The Odyssey sails on to our next album. This one is “new” in that I recently acquired it, but old in that it is, you know, old.
Disc 1776 is…Big Blue Sky
Artist: The Northern Pikes
Year of Release: 1987
What’s up with the Cover? Not much. The band’s name. If the album title is in there somewhere, my colour blindness prevents me from seeing it.
Wait, yes, there it is. Red printing on blue right at the bottom. Nigh invisible for me until I zoomed in while looking at the photo.
How I Came To Know It: I knew this album when it came out and I’m pretty sure friends owned it, although I never did. I did once own their 1990 album “Snow in June” on CD, but I sold it one weekend when my pockets were empty and my liver was thirsty.
This copy of “Big Blue Sky” comes to me via Sheila, who found it in a thrift store on one of her outings for the low price of $2. Good deal!
How It Stacks Up: I only have this one Northern Pikes records for reasons I have already described.
Ratings: 2 stars
If there’s a band that epitomizes the Canadian folk-rock scene that band is…Blue Rodeo. OK, but if there were a second band, the Northern Pikes are definitely in the conversation. There is something expansive but introspective about the Northern Pikes, not unlike the vast snowy plains of their home province of Saskatchewan.
On “Big Blue Sky” the band does what a lot of bands do on a debut record, which is to explore a lot of different facets of their sound. The result is a record that is ambitious and uneven in equal measure.
It is easy to explore a lot of ideas when you have not one, not two, but three vocalists. Sometimes they sing in harmony, but there are also lots of opportunities for the different voices – all similar in range but with different tones and phrasing – to put their own stamp on the songs. I am not a big enough fan to always know who is who, and won’t pretend I can.
The record starts with what was a moderate hit. According to Wikipedia (which is never wrong) “Teenland” topped out at #29 on the Canadian charts, but for some reason it feels so much more ubiquitous than that.
“Teenland” is powered by the vocals of Merl Bryck (I looked it up). He’s not always the singer, but his distinctive ability to move up and down within the refrain of “Tee-eee—eenland” is what makes this song instantly recognizable, fun to sing along to, and just as hard to get out of your head. So a pop hit although at #29, I am using ‘hit’ loosely.
Whatever the level of hit, I love “Teenland” which captures the disaffection and disillusionment of teen life. There’s no disillusionment like your first experience with it, and this song captures it right down to the dismissive expression of “give us a break” – repeated multiple times in the bridge because the narrator(s) really want you to.
After this the album descends into some downright unnecessary experimentation with eighties sounds. Eighties sounds are a dangerous minefield to begin with, and the Northern Pike are determined to skip through it with abandon. They do not emerge unscathed. Particularly terrible are the songs that appear designed for dancing. “Dancing in a Dance Club” sounds like a Talking Heads song minus the energy and “Love and a Muscle” can’t decide if it wants to be social commentary or underground club hit.
The record seemed very long, despite clocking in at reasonable 51 minutes and 12 songs, but in places it has serious drag. Even the brilliant and dystopian “Things I Do For Money” takes almost a full minute of mood tones before it launches. When it finally does, it embarks on a disturbing exploration of what it’s like to lose yourself in pursuit of the almighty dollar.
If “Teenland” is disaffected youth’s anthem, then “Things I Do For Money” is for twenty-somethings that have landed their first good paying job and are wondering if all the effort was worth it. The lyrics are basic, but the tone, and that insistent guitar riff fills the air with a hopeless anxious energy. Well played, Pikes, and it would’ve been even better if you’d gotten started quicker.
“Teenland” and “Things I Do For Money” are the album’s most well known songs, and also its best. They’re good but alone wouldn’t be enough to put this record in the “keep” pile given some of the other missteps.
However, right as I was about to consign “Big Blue Sky” to the discount bin of history, it gave me a few deep cuts of notable merit. “Jackie T” has a magnetic warble to it that makes you see the title character through the perfect yearning of her distant admirer. “Love Will Break You” has a chorus that lets you feel the breaking of a heart at its most electric – sad, frantic, and out of control.
The record ends with the title track, which once again takes way too long to get going, but once it does is once again worth the wait. The opening line:
“Can you remember when you were younger?
There were so many things you wanted to conquer”
Asks questions that hint at answers full of sadness and loss of innocence. For a young band on their first album, the Northern Pikes do weary cynicism as well as anyone.
In the end, the good outweighs the bad on this record, and makes me glad I rediscovered the Northern Pikes through the power of thrift.
Best tracks: Teenland, Things I Do For Money, Jackie T, Love Will Break You, Big Blue Sky
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