Disc 148 is...East of Edson
Artist: Captain TractorYear of Release: 1995
What’s Up With The Cover?: A shot out the dashboard of a car. It looks like a road trip is underway, with a map out, a road sign to consult and a funky dashboard decoration - in this case a tall ship model.
How I Came To Know It: I saw a video on MuchMusic for the song "The Last Saskatchewan Pirate" and had to hear more from this band.
How It Stacks Up: I have three Captain Tractor albums, but this is best one.
Rating: 4 stars.
This album really represents time in my life. Although this came out in 1995, I don't think I bought it until 1996. Sheila and I were just living together, and we both loved this record. We played the crap out of it.
I remember at the time we were obsessed with playing Magic: The Gathering as well (geeky, but true). I'm sure more than a few rounds of Magic had Captain Tractor as their sonic backdrop.
Captain Tractor is a mixture of rock and folk, and maybe the tiniest dash of punk. Each element has a distinctly Canadian feel to it, which admittedly pleases me.
They actually remind me a bit of a band I was recently introduced to, Gogol Bordello - except that Gogol Bordello is a mix of rock and gypsy music, and has a slightly larger amount of punk (let's call it a dollop). I am really digging Gogol Bordello, but I'll talk more about them when I roll them - For now, a big shout out to Joel and Sherylyn for introducing me to them.
Anyway - back to "The Captain" as they call themselves colloquially. These guys are a fun band.
The album starts out with a rock-centric song about walking home drunk after accidentally spending your cab fare on drinks. The song is called "Up The Hill" and will call to any listener's mind whichever hill was most 'salient' on their own stagger-route home.
It then launches into a ferocious version of the old folk standard, "Drunken Sailor" that really puts the teeth back in a song that is probably a few hundred years old at this point. Other re-imaginings on the record include "Lord of the Dance" (with added riff from Slade's "Run Runaway" played on accordion) and the Clash's "London Calling", complete with furious harmonica and mandolin riffs. They know how to take a song and give it a proper reboot.
The best remake on this album is so good that many believe it is The Captain's song to begin with - that being "The Last Saskatchewan Pirate". This is a whimsical song about a Saskatchewan farmer who loses his living and turns to being a pirate on the Saskatchewan river. As he puts it:
"Then I thought who gives a damn
If all the jobs are gone
I'm gonna be a pirate
On the river Saskatchewan.
"And it's a heave ho, hi ho
Coming down the plains
Stealin wheat and barley
And all the other grains
And it's a ho hey, hi hey
Farmers bar your doors
When you see the Jolly Roger
On Regina's briny shores."
It gets funnier from there - including stealing fertilizer, setting up ambushes outside the co-op and advertising one of the best features of being a prairie pirate as not having to pay either income tax or GST.
The original version of this song is by another Canadian band, "The Arrogant Worms". The Worms have their moments to be sure, but their version of this song can't hold a candle to the Captain.
"East of Edson" has plenty of original whimsy as well, including a song about a filthy apartment called "Lonely Inanimate" which Sheila and I also used to associate with (this was in the dark time before we owned a dishwasher). Sheila still sings along every time to the second half of "The piles of pizza boxes keep the roof from falling in/and make a home for dust bunnies" (In fact, she did so as I was writing this review when the song came on).
This album never gets as serious in subject matter as "Bought The Farm" (which I reviewed way back at Disc 59), but when it does choose to do so, such as with "West Coast Rain" they can still deliver.
Fifteen years after I first heard this record, I still found it fresh and engaging. It is a strong musically, it provides a fresh take on the Canadian music scene and if you are ever watching an Edmonton Oilers game, if you listen you'll hear a couple of Captain Tractor songs getting airplay before the faceoff.
Captain Tractor will still get a play from me for many years as well. Just not at a hockey game - I'm a Bruins fan, and we play the Dropkick Murphys.
Best tracks: Up The Hill, Free Yo'Self, The Last Saskatchewan Pirate, Lord of the Dance, Talk, Lonely Inanimate, Jesus and the Thieves
2 comments:
I just like the weird way "for dust bunnies" sounds - they say it with an odd cadence.
Wow, has it been 15 years? Insane. Where does the time go?
This is my favourite Captain Tractor album as well. 'Lonely Inanimate' was to be the beginning of a 'Valentines Day for the Relationship Impaired' mix cd that I never completed.
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