when she goes casual (not every occasion calls for a cranberry gown).

The song reminds us of the power of art and expression to lift us not just in the moment of creative discovery, but for months after. It is a song about a dress, and about so much more than a dress. It is one of the finest songs Mean Mary (and brother Frank) have ever written.

Unfortunately, it is followed immediately by “Bridge Out” which wants to be a whimsical road trip but feels more like an indulgent moment at the open mic. Brother Frank’s vocal additions are hokey and often include affectations a drunk uncle might think are funny but are actually just awkward. Mean Mary’s usually delightfully warbles get drawn into her sibling’s overacting and create…a mess. The banjo playing is as sublime as ever, but even that can’t rescue this one. It’s the exception that proves the rule of Mary’s excellence.

For a better road trip song on the record, Mary provides us “Big Tour Bus” a song about being a struggling artist dreaming of having a big tour bus, ideally with a driver so you can sleep between gigs. It has all the same whimsy and light-hearted observational intent of “Bridge Out” but unlike that song, this one works. A stripped-down version of this song appears on Mary’s 2020 album “Alone” and while the “full band version” here doesn’t add a lot, I like the song enough that I was happy to hear it two different ways.

“Old Banjo” is also a delightful song, one of several where Mean Mary revels in an instrument that she knows well. “Old Banjo” has the feel of an ancient adventure. It’s a song you can imagine a medieval bard playing as he walks from town to town. The lyrics are festooned with heroes and kings that serve as metaphors for the singer’s relationship to their instrument.

Like every Mean Mary record I’ve heard, “Portrait of a Woman (Part One)” is a celebration of Mary James’ deep and abiding love of music. Her voice is a joyous birdsong, and her fingers on the banjo are well-travelled country roads to the happier places in your heart. If you want an introduction to Mean Mary, I would go out of order and start with 2024’s “Woman Creature” (Portrait of a Woman, Part 2)” but there is still plenty to recommend the prequel. If we cancel out the brilliance of “Cranberry Gown” and the indulgence of “Bridge Out” we still find ourselves with a fine sampling of her work.

Best tracks: Cranberry Gown, Merry Eyes, Big Tour Bus, Old Banjo

CD Odyssey Disc 1887: Grace Cummings

Despite a very busy schedule at work, today I began some much-needed holidays. I’ll be doing a bit of shopping, and some chores I never get to because they require a free weekday. Before that, however, let’s give the people what they want. If you’ve come here, that would be a music review.

Disc 1887 is… Refuge Cove

Artist: Grace Cummings

Year of Release: 2019

What’s up with the Cover? Cummings looks like a starlet from Hollywood’s golden age as she smokes a cigarette and thinks about passion, the fleeting nature of mortality and just where in this Goddamn town you can get a passable Gin Rickey.

How I Came To Know It: I heard about Grace Cummings through her 2022 album “Storm Queen” which was also my #1 album of 2022 (for the full list click here).

“Refuge Cove” was impossible to find on CD so finally I broke down and downloaded it from Bandcamp.

How It Stacks Up: I have three Grace Cumming albums and they are all awesome. “Refuge Cove” comes in at #2. This being the final album in my collection (for now) here’s a full recap:

1. Storm Queen: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 1573)
2. Refuge Cove: 5 stars (reviewed right here)
3. Ramona: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1768)

Ratings: 5 stars

Every once in a while you encounter a voice that is so compelling, so majestic and otherworldly, that it pushes all other things away and demands your soul’s full attention. Grace Cummings has this voice. It helps that she’s also an exceptional songwriter meaning her songs also have something to say.

Cummings does folk music in the style of early Bob Dylan, when he’s at his most melodic. She paints pictures with her words that are grounded in unexpected imagery and big thoughts distilled down to simple truths. She has a bit more classical and jazz in the undercurrents of the writing than Dylan’s folk revival style, but the fact that you can mention her in the same sentence as a Nobel prize winner for literature should give you an idea of the talent.

As for the vocals, they are beautiful, but it won’t be what you expect. It is the vocal of a tortured ghost, a grieving angel, an open wound. It pours out off her in a way that feels almost involuntary, a low warble that coats each word it sings with a vibrant imminence. Once in a while she injects hurtful growl of a wounded beast, vulnerable and dangerous, but mostly it is just a deep emotional connection to every moment, every note.

I imagine some hearing Cummings approach to phrasing and melody might find it an acquired taste, something powerful and unexpected that might take a bit of listening to fall into. I would suggest that if you don’t fall into this stuff immediately then you need to lower your guard a little and let the feelings shine in. Do that with Cummings, and you’ll be immediately infused with the power of her testimony. If you’re driving when it happens, try to keep the car on the road.

The record starts with “The Look You Gave”. When I heard this song for the first time – having heard nothing else on the record – I knew I would fall hard for “Refuge Cove.” The power and majesty of Cummings’ vocals are a big part of it, but her ability to paint the devastation of a lover’s once warm glance turned cold - that shit hits hard all on its own.

Cummings poetry is clear, concise and rich with imagery. Sometimes it is an immediate thrill of discovery (“I need to swim in an ocean/as cold as the look you gave”) and other times it takes a bit of digging, like references to Paul Gachet. Turns out Gachet was Van Gogh’s physician assisting him during his struggles with madness. Cummings sees Gachet’s face in a spot on her ceiling. There’s a lot of layers to that onion, and they’re fun to discover.

On “The Other Side” Cummings muses about how to recover from a bad bout of musing. It is a song for all of us that have ever day-dreamed darkly, ever had visions of doubt and uncertainty, and a lesson in how to return. Midway through the song, Cummings encounters the assistance of ancient wisdom:

“Athena looks down and she
Begs you with reason
To hold your grief with you
In your hands for a while
There's no use for stillness
For the world keeps turning
It'll shake you and throw
Your feet off the wire

"To get you out of your slumber
Get you out and on the other side”

It's a stanza that pushes you off that tightrope dancing, and back to the crowd, but does it in a way that lets you know you’ll go back when you need to.

As for the music, the album is sparse with the arrangements, mostly just acoustic guitar strums and piano bits. Don’t expect a bunch of solos or post-production hijinks here. Cummings doesn’t need that stuff. She’s got everything she needs in her head and her lungs. It’s our job to open our hearts and bear witness as it bursts out of her.

Best tracks: all tracks

CD Odyssey Disc 1886: Ted Hawkins

For the second straight review we get an album released in 1982. How can this happen, you ask? In the case of the CD Odyssey…randomly.

Disc 1886 is… Watch Your Step

Artist: Ted Hawkins

Year of Release: 1982

What’s up with the Cover? Ted poses outside of what looks like a prison complex. Possibly this is inside such a complex, as Hawkins was in state custody when this record came out.

How I Came To Know It: One of my musically inclined buddies brought this to my attention one night while we were all listening to music. I wrote it down but forgot I had done so for about a year (I am still getting used to using Notes on my phone instead of scraps of paper).

A year later, I found the note, but not only could I not remember who of the half dozen folks who were over that night had brought it around, neither could they.  Whoever it was, thanks. Shortly after rediscovering my notes, I went out and bought this record at the local record store.

How It Stacks Up: This is my only Ted Hawkins album so it can’t stack up.

Ratings: 4 stars

Ted Hawkins is not afraid to walk dark paths, whether they are dodgy late night back alleys, or the even darker paths of the human heart. His music frequently features stark topics, that is filled with a warmth that invites you in to share the comfort of human companionship amidst the devastation.

Hawkins’ style defies genres, sitting somewhere at the nexus of soul, blues and folk. Most songs are accompanied by basic guitar strumming that is played in time and with feeling, but that won’t amaze you with technical skill.

His voice is similarly unadorned, with a natural weariness to it that sounds like Otis Redding if Otis was tired and maybe a little hungry. It’s a bit pale and wan, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that Hawkins isn’t compelling. His high and airy quaver instantly draws you in and sits you down at the kitchen table of his soul.

Like any good kitchen table, Hawkins’ songs can fill you up when you’re empty, but they can also be the place where hard topics are explored and challenged late into the evening. It’s the place where every gathering begins and ends, and where the most down-to-earth honest conversations occur. That’s a Ted Hawkins song.

The record’s title track is a fine example of hard conversations, as a not terribly sensitive man warns his wayward woman to “watch her step”. If that sounds like it’s laden with uncomfortable threats, you’d be right. The way Hawkins navigates the space between a man’s jealous rage, helpless love and ill-placed bravado isn’t heroic, but it does create a compelling character study. The song has a restless energy that approaches frantic, leaving the listener to feel the narrator’s quickening desire, but also the discomfort of rising emotion that could turn despondent or violent on a dime.

“The Lost Ones” is a song of young children suffering in abject poverty, with one parent sick and the other absent or dead. Hawkins’ high plaintive tone is the perfect vehicle for the anguish of kids without hope. The song expands the failure of the individual family into a general comment about the breakdown of social order all around them:

“I'd call the neighbors but I don't even know their names
They've lived there ten years, oh, ain't that a shame?
Don't think they'd help us even if I asked them to
We are the lost ones seeking help from you”

In this moment we mentally pan out from the plight of the children to the greater environment. I’ve known some bad neighbourhoods, but never one so bad you couldn’t go next door to get some help when you really needed it.

My favourite song on the record is “Sorry You’re Sick”. You realize early on that this isn’t the kind of sick you can ward off with a flu shot. It’s next level sickness, maybe alcohol withdrawal, or more likely something stronger still.

Here, our narrator is out to help his girl who is dope sick with withdrawal. The song’s beat is jaunty and upbeat, but you get the quick impression that the cure proposed (something from the liquor store) is more of a stop-gap for a deeper need. “Sorry You’re Sick” is vintage Hawkins, romantic and tragic in equal measure. It also features the finest vocal performance on the record, showing off a high near-falsetto that ably captures the keening of a soul in need of feeding a bad habit.

It's a testament to Hawkins’ talent as both a singer and a songwriter that he can explore so many bad choices and still sound hopeful and romantic. He’s broken in a dozen places, but there’s light shining out of the cracks that leaves us all a little sadder and wiser.

Best tracks: Bring it Home Daddy, If You Love Me, Don’t Lose Your Cool, The Lost Ones, Sorry You’re Sick, Watch Your Step (band version), I Gave Up All I Had

CD Odyssey Disc 1885: Triumph

Welcome back. This week features the triumphant return of a band from my youth. Triumphant – get it? Get it? Man, I crack myself up…

Disc 1885 is… Never Surrender

Artist: Triumph

Year of Release: 1982

What’s up with the Cover? Triumph’s signature logo, if it were a helmet crest. Based on the notches under his left eye, this soldier’s had some close calls while in the business of ‘never surrendering’.

Or maybe he just takes very poor care of his helmet, and it’s gotten dinged up through neglect.

How I Came To Know It: I knew Triumph fairly well as a kid, although my limited purchasing power meant I had to rely on whichever records my brother bought at the time. In 2022 my love for the band was rekindled after watching an excellent documentary about them.

How It Stacks Up: Triumph has released ten studio albums and while the super fans depicted in the documentary likely have them all, I am just a “regular” fan and own four, with no current plans for expansion.

Of those four, one had to be last and “Never Surrender” is that album. Don’t feel bad for it, though; if you’re following along closely, you’ll know that this places it fourth out of 10. You just won’t be reading about numbers 5 – 10 here.

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

Early eighties hard rock was its own beast. Stadium shows were the gold standard and to get there bands had to be bigger and more grandiose in their approach to music to fit the intended venues. By 1982, Triumph was a fairly big deal (at least in Canada) and “Never Surrender” feels like a record recorded with the ability to recreate its majesty on very big live stages. This generates some generic bombast, but also a few gems.

As always, the secret weapon that elevates Triumph is their exceptional musicianship, most notably co-lead singer and guitarist Rik Emmett. The record’s two best songs (“A World of Fantasy” and “Never Surrender”) are both sung by Emmett. Emmett’s vocals are very high and anthemic, which was a common sound at the time, but few can elevate to the kind of power he hits, even when singing at the very top of his head voice. Nary a whisper in there as he belts out notes sure to set the crystal in your house ringing.

“A World of Fantasy” is the kind of song that would have appealed to me very differently as a lad compared to now. Back then I was very into fantasy games and books, and lines like…

“You were drawin' me in to your spider's web
With your hungry eyes
I was under your power, I was in your spell
I was hypnotized”

…would have had me thinking of the last session of D&D I’d played and then carefully hid from my school mates (unlike now, back in the day playing those kind of games was social kryptonite and not talked about the next day outside of hushed whispers).

As an adult I now realize the song is about sex, which is also pretty great, and detracts from the song’s enjoyment not a whit.

The album’s title track is the reason this record will never leave the collection. “Never Surrender” is one of rock and roll’s great anthems. As a kid I found it empowering, and a reminder that no matter what life throws at you, you’ll feel better standing in the gales of fortune, and holding fast.

As an adult, nothing about this song has changed, and it is still great advice.

Rik Emmett is equally gifted on the guitar. Classically trained, he once again converts his exceptional skills on the axe into a rock and roll juggernaut. Songs like “Never Surrender” showcase tasty licks, power chords, groove and crunch all in just the right mix.

Every Triumph album features Emmett getting his classical skills on with short instrumentals as well, and on this record we have the pastoral “A Minor Prelude” and the atmospheric “Epilogue (Resolution)”. The latter is one of my favourite songs on the album if for no other reason than the tone Emmett evokes from his instrument. It lifts and melts you at the same time, letting you know the record is over in the same way a fine glass of port lets your palate know dinner is over.

My only quibble about the record is that there is a lot of “the same” going on. There aren’t bad songs per se, but there are more than a couple that are just “oh yeah, stadium rock” without distinguishing features that call your attention. The driving rock guitar on these tracks is fun, but sometimes it can have a “bar band makes it big” feeling. Fortunately, even on the more boring tracks, Emmett wisely throws in a “holy shit!” solo or two to remind you that even when they’re giving the people what they want, Triumph can take it to another level.

Before I depart, a kind word for the band’s other vocalist, drummer Gil Moore. While Gil doesn’t have the anthemic power of Emmett, he is a bit more bluesy in his approach – the Rob Halford to Emmett’s Bruce Dickinson. Moore also has some pretty impressive chops and is solid on the drums as well. His work on “Battle Cry” is him at his best.

Overall, this is a good record that is just shy of being great that over forty years later continues to remind me to never surrender. Thanks, lads.

Best tracks: A World of Fantasy, Battle Cry, Never Surrender, Epilogue (Resolution)

CD Odyssey Disc 1884: Jake Vaadeland

I was asked last night about my top 10 albums of 2025. The year isn’t over yet, but this next record will be in contention to make the list.

Disc 1884 is… One More Dollar to Go

Artist: Jake Vaadeland

Year of Release: 2025

What’s up with the Cover? Jake Vaadeland kicks it old school. For Jake “kickin’ it” is putting on a suit and posing respectfully with your guitar.

How I Came To Know It: Whenever a festival comes to town, I make a point of listening to every artist ahead of time, so I know when to show up and when to leave each day. Often it is the early acts that catch my ear over the headliners. Frankly, by the time the headliners come on the audience is typically less engaged with the music, not more. Many would decry such claims later when showing the snippets they filmed on their i-Phones, but we who were there for the music saw what we saw.

But I digress…

Jake Vaadeland was one of the acts at this year’s Rifflandia, so I checked him out ahead of time. I loved it so much I made sure to show up early. Once I was at the show I bought both his LPs (and a t-shirt to boot) from the merch booth. And here we are…

How It Stacks Up: I have two Jake Vaadeland albums. They are both excellent, but “One More Dollar to Go” is #1.

Ratings: 4 stars but almost 5

Jake Vaadeland is unapologetically traditional. He is so traditional you will swear these are songs your mom used to play when you were a kid, maybe even your grandpa. You’d be wrong though, Vaadeland just writes tunes that are so timeless you think they’ve been around forever.

Writing original songs with a style and genre dating back anywhere from fifty to ninety years ago that are not derivative is damn hard. About as hard as writing a great pop hook, and way less appreciated. Vaadeland rises again and again to this challenge. In the process he has created a record that has potential to have the same staying power of the artists he honours.

That style sits somewhere in a golden nexus of heart-worn Hank Williams Sr. honky tonk, the bluegrass mastery of Bill Monroe, and the high-floating quaver of Johnny Horton. If that sounds like some impressive company, you’d be right. Vaadeland’s style floats in and out and around all three of these greats and in the process finds his own space to hunker down and do right.

Vaadeland’s vocals are sneaky good. So sneaky you don’t notice on any individual song, but across the full record you realize just how much range he has from the top of his head voice down into the almost Elvis growl of his lower register. He isn’t a show-off about it either, letting his vocal performance sit down easy into the song as one of many complementary parts.

The other parts come courtesy of his backing band, the Sturgeon River Boys. These fellas are a fine match indeed. Sometimes they mosey through a song, and sometimes they play a furious torrent of notes, but slow or fast they are always clean and precise.

With this kind of music that precision is critical, or you’ve got one hell of a mess on your hands. There is no room for being off the beat on this music, which is often front-end loaded and leaning dangerously forward through every chord shift.

Even played well, this style can veer off and become technical and emotionally empty, but that never happens. The record is warm and engaging throughout. If anything you feel like you’ve been invited over to the Vaadeland family home and an impromptu concert has broken out in the living room. Move the chairs, push the couches against the wall, and dance with your partner.

Much like the musical backdrop, the lyrics are very old school without ever feeling fake or forced. “One More Dollar to Go” is a modern classic about being broke. Being broke is never fun, but this song sure gives you reason to celebrate anyway. Never was being down to your last dollar so joyfully delivered.

“Hot Headed Woman” is about a woman who is hard to love and hard not to, and equal parts uncomfortable and sly in its character study. It’s not a healthy relationship, but the song’s restless energy is a case study in how some folks are just drawn to things that aren’t good for them.

“One More Dollar” and “Hot Headed Woman” are both up-tempo tunes which belie their sad subject matter. Elsewhere, Vaadeland shows his range with the slow and tragic tunes like “Old White Home” and “Neath the Shade of the Tree.”

Despite his old-school style, Vaadeland is fresh and energetic throughout. His love for this music is not a mere mask he puts on, but resides in his bones. This joy flows out of his songwriting and delivery alike, creating a record that gets better and better on every listen.

Best tracks: One More Dollar to Go, Hot Headed Woman, Old White Home, Don’t Go to the Valley, Lonesome Motor Inn, Neath the Shade of the Tree, A Glass of Wine Will Fix It Every Time

The Concert: December 7, 2025 at the Capital Ballroom, Victoria BC

Having seen Vaadeland earlier this year at Rifflandia (read more about that weekend immediately following the Sleater-Kinney review here) I was excited for what I knew was going to be a good show.

We were also cagey about getting there early. The Capital Ballroom is a lovely space but seating with good sightlines is limited and to score any, you gotta get there before the crowd does.

With this in mind we arrived 45 minutes before curtain but as ill-luck would have it there was a collection of fellow “olds” that had already secured all the prime balcony spots. I settled for a floor table that I knew from past experience was both awesome (near the soundboard/mixer) but fraught with peril (subject to random tall dudes standing in front of you.

As it happened, things broke in the likely fashion, with both great sound AND a part of the show starting partly at the back of some dude’s head. So it goes…

The set was richly decorated with old-time furniture and a lit Christmas tree, and put you into a mood that was both festive and comfortable. Into this scene landed Vaadeland and his Sturgeon River Boys, striking up the music and immediately dialing up the energy to 10.

Album play is one thing, but playing these kinds of furiously quick tunes live without a hitch is another level, and yet the boys were flawless – or at least so near flawless my amateur ear never caught the error. The bass player (not the one from the record) particularly enraptured me, with tasty low-end licks that both kept the time (the band has no drummer) and then made that time jump and bounce.

This being Christmas time, Vaadeland did a couple of carols, including a medley of tunes sung in tight harmony. This could’ve been a bit stuffy, but it was far from it, and I found myself enjoying old Christmas songs in a way I hadn’t done in years.

Vaadeland’s originals are what I had really come to see, however, and I was not disappointed. The set featured a good range of his many old-timey styles, all played with grace and energy.

From time to time, Vaadeland would hold his guitar up alongside his ear. I imagined it was whispering secrets to him, but it could’ve just been him checking the tuning. Whatever it was, he never missed a cue regardless of where he swung his axe.

The show was highly scripted, with the exact same banter I’d heard at the Rifflandia set, albeit expanded with the bigger set-list. This stuff is pretty great the first time you hear it but lacks the organic feel on multiple run-throughs. A minor quibble, in an otherwise thoroughly uplifting and entertaining show. That banter includes mid-set “advertisements for our sponsors,” where Vaadeland shills for Pepsi and a vintage clothing store in Saskatoon called “Better Off Duds” in true old school fairground style. I looked “Better Off Duds” up later and can confirm that, just like Diet Pepsi, it’s real.

The audience was…average. For the most part well-behaved and appreciative, but there were a small minority that talked loudly through portions of the set. I’m not sure why people come to a music show to talk through it, but there are plenty of sports bars that can accommodate that behaviour. I wish they’d gone there instead.

At the end of the concert, Vaadeland thanked both the technical team that ran the sound, but also the venue staff. It was a nice touch from a class act.

If you get a chance to see Jake Vaadeland and the Sturgeon River Boys live I encourage you to go. You’re in for a good time, although you may leave with a strange desire to drink a Diet Pepsi and shop vintage.

CD Odyssey Disc 1883: Blue Oyster Cult

With my car in the shop, this week will feature much longer music listening opportunities courtesy of…the bus! Here’s the first offering courtesy of my triumphant (?) return to public transit.

Disc 1883 is… Ghost Stories

Artist: Blue Oyster Cult

Year of Release: 2024 (original recordings from 1978 – 1983)

What’s up with the Cover? A ritualistic BOC logo inscribed on the floor, framed by four candles, has summoned three ghosts. I like to think they are the ghosts of Allen Lanier, Joe Bouchard and Albert Bouchard for reasons that I will reveal later.

Whoever they are, it is a good thing ghosts don’t get tired of standing, because there’s just the one chair.

How I Came To Know It: Blue Oyster Cult is my favourite band, and I’ve known them all my life. Of course I was going to check out their latest record.

How It Stacks Up: I have 12 of Blue Oyster Cult’s studio albums. Of the twelve, Ghost Stories comes in at…#11. Since this is my first BOC review in four years, and is also the final studio album awaiting review, here’s a full accounting:

1. Secret Treaties: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 866)
2. Fire of Unknown Origin: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 751)
3. Spectres.: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 514)
4. Self-Titled: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1505)
5. Agents of Fortune: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 463)
6. Cultosaurus Erectus: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 206)
7. Tyranny and Mutation: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1273)
8. Mirrors: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 685)
9. Imaginos: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 838)
10. The Revolution by Night: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 1159)
11. Ghost Stories: 3 stars (reviewed right here)
12. Club Ninja: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 780)

If you want to read more Blue Oyster Cult reviews (who wouldn’t) all the records above and also four live albums can be found here.

Ratings: 3 stars

I’ve loved Blue Oyster Cult since I was a star-eyed child searching for their hidden symbol in every album cover.

It is this abiding love that has made most of their recent studio albums such a letdown. From 1998 to 2020, BOC released only three albums and I liked exactly none of them. Having never experienced this before (just check out the fanboy ratings of the records above) my reaction went from an initial no-this-cannot-be! horror that morphed over the years into a despondent resignation as the final notes ended on 2020’s disappointing “The Symbol Remains”.

Was there never to be another worthy studio album from my childhood heroes? Well, cancel the pity party, because “Ghost Stories” announces the boys (all five of them) as back. After twenty plus years of waiting, we’ve got a keeper.

The record has an unfair advantage, in that it is actually a collection of studio recordings made from 1978 to 1983, remixed in 2024 and dubbed “the final studio album” upon its release.

This era of BOC music features two critically lauded classic records (1980’s “Cultasaurus Erectus” and “1981’s Fire of Unknown Origin”) which are bookended by two records of lesser acclaim (“Mirrors” (1979) and “The Revolution by Night” (1983). I happen to love them all.

Stylistically, “Ghost Stories” feels like it spans these records yet belongs to none of them. Every tune is a facet of Blue Oyster Cult, making the whole feel more like a collection of singles and B-sides. Despite this, there is a weird cohesion on multiple listens, akin to an ‘island of lost toys’ kind of vibe.

Blue Oyster Cult has always been blessed with the ability to try on a lot of different aspects of rock and roll. They prog out, they do stadium, they do doo wop and barroom blues. It’s all here on “Ghost Stories”.

The band was always blessed by multiple songwriters and singers, all contributing to something greater. What’s missing on those later studio records I couldn’t tolerate is the absence of key contributors like Joe and Albert Bouchard and (as of 2020) Allen Lanier. On “Ghost Stories” they are reunited with lifelong members Eric Bloom and Buck Dharma and the alchemy of the five of them sharing space and ideas returns from beyond the grave.

The opening track is “Late Night Street Fight”. It’s a Bloom/Joe Bouchard collaboration that ends up sounding like something off a late seventies Alice Cooper record. It’s not my favourite, but I love the way the band embraces that lascivious acid inspired sound all the same.

This is followed by Buck Dharma sixties crooner inspired “Cherry” which is pop schmaltz, with just the right amount of strange added. It’s a song about a girl, but somehow the band explores the dawn of creation at the same time. BOC is here to challenge you, even when wearing the skinsuits of sixties teen idols.

The third song is “So Supernatural” an atmospheric number from Joe Bouchard that sways its way into a room like a curtain blown by an unseen wind.

Rounding out the songwriter round, we have “Soul Jive” cowritten by Albert Bouchard and Patti Smith (a collaborator with the band at this time, as well as lover of Allen Lanier). This one has a mix of barroom guitar groove and a sublime bit of guitar work from Buck Dharma. Lanier adds some tasty touches of organ. All these sounds shouldn’t work together, but they do, and that’s the fearless magic of Blue Oyster Cult.

“Ghost Stories” also features the studio versions of “Kick Out the Jams” (MC5 cover) and “We Gotta Get Outta This Place” (Animals cover), both of which appear live on 1978’s “Some Enchanted Evening.” I prefer those live versions, but the studio versions are no joke.

Despite my fawning, the record is not perfect. There are moments where it felt like the band was trying too hard to play empty stadium rock anthems, and while they are OK, you can see why they didn’t make the cut on the albums at the time. The production feels a bit too clean in places as well, which I blame on the band’s decision to use AI to help master the original tapes.

That’s the only blame in me, though, and most of all I am thankful the band dusted off these old gems, polished them up, and reminded us one more time what this band was capable of when firing on all cylinders.

Best tracks: Cherry, So Supernatural, We Gotta Get Outta This Place, The Only Thing, Kick Out the Jams

CD Odyssey Disc 1882: Celtic Frost

Apologies for my lengthy absence, Dear Readers. I took a short vacation and music listening time required to bring you my always-scintillating insights never quite aligned. That sad state of affairs has now ended, and…I’m back.

Disc 1882 is… Vanity/Nemesis

Artist: Celtic Frost

Year of Release: 1990

What’s up with the Cover? The band have their “cool” faces on as they look out at us sternly from shards of broken glass.

Why the fragmented approach to the photo shoot? Well, you can’t tell from this photo, but all these dudes have Very Big Hair. I don’t think they would have fit on the cover otherwise.

How I Came To Know It: I knew Celtic Frost as a teenager. I loved the band name, but never got into them, so my knowledge was mostly second-hand by reputation (neither my brother nor I owned any). I was on an ill-advised (and since cured) break from metal in 1990 when this record came out.

I recently picked up their 1985 album “To Mega Therion” and liked it, so I decided to take a chance on this later offering.

How It Stacks Up: I have two Celtic Frost albums, and if you’ve been paying attention you already know which two. Of those, “Vanity/Nemesis” comes in at #2.

Ratings: 2 stars

Being trapped with this record for over a week means I got to hear it a lot. Often this plays to an album’s advantage, but not this time.

“Vanity/Nemesis” is a thrash metal record along the lines of early Metallica and Pantera, which are both bands I like. When I first put the record on I settled in quickly to the familiar sounds. The heavy chugging guitar is crunchy and deep, and the drumming is insistent to the point of being almost frantic. There are a lot of ingredients that should make for a solid record, and it had the particular advantage of being good driving music that I mostly experienced in my car.

There is even an early gem, in the form of “Wine in Hand (Third from the Sun)” that offers to pull you in. This song has some great Motorhead-style energy and an industrial underpinning that is part of what I appreciate about 1985’s “To Mega Therion”. The crunch of guitar comes in and out in the arrangement in just the right amount to leave you wanting more.

Unfortunately, this formula is not consistently delivered for much of the record. They don’t just double down on the crunchy guitar, they triple down, to the point of where it starts to feel forced. It is akin to moshing a bit too hard for a bit too long and throwing out your neck. All that crunch needs a bit of structure around it to make it work.

Celtic Frost gamely tries to provide this, but the changes of pace feel draggy and unfocused – like placeholders while the band impatiently waits to return to the crunch. The guitar solos also didn’t have the artistry to lift things up. They’re well played, but don’t add a lot to most of the songs.

All of this can be overcome with some grade A vocals, but apart from a couple tracks I list below, lead singer Thomas Gabriel Warrior did not do it for me. Warrior has a very distinctive style that is somewhere between the strangled rasp of Cirith Ungol frontman Tim Baker and the lascivious coo of ACDC’s Bon Scott. I love both those guys, and when Warrior is a bit “reeled in” I don’t mind him either.

Unfortunately, he is rarely reeled in on Vanity/Nemesis and his creative phrasing – which I think is supposed to sound dangerous and otherworldly just sounds…whiny.

The worst case of this is “Wings of Solitude” which is at its core a pretty creative tune, with a cool idea (what young metalhead hasn’t wished for “wings of solitude” at some point?). But Warrior’s delivery wrecks the fun, feeling overwrought and devoid of emotional resonance. Less cool Dungeon Master and more awkward kid tugging at your sleeve to tell you a disjointed version of the fantasy novel he’s reading. I acknowledge the line between these two is thin, but it is important.

The songs have weird and nerdy subject matter that is hard to follow, but as a longtime metal fan I know this is as likely to be a feature as a bug. I am more than happy to hear weird interdimensional, cosmic comic book stuff, but the weird also has to be cool, and often on “Vanity/Nemesis” it just ain’t.

Because of all of this, you want to sink into the basic chunking of the thrash guitar sound, but instead of that being a respite, its insistent presence feels more like it’s cornering you. Akin to that headache when you are still drinking late at a party and realize you should just go home.

As for this album, I am sure it will go to a lovely home one day as well. It just won’t be mine.

Best tracks: Wine in Hand (Third from the Sun), Vanity

PS: My version of the record is the 1999 re-release which has a couple bonus tracks, one of which is a pretty crazy cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes”. Intriguing, but still not enough to recommend the record.