CD Odyssey Disc 1763: Blind Guardian

After a late night that started early I slept in today and awoke refreshed and ready to take on the world. Having taken on said world (I went for brunch) I’m now back and ready to provide you some musical exploration.

Disc 1763 is…Imaginations from the Other Side

Artist: Blind Guardian

Year of Release: 1995

What’s up with the Cover? Holy shit – what isn’t up with the cover? We have a mystical portal, presumably leading to the mysterious but rather vague universe known as “The Other Side”. The portal is held open by the mystical energies of a magical lute crackling with energy, and guarded by a trio of miniature dragons. The two on the bottom look like they’re snapping at each other, but I think it’s just foreplay.

Speaking of miniatures, the portal is guarded by a couple of statutes. One of a heavy metal wizard playing the aforementioned lute, and the other some faceless wraith or tattered king type.

Not enough awesome for you? Let’s throw in a book, and a quill and ink, practically screaming at you that you are about to be treated to a bunch of fanciful stories.

Neat.

How I Came To Know It: A month or two ago I was exploring the interwebs looking for bands that liked to sing about Lord of the Rings. This began innocently enough, when I bought an album by the band Summoning called “Minus Morgul” (coincidentally also released in 1995) and thought “how much of this kind of stuff is out there?”

Turns out, quite a lot. The search led me down a Youtube hole where I tried out about 15 metal bands. Most didn’t stick, but the big win was Blind Guardian. The album that drew me in was (fittingly) “Nightfall in Middle Earth” but I bought it and “Imaginations from the Other Side” the same day and “Imaginations…” got rolled first. So here we are.

How It Stacks Up: I have three Blind Guardian albums and I’m on the lookout for seven more (yes, seven). Of the three I have so far, “Imaginations…” comes in at #2.

Ratings: 3 stars

“When I was your age, television was called books,” admonishes Peter Falk’s grandfather character in the Princess Bride before sharing a fantastical tale featuring “fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles”. If this doesn’t sound too bad to you, and you like your heavy metal served up fast, furious and with a side of the theatrical then you are likely to enjoy “Imaginations from the Other Side”.

Musically, the record sounds like three-quarters European power metal, and one-quarter ancient folk ballad. This may not be for you, but there is no denying the energy they pour into the music.

The drums are relentless and snap with a crisp authoritative thwack throughout (kudos to drummer Thomen Stauch). Andre Olbrich’s guitar solos soar as you would expect from the genre, and vocalist Hansi Kursch has one of metal’s great voices. On the metal tunes, he flies over the mix like a dark angel, every word filled with dread import. On the folksier numbers he sounds like he’s singing around some medieval campfire, sharing some ancient folk tale passed down through the ages. I imagine his power could scare away hungry wolves in winter or – even better – invite them to join in with their haunting howl from somewhere deep in the snow-blanketed woods.

As for what they sing about, Blind Guardian are unashamedly in touch with their inner nerd. On “Imaginations…” they double down on all things fun and fantastical. This is a record with more literary and folklore references than you can shake a stick at, often tossed together randomly and rapid-fire on a single song. Here’s a fine example from the title track:

“Do you know
If Merlin did exist
Or Frodo wore the ring
Did Corum kill the gods
Or where’s the wonderland
Which young Alice had seen.”

That’s a lot of references, and if you didn’t catch them all then I suggest you read more. Blind Guardian certainly do, and the title track seems to be about how delightful it is to escape life’s drudgery in the pages of a book. Agreed.

However, as you can also surmise from that stanza, while Blind Guardian clearly have passion for their subject matter, the lyrics themselves aren’t terribly poetic or inspiring. The musicianship and themes of the record consistently outperforms the words that accompany them.

Nevertheless, the record grew on me over multiple listens, which is always a good sign. Once you surrender yourself to the barrage of sound and the ever-climbing anthemic song structure you are quickly hooked.

The record also has some impressive crunch. “The Script for My Requiem” is frantic and heavy in equal measure, crunching away at an impossible speed. The band is incredibly tight, and it feels like going fast in a performance car – breathtakingly thrilling but in total control, as it hugs every corner.

My copy of the album is a special edition CD set with the original record, as well as a remastered one that features a couple of bonus cover tracks. The original record has a bit more thump, and the remaster is a bit brighter with more separation of sound. I liked them both, but think the remaster benefited from the separation and highlighted the band’s strengths.

The two covers are awesome. The first is the Uriah Heap classic, “the Wizard” which I think I loved just as much as the original, and maybe more. The other one is a cover of Michael Schenker Group’s “System’s Failing” which I didn’t previously know, but quickly came to love as Blind Guardian shows off the bones of the original classic as well as their own unique sound.

Lots to recommend here and despite sometimes clunky lyrics, this record delivers a whole lot of awesome.

Best tracks:  I’m Alive, The Script for My Requiem, Born in a Mourning Hall and from the bonus tracks “the Wizard”

CD Odyssey Disc 1762: Pat Benatar

For the second day in a row a music review. If I’m moving too fast for you there is no need to panic. Just scroll down a bit further and you can read them both!

Disc 1762 is…Get Nervous

Artist: Pat Benatar

Year of Release: 1982

What’s up with the Cover? Even in a padded cell and straitjacket Pat always looks sexy and stylish.

Perhaps this is why they made the mistake of letting her keep her high-heeled boots. I imagine she will later use these to brain an orderly through the eye (as if that loose necked jacket was going to hold her), pick the lock of the cell door with the pin holding that button to her top, and flee - slowly - into the shadows of the night.

Slowly on account of the high heeled boots which, as it turns out, are a mixed blessing when making a break for it.

How I Came To Know It: I grew up with Pat Benatar and knew this record as a kid. Finding it on CD years later proved much more difficult. And for years my efforts bore no fruit.

Thank goodness for Japanese imports! Japan is still full of CD sales and even has Tower Records stores. As a result the liner notes of this disc are half in Japanese, but the song lyrics are printed in English, which is the content I most wanted to read anyway.

One day we will all rediscover the enduring love of the compact disc but until then a heartfelt thank you to Japan for keeping the dream alive.

How It Stacks Up: I now have five Pat Benatar albums. Of those five, “Get Nervous” comes in at #4.

Ratings: 2 stars

While the Japanese rescued “Get Nervous” from CD purgatory, they were not able to do anything about the quality of the recording. I’m not sure if it is just that the album isn’t designed for CD or it is just that 1982 was unkind to production generally but I spent a lot of time on this record yearning for the bottom end of the sound to be…brawnier. This did not occur.

Despite this overarching irritant, “Get Nervous” has plenty of good moments, starting with the opening track, “Shadows of the Night”. This was the record’s biggest hit and also the album’s best song. The main reason for this is the wise decision to feature Benatar’s voice in all its raunchy rock n’ roll glory. The arrangement has her singing the hook a capella before the tune even launches, with the band soon filling in behind her like a rock opera. I did wish it had a bit more oomph (see production note earlier) but since this song’s best moments are when Benatar is soaring over the melody, the flaw is less noticeable.

Around this time in my youth I used to amuse myself by taking songs I liked and writing alternative lyrics about other things I liked. For this song, I wrote a D&D adventure called “Running with the Shadows and the Wights”. It was fun in 1982 and when the song is playing I can still hear the alternate lyrics “shadowing” in the background. I’ll spare you the rest – you’re welcome.

My other favourite is “Little Too Late” which is Benatar reprising her role of woman scorned, where she tells off some third party who has wronged her. She is really good at this kind of song and while “Heartbreaker” and “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” are better examples, “Little Too Late” holds up well after many years.

“Get Nervous” also has a bit of a beat-forward style to many songs that hints at New Wave. Benatar is not New Wave but it is fair to say that she lightly flirts with the ideas, at least in terms of the staccato jump that style employs. The strongest example is “Looking for a Stranger” which hops about through the verses with a New Wave sensibility before Benatar collapses back into sultry rock and roll for the chorus.

On “Anxiety (Get Nervous)” she employs that same rapid heartbeat sound, but without a letdown in the chorus. The song sounds “futuristic” in that early eighties sci fi kind of way that would work well as the theme of a chase scene on an episode of Buck Rogers.

While there aren’t a lot of obvious stand-out hits on “Get Nervous” and it is held back by its production, the record has no serious clangers and Benatar’s vocals power every song into something better than it might otherwise be. The tints and splashes of New Wave are a nice touch and show that she was not afraid to explore new sounds as her career progressed.

While I only gave this record two stars, it was a positive two stars, and it will be staying in the collection.

Best tracks:  Shadows of the Night, Anxiety (Get Nervous), Little Too Late

CD Odyssey Disc 1761: Ezra Furman

I’m on the last day of a long weekend spent visiting with all manner of relatives on both sides of the family. I’ve taken one extra day to compose myself before I return to work, and while the day is shaping up to have a lot of errand running, I’m starting things the right way – with a coffee and a music review.

Disc 1761 is…Day of the Dog

Artist: Ezra Furman

Year of Release: 2013

What’s up with the Cover? Ezra Furman looks awkward and anxious standing in front of some old building. This cover has the feel of a Jones Cola photo.

How I Came To Know It: I came late to Ezra Furman through their 2022 album “All of Us Flames” which was my second favourite album of 2022. I haven’t reviewed that album yet, but you can read the full Top 10 recap here where I hint at how great it is.

Later, a combination of hearing more Furman through my friend Casey, and watching the TV show “Sex Education” (which features Furman’s songs prominently) gave me the itch to dig into the back catalogue. And here we are.

How It Stacks Up: I have four Ezra Furman albums and I’m on the lookout for two more. Of the four I have, “Day of the Dog” comes in at #2.

Ratings: 5 stars

“Day of the Dog” is what would happen if you crossed the Cramps with Buddy Holly and threw in some Leonard Cohen-style poetry. Maybe add the horn section from a marching band for good measure. The result is music that cleaves to a simpler time in rock and roll, but in a way you’ve never heard before.

This cross-section of sound manifests itself with a distinct punk vibe. The production is tinny and scratchy and Furman’s vocals screech out with a manic anger that instantly draws you to the emotional core of each song. At any moment you think they’ll keel over from all the Goddamn feels being felt, but somehow the album just teeters and lurches forward, kept stable by a ballast of fearless and inspired songwriting.

That tinny production would usually put me off, and on my first couple of listens I found myself wondering how songs with bones as beautiful as these ones have would sound with a gentler, folksier delivery. I’m sure they would be great like that, but the more I immersed myself the more comfortable I became with the more frantic and anxiety-inducing choices that Furman made.

Given the reckless fury of the record, you may be surprised to hear how much horn happens. There is a lot of saxophone on this record, mostly employed to add swing and excitement to the songs. The sax player (Tim Sandusky) adds a jauntiness to the music that helps the sometimes stark lyrics go down easier. A little sweetness to let you know that while we’re going to cover some emotionally heavy stuff, rock and roll is also about having fun.

Not content with the kind of jauntiness a saxophone can provide, we are also treated to artful hand claps on “Anything Can Happen”. Hand claps make almost any song better, and “Anything Can Happen” features a lot of them. Just the right amount, as it happens.

It is hard to write a record this vulnerable and not cross over into bathos, but Furman manages to avoid it even while singing such stark lines as “I am broken wide open bleeding everywhere” on “The Mall”.

Furman’s musical curiosity knows no bounds. On “At the Bottom of the Ocean” she compares deep sea creatures with her emotional state and sets it all to a classic Bo Diddly guitar riff. It is fearless, fun and thought-provoking stuff and it works.

The record ends with “Cherry Lane” a song with a romantic and breezy summer structure, until you listen more closely and see that the street of Furman’s fond reverie is actually a bit dodgy:

“Past the wounded cars reflecting all their dirty light
Past the unnamed bars, the unnamed prisoners of the night
Past the Winnebago dreaming all its iron dreams
Past the haunted drugstore where the fortune teller leans
Past the gravel parking lot where blood is always blood
Past the storefront church where they say God made Man from mud
There you'll find the broken toys who chased their love in vain
If you wander over yonder down my Cherry Lane”

This juxtaposition of musical styles that speak to simpler and happier time, mixed with difficult topics – both internal and societal – is at the core of what makes “Day of the Dog” a perfect record. It is a record that will make you tap your foot and sing along with joy, but it will make you think some dark and complicated thoughts while you’re doing it.

Best tracks:  all tracks

CD Odyssey Disc 1760: Luke Doucet

For the second time in three reviews I’ve rolled a record from 2008 that I’ve owned for a very long time. The last time I reviewed this artist was just under 100 reviews (96) and just over one year (376 days) ago. I’ve missed you, Luke!

Disc 1760 is…Blood’s Too Rich

Artist: Luke Doucet

Year of Release: 2008

What’s up with the Cover? Part bird, part man, all hipster.

How I Came To Know It: I heard about Luke Doucet when he opened for Blue Rodeo. It was around 2008, and while I can’t remember with certainty, I think this was the first album of his we owned.

How It Stacks Up: I have three Luke Doucet albums. I like them all and while “Blood’s Too Rich” has some of my all-time favourite Luke Doucet songs, it can only land second behind 2010’s “Steel City Trawler” for reasons I shall discuss anon.

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

“Blood’s Too Rich” showcases Luke Doucet’s two great talents – songwriting and guitar playing – and it showcases them both in spades. I never tired of his songwriting but there were moments where the guitar work – great as it is - was too much of a good thing.

At his best, Doucet is like the second coming of Blue Rodeo. Blue Rodeo wrote the book on their distinctly Canadian blend of rock, blues and folk and Doucet sets himself up as their natural heirs.

This is never more evident than on the record’s title track, which features the high crooning quality of Jim Cuddy, and the natural “one more step up” melodic structures fans of Cuddy’s songwriting will recognize. That said, Doucet is not derivative, just appreciative. “Blood’s Too Rich” is a beautiful and original sounding song in the same style. Best of many lines:

“Because my blood's too rich for subway cars, and I'm too poor for a cab
I'm too old for the girl I love but she doesn't know it yet”

Good stuff. In addition to his penchant for a clever turn of phrase, Doucet adds his own unique sound through his guitar work. On “Blood’s Too Rich” this is a low echoing resonance that is a signature sound throughout his work. He achieves this sound on a Gretsch White Falcon, a big hollow body electric guitar designed for big, bold bluesy twang.

Doucet’s later playing on “Cleveland” shows he’s able to drop a bit of slow hand into the mix with equal talent. “Cleveland” is one of the record’s best songs, and also features Doucet’s airy vocals at their best.

“Cleveland” also features one of the main reasons this record is only my second favourite though. There’s about three and a half minutes of verse/chorus action followed by a couple more minutes of sublime soloing…followed by a couple more minutes of soloing. That last couple was a couple too many. Doucet plays a mean guitar, but he doesn’t always know when to say when. This results in an album that is only 12 songs, but a full 63 minutes. 80% of the time the noodling is welcome, but I cannot honestly overlook that extra 20%.

My other gripe is the decision to cover “The Lovecats”. I realize for many this is a favourite Cure song, but I find it annoying both in original form and here as a cover. Much better is his cover of Gordon Lightfoot’s “Sundown” on Steel City Trawler”.

These are minor quibbles though, on a record that has much to recommend it, including songwriting, melodic structure, great guitar work (even when it goes on a bit) and a surprising amount of variation to sound dynamics and production that all still fits together. It’s the record of an artist that makes you want to hear more of him, which is exactly what happened, as I followed his career through later albums and ultimately into his Whitehorse project with fellow singer-songwriter (and wife) Melissa McLelland.

Doucet is great as one half of Whitehorse and has been for years, but his early solo days are also worth your time.

Best tracks:  Long Haul Driver, Blood’s Too Rich, Cleveland, Bomb’s Away

CD Odyssey Disc 1759: Katie Pruitt

I’m mid-way through a much-needed weekend I made long by design. I’ve filled the first half of it with disc sports (a day playing disc golf followed by a morning playing Ultimate) and I’m a bit stiff and sore, but it is the good kind.

I’ve just awakened from a slightly overlong nap, refreshed and ready to turn my mind to the lovely record I’ve been listening to all week.

Disc 1759 is….Mantras

Artist: Katie Pruitt

Year of Release: 2024

What’s up with the Cover? When playing around in photoshop it is important to know when to say when. That did not happen with this cover. We’ve got some trees, columns, lightning, birds, and what looks like a playing card with three different visages of Katie Pruitt on it.

When I reviewed Pruitt’s live show, I bemoaned the lack of merch available, but had the concert shirts had this graphic on them, I would’ve been hard pressed to buy one with this graphic.

How I Came To Know It: Katie Pruitt’s debut album, “Expectations” (reviewed back at Disc 1361) LINK was my favourite album of 2020 (for the full list, see here). As in, #1. Checking out the follow up was a no-brainer.

How It Stacks Up: I have two Katie Pruitt albums, and if you’ve been reading along to this point you know what they are. It would take a lot to dethrone “Expectations” at #1 and while I liked “Mantras” it can only manage a distant second.

Ratings: 4 stars

I came around slowly to “Mantras” but this was more an unfair comparison to Katie Pruitt’s earlier release. Once I got over the fact that her new record was never going to achieve the same heights, I was able to settle in and enjoy it for what it is.

Stylistically, this record is more of the same, indie Americana folk with a pop sensibility to the song construction, but with much more to say than your average radio pop pablum.

When we last left Pruitt she was a young woman sharing coming of age stories of a young gay woman in the small town American south, with all the complexity and challenges that implies.

Here, we have a slightly older Pruitt, still writing from a very personal place, but with new stories to tell, including what it is to have and lose love, ongoing familial challenges where world views collide, and confronting the anxiety of not knowing how everything will turn out, and being OK with that. Her raw honesty is once again on full display, and that willingness to go to a place of vulnerability is what makes Pruitt a great songwriter and storyteller.

The album opens strong with “All My Friends”, a song about exploring new belief systems after you realize the ones you were raised with may not be what you need. While the exploration is coming from a place of not knowing, the song’s structure is brave and optimistic. We don’t always know where we’re going, but checking out the options can be freeing.

“White Lies, White Jesus, and You” comes next, the flip side of “All My Friends” optimism. Here, Pruitt explores the judgment of others, and calls them on their hypocrisy. Best line:

“You talk about forgiveness like a favour
Like It’s something that you don’t have to do.”

Her message is clear – that’s not how it works in that book you’ve been reading.

In other songs, Pruitt confronts anxiety in its various forms. We’ve all suffered at one time or other from having our minds racing like a hamster on a wheel, and Pruitt’s explorations of the experience (“Self Sabotage”, “Worst Case Scenario”) describe efforts to calm her mind and relax, with varying degrees of success..

Structurally, the songs are very familiar, and Pruitt has not altered the way she writes. Same phrasing, same chord combinations. This is fine with me, given that “Expectations” is such a great record, but lyrically “Mantras” is not as consistent, with some songs blurring the lines between heartfelt and trite. A good example is “Blood Related” – a good song about an awkward family dinner, but in terms of emotional impact it’s no “Georgia”.

Through it all, Pruitt’s vocals come to the rescue. Even on the lesser songs, her phrasing and the full, sweet tone of her voice make you forgive the occasional clunky lyric. Her voice is a delightful bird song that you can’t get enough of. Not so much powerful as it is full and bright and full of confessional honesty.

I started out thinking “Mantras” was a three-star record, but the more I listened the more I liked it, and for this reason I’m going to set aside all my unfair comparisons with the ghosts of records past, and I gave it the four stars it deserves.

Best tracks:  All My Friends, White Lies White Jesus and You, Jealous of the Boys, The Waitress 

CD Odyssey Disc 1758: The Wooden Sky

After not rolling a Wooden Sky album in over a decade, this is my second one in the last five reviews. That’s random for you.

Some readers have asked how I do “random”. It is accomplished with percentile dice to pick a section of my music collection (I have it all divided into sections of roughly 50). Once I’ve rolled a section, I roll again to select a single album from it. If I’ve already reviewed that one, I randomly go left or right until I find an unreviewed record.

So…there you go. Now on with the content!

Disc 1758 is…. When Lost at Sea

Artist: The Wooden Sky

Year of Release: 2008

What’s up with the Cover? This graphic depicts either a murder or a very unsafe method of ice fishing. At least everyone involved wore a winter coat.

How I Came To Know It: I just told this story five albums ago, but to reiterate, I got into the Wooden Sky through their 2012 album, “Every Child a Daughter, Every Moon a Sun”. “When Lost at Sea” was the result of me digging through their back catalogue once I was hooked.

Speaking of hooks, that’s what those guys on the cover need to be using if they want to catch a fish. That pole’s not going to catch a fish unless they tie a hook and a line to the end of it and stop poking their buddy in the stomach.

How It Stacks Up: I have four Wooden Sky albums, and I parted way with a fifth. Of those five albums, “When Lost At Sea” comes in at #1, just edging out the last album I have by the Wooden Sky that remains unreviewed and which…I’ll talk about when I roll it.

Ratings: 5 stars

The Wooden Sky have given the world plenty of fine indie folk records over the years, but the finest of all remains their first. “When Lost at Sea” was a revelation when I heard it. Fresh off of listening to “Every Child a Daughter, Every Moon a Sun” and pleasantly thinking that it was as good as it gets, along came the band’s debut to show me what true excellence looks like.

Note that by “excellence” I don’t mean an uplifting collection of happy, inspiring songs. “When Lost at Sea” is a dark and brooding record, full of murder, poverty and despair. It just explores those themes in the most inspiring way possible.

The record has a slow inexorability to its dirges which is surprisingly beautiful. A slow dance around the room at the Masque of the Red Death. It’s a party that you know is going to end poorly, but the music is so exquisite you willingly walk the dark path before you.

It starts with the vocals of Gavin Gardiner who has a natural hurt to everything he sings. His strangled and angst-ridden delivery would be well suited to rock and roll and gives that edge to these songs even though in their bones, they are folk. The crossover works partly because Gardiner has one foot planted so evenly in each tradition.

The band adds in a bit of general clangor that would suit a nineties rock song, but they never let the noise overtake the melody, and most of the songs have clever hooks that are hard to single out, nestled as they are in the overall structure of the song. These are hooks that serve the structure of the story being told and not just there to make you tap your foot.

Lyrically, the record has some fine poetry. Their eponymous song starts with this ominous bit of foreshadowing:

“I dreamt last night that you were making love
To a bird you swore you'd given up
Oh how I woke up shaking.
The wolves kept watch on the wind outside
And I kept my eyes towards a wooden sky
There would be no escaping.”

The characters on the record are well drawn throughout, and most share the grim fatalism you see expressed above. It is a dreary but undeniable beauty.

It is hard to pick a favourite song on the record, but “Darker Streets Than Mine” could be it. It features not just the depth of sadness following love lost, but the aimless ambitionless quality that often comes with it:

“So I got up and I got drunk
And then I got down on my luck
Ever since you left me I've been swinging
From a tree high above
Where I've been looking down on love
It's been a long time since we talked but I ain't changed
And as much as I ain't changed I'm not the same”

The album ranges back and forth between a lush production where the instruments soar with impotent but poetic rage, and sparse guitar/vocal songs which draw you into the introspective side of sadness. No less tragic, just rolled into a smaller, quieter space. It is one of these, “The Lonesome Death of Helen Betty Osborne” that closes out the record, trailing off into a gloomy reverie that provides the perfect end to a perfect record.

I’ve heard this record countless times, having overplayed the hell out of it when I first bought it. A decade later returning to it was easy and welcome, and it quickly had me wrapped in its gloomy and thought provoking-world as if I’d never left. A classic.

Best tracks:  All tracks

CD Odyssey Disc 1757: Dehd

After all that Molly Tuttle concert awesomeness over the weekend it was hard to adjust to something new, but the Odyssey takes no prisoners and allows no respite. Of all the things in my life that offer me no respite (yes, there are a few) the CD Odyssey is consistently the most welcome.

Disc 1757 is…. Poetry

Artist: Dehd

Year of Release: 2024

What’s up with the Cover? I have a bit of blue/red colour blindness so seeing this cover at all was a small challenge. I think it is a drawing of a wolf, but if there is anything else going on, I’ve missed it.

How I Came To Know It: I was already a fan of Dehd so when I saw this album in the local record store I decided to just take a chance.

How It Stacks Up: I have three albums by Dehd. I like all of them, with “Poetry” coming in at #2, or right in the middle, just narrowly behind “Flower of Devotion”.

Ratings: 4 stars

Some bands just know how to write a toe tapper. Dehd records consistently know the alchemy involved, dropping delightfully offbeat pop hooks that are catchy and unexpected in equal measure.

Many rock trios have a surprisingly heavy sound (Rush, Budgie, Triumph) but if you are looking for that kind of trio, Dehd is not for you. Dehd take a less is more approach, with sparse and artfully timed arrangements. Lots of space between the instruments makes the intricate syncopation that is employed noticeable, but never muddy.

The effect also creates an almost fifties innocence. As if Buddy Holly liked to get high and go surfing. I know what you’re thinking – wouldn’t that be Dick Dale? In this case, no. Dehd is more of an eighties Goth vibe, reminiscent of the (recently reviewed) Growlers but with a lighter, poppier sound.

The band employs two vocalists, Emily Kampf and Jason Balla, and the effect of having both masculine and feminine options to draw on gives the album a lot more creative range. They are also very good at a call-and-answer approach where the secondary voice on any song adds well placed yips and yells into some of the “dead’ space in the production giving everything a party atmosphere.

Despite all that energy nothing ever feels cut off or rushed on a Dehd song. It is the musical equivalent of a clever forties Film Noir, with each player delivering their snappy bit of dialogue in perfect cadence to keep the energy up.

I also want to give a shout out to Balla’s work on the guitar, which gives the music its eighties surf feel. Heavy echo is employed but because of the light touch on the production it has lots of room to spread into the corners of the song. Balla’s guitar fills every tune with diffuse triumph and earnestness. It is like being in an eighties teen classic like St. Elmo’s Fire or the Breakfast Club, feeling all the feels.  

The best track on the record is also the first one you hear (attention album makers – this is always a smart move). “Dog Days” has a choral, sing-a-long power to it, as well as a lean-forward energy that fills you with a good kind of restless.

“Hard to Love” follows hard immediately thereafter. It is a song about how the narrator likes a little drama in their relationships. Or as Dehd characterizes it:

“Won't catch me goin' on about where the good men gone
Give me someone rough and tumble, someone hard to love
Gotta love the good men, but that ain't what I want
Give me someone rough and tumble
Someone hard to love”

It is a song that opts for chemistry and passion over peace of mind.

My biggest issue with the record is the lack of track listing on the back of the digipack. At first I thought it was just my red/blue colour blindness hiding the text, but nope – there’s nothing on the back cover than an unfortunate stain picked up from my wet kitchen counter. Is it so much to list the songs, Dehd!

Otherwise, this is an excellent record that holds up through multiple listening experiences (a workout, in the car, and finally on fancy headphones at home) with equal grace.

Best tracks:  Dog Days, Hard to Love, Necklace, Dist B, Don’t Look Down, Knife

CD Odyssey Disc 1756 Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway

I’m just back from a whirlwind overnight trip to Vancouver exclusively to see Molly Tuttle live. I’ve reviewed the concert immediately following the album it was supporting so scroll down past the studio album review if you can’t wait to hear how it went.

Disc 1756 is…. City of Gold

Artist: Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway

Year of Release: 2023

What’s up with the Cover? Gee…that’s nice.

That’s a guitar player joke for those in the know.

For those not in the know, Molly is looking halfway between dangerous and fabulous with a dark sunglasses stare-down and silver sparkly suit. Approach at your own peril, because this woman will play over you like a white freightliner.

That’s a Molly Tuttle joke, for those in the know.

How I Came To Know It: I’ve been a fan of Molly Tuttle since discovering her through a Paste Magazine list of folk musicians I should know back in 2019. I’ve learned early on that just buying her record when it is released is a good idea, which is what I did for “City of Gold”.

How It Stacks Up: I have five Molly Tuttle albums (three solo, and two with her backing band, Golden Highway). Of those five, “City of Gold” comes in at #3. There is zero shame in this, because even at #3 “City of Gold” was still one of the best records of 2023. That’s how good Molly Tuttle records are.

Ratings: 4 stars but almost 5

Molly Tuttle was a revelation when she was a solo artist, but since she added the Golden Highway backing band she’s taken things to whole new levels of musical accomplishment. She and these four stalwarts are dripping in talent, and the songs are played in a way that squeezes every bit of excellence out of them.

"City of Gold” is the second album with Golden Highway, and while it is a slight step down in terms of song quality, it is the kind of step down that you’d need the camera they use at the end of a horse race to notice. By which I mean, this record is a f***-ton of awesome.

Things start on a high point with “El Dorado” a song about the California gold rush and a host of characters that leap off the page. This tune is cowritten with Old Crow Medicine Show’s frontman Ketch Secor, who also co-wrote many of the songs on Tuttle’s previous record. Whatever alchemy is at work, Tuttle and Secor excel when writing together. Her earlier stuff is a bit more introspective, but with Secor’s influence you get a lot more “cut loose” kind of vibe. Not necessarily better, but definitely more energetic.

Much like the musicianship, the characters on El Dorado come at you fast and furious, with each stanza telling the tale of how this rogue’s gallery of characters each meat their (mostly bad) fates. My favourite is Snake Oil Jake:

“Stay away from Snake Oil Jake, he'll fool you with a fountain pen
One look in his eyes, you'll be hypnotized, he's got that sleight-of-hand
He's sleek and fat like an old tom cat, they say he has nine lives
But Snake Oil Jake sure met his fate when they shot him down ten times”

Another favourite is “Alice in the Bluegrass” a song that cleverly converts Alice in Wonderland into a metaphor for the love of all things bluegrass. Tuttle also digs into the drug-references in the original story, and salts chemically altered states throughout the song. The record has plenty of drug references, including a direct plea for full marijuana legalization on “Down Home Dispensary.” Not something you see on your average bluegrass record, but Tuttle is not your average bluegrass player.

As noted earlier, in Golden Highway Tuttle has curated some of the finest bluegrass musicians in the land, and she puts them to good use on every single tune. Every song is different, but one thing they share are unapologetic solos that showcase that talent. You wouldn’t need this – just them playing things tight as hell through the melody would be enough to impress – but rarely will you encounter this many solos and tire of none of them.

And fear not early lovers of her solo work, you will get plenty of Tuttle guitar work to thrill and amaze you. Tuttle is tied with Mark Knopfler for my all-time favourite guitar player. Yes, all time. Even more than Buck Dharma. None better. You could enjoy “City of Gold” simply to witness her mastery of the instrument, but you won’t have to. You’ll get all of that, plus four other musical masters, all playing some of the finest songs you’ll hear in this or any other genre.

Best tracks:  El Dorado, Where Did All the Wild Things Go, Next Rodeo, Alice in the Bluegrass, Down Home Dispensary

The Concert – August 1, 2024 at the Hollywood Theatre, Vancouver

Not many artists will have me shell out hundreds of dollars and a bunch of vacation time to fly to Vancouver mid-week to see them, but as you could likely predict from the review above, Molly Tuttle is on that list. I was still smarting from missing her by a single day in Seattle, and I was determined to not miss her again.

The show was at a venue I’d never been to before – a converted movie theatre in Kitsilano called the Hollywood Theatre”. Coming in you are greeted by the old-school popcorn concession, but once you come around the corner you see they’ve hollowed out the room, leaving about 1/3 of the seating intact along the sides, and a big empty space for dancin’ and drinkin’, but most for listenin’.

I had expected the crowd to be about 50% bearded oldsters who love bluegrass and 50% young hipsters discovering the music for the first time. The actual split was more like 75/25 but otherwise it was as anticipated. Everyone was well-behaved, although as a seated person I did not love the tall young ‘uns standing in my field of vision. I guess it’s not their fault they’re tall. With the exception of one or two overly enthusiastic original hippies, the crowd had a great vibe. OK, even the hippies had a good vibe, although I would not have minded to slightly less interpretive dancing on their part.

Before I get to the music, a shout-out to the merch table, which had not one, not two, but three different t-shirts, all in my size. I would have loved to have the tour dates on the back of one of them, but I won’t quibble. Merch success!

The Lonesome Town Painters

The opening act was a local band from East Van called the Lonesome Town Painters. These gents were VERY traditional bluegrass. Before the show I spotted one in the audience, and assumed it was a fan dressed up like Bill Monroe. Turns out, they all dressed that way.

They played old standards, and while they weren’t vocal legends, they worked hard at delivering good harmonies and their joy for the music was evident. They also did a number of original compositions that were just as good as the traditional numbers, particularly a funny song called “I’m Sorry” which made it clear the narrator was not at all sorry. The banjo player joked he wrote it for his wife.

The banjo player was the class of the band, and his solos were a cut above the rest, although everyone played well. I wasn’t sufficiently inspired to be their records or merch (best banter line “we don’t have someone watch our merch table, so if you took anything, please come around and meet us after the set to pay for it”) but they were fun and set a good tone.

Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway

• Bronwyn Keith-Hynes – fiddle
• Kyle Tuttle (no relation) – banjo
• Molly Tuttle – guitar and vocals
• Shelby Means – bass
• Dominick Leslie – mandolin

I’m starting with that lineup shout out, because this band is a true band in every sense of the word. Tuttle could just be famous in her own right as one of the greatest guitar players in history, but she’s subverted that call to ego to create something infinitely greater – a super band.

The way they set up shows what to expect from the get-go, lined up equally across the stage in a phalanx of sound. They hit the stage giving each other knowing smiles of “we got this” and immediately launched without a word into a three song mini-set starting with “El Dorado”.

I had seen them play live on many a Youtube clip and so was expecting be blown away by how good they were, but even that couldn’t prepare me for how fucking good they were.

Every song had some form of bluegrass noodle (for those unfamiliar, bluegrass doesn’t just do a single solo – everyone gets a turn except the bass player, and even they get a turn about every fourth song). Sound like it would annoy you? Wrong! I sat enraptured the whole time, my ears having a hard time comprehending how good it was as it washed through me.

Yes, I was there to see Tuttle wail, and wail she did. Watching the finger dexterity required to drop the furious guitar work she delivers is a visual thrill, but to hear it3D in all its live glory was transcendent. She also sang incredibly well, and I was reminded that her guitar work can make it easy to forget what a talented vocalist she is as well.

A highlight was a call-and-answer bit between Tuttle’s guitar and Bronwyn Keith-Hynes fiddle, as they took turns playing off one another, entering some level of creativity I don’t have the musical education to describe other than I loved it.

The setlist was brilliant as well, featuring a good mix of mostly music from their last two records, plus some well-placed covers. Standouts included a “bluegrassed” cover of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U” and a rendition of Neil Young’s “Helpless” that had the fans singing along in full throat on the chorus.

My favourite was “Crooked Tree” a song about being unabashedly unique that always puts a lump in my throat, but even more so live.

Also, if you are wondering if bass player Shelby Means is as cool as she looks in that sparkly top and dark sunglasses, the answer is yes. She exudes cool, and after each solo flashed a subtle smile that delivered a “nailed it!” vibe that was entirely justifiable.

My only regret was Tuttle did one solo song that was taken as a request from shout outs from the crowd. In these moments I am often paralyzed with wanting to shout out the perfect choice and by the time I had rallied myself and as set to bellow my request for “Good Enough” she’d already selected a much-less creative choice for a request for “She’s a Rainbow”. Of course Molly nailed it, but my choice was better. Woulda, coulda, shoulda…

Tuttle and the band played for well over 90 minutes and the energy just grew and grew the whole time. When the lights came on, I felt a bit sad that it was over, but mostly I felt flush with the knowledge that I’d witnessed greatness. 5 stars, and one of the top 5 concerts I’ve ever seen.