Stampeders - New Day

This was indeed a New Day, as right out of the gate the Stampeders were plugged in, turned up, and ready to rock. Right off the bat the guys were killing it. "Ramona" is a great track, and one I always liked as a kid. Ronnie, Rich and Kim were by this time a pretty well oiled machine with New Day being their fifth release in a few short years.

There were a few power trios in the '70s worth noting, Grand Funk being one, ZZ Top another. A lot of the others that pop to mind like Triumph, and Rush were later, and Cream was earlier. Stampeders were good, really good and by any yardstick (this was before metric) should be considered one of the best of their era. Kim Berly was a master on a small kit, Ronnie looked like a little like Elvis and even had the jumpsuit, and Rich played a wicked double neck FrankenFender. I mean these guys were cool. The cherry on top was all the guys could sing and write - how cool is that?

New Day, as with all of their releases, was produced by Mel Shaw, who also served as the band's manager. Even the weirdly indescribable "Marigold" works because it's just part of the experience. They were a band that didn't limit themselves to particular style changing lanes between hard hard, country, and even the burgeoning glam scene with "Wild Eyes" a song so good it is mind boggling. The addition of the string arrangement puts it over the top - in a good way. I mean, I'd have bought the album for this song alone. Strange that when I bought a Best of collection a while back, the version included did not have the strings - for shame.

The second side opens with Rich Dodson's "In the Shadows" and the boys are keeping up the heat. The closing track "Brothers of the Universe" is a song that could have only been written in the early '70s, and the sci-fi lyrics and spacey moog effects only enhance the song. It's hard to categorize these guys because I was just an eleven year old kid at the time, and all I knew about the band were the songs on the radio, so sitting here listening to this new after almost fifty years is a little weird. I've already skipped ahead to the end of their career and know how things worked out and what was successful, and what wasn't. Still, when there were good, they were absolutely amazing, and the depth of their catalogue is pretty impressive.

It's strange the band isn't as well respected as I thought they were. These guys should be Canadian rock royalty. Through the '70s they were a big deal, and if you listed off the big Canadian bands, you'd end up with a list like B.T.O. the Guess Who, April Wine and Stampeders. Heck there's a great clip of Mike Meyers in character as Wayne where Terry David Mulligan (he of the caterpillar eyebrows) asks him to name the top three Canadian rock bands. Anne Murray gets an honorary spot, with the other two going to B.T.O. and Stampeders.

Mic drop.

While their albums may have had one or two killer songs on them there weren't really any shitty songs that made you want to skip them either. Their output, which was impressive, meant that the guys amassed a pretty impressive list of hit songs in less than a decade if you go as far as Ballsy. However for the classic line up it was eight albums between 1971 - 1975.

Maybe it was because they were too diverse and crossed too many lanes musically and people couldn't easily fit them into a box. I don't know. Heck, I'm as guilty as anyone in overlooking these guys, and only in the last year picked up a couple of their albums, and although I have a decent retrospective anthology I really only listened to get to the big songs from my youth, and I didn't actually take the time to listen. I'm trying to make amends.

The fact these guys aren't in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame is a mystery and kid of a kick below the belt to a band who paved the way for Canadian acts. I mean, I like Nickelback, I'll admit it, but what the actual heck (spell that with an F and sort of rhymes with gesundheit), the Stampeders aren't in and Nickelback got there first? Good lord, this is a travesty that needs to be addressed. It's not like the guys are getting any younger. The fact they're still out on the road having fun and packing the big rooms should be an indication these guys were the real deal. They're out there treat everyday like it's a New Day (okay, I know it was cheesy, but dagnabbit it was there, and sometimes you just have to do it. I don't want to live with regrets - even small ones).

Garfield - Strange Streets

I'd seen this before in the bin, but kept flipping through the stacks. I'd see it a few more times, each time stopping to look at it a little more. There was something kind of cool about the cover where the stylized Celtic knot had the dotted yellow line - it was a strange street for sure. I pulled the record out of the jacket and I was struck by the centre image. There was the familiar Mercury label, the same one I'd seen a thousand times on BTOs Head On album. Well, I'd bought things based on odd associations before - like when I had to buy anything that Solid Rock Records released (this was generally a good thing) who knows maybe this was a hidden gem. There weren't any real scratches or rash, just a lot of dirt and dust - it seemed to clean up okay, but we'll see how it goes. The album opens with the title track, and this wasn't straight ahead pop, or rock. It was leaning to the progressive, but with a pop bent. Oddly enough the vocals reminded me of Mi

Hoodoo Gurus - Mars Needs Guitars!

The first time I got this album it was a gift from my old roommate Otto. For a goofy little nebbish he would occasionally surprise me with some left of field musical treasures. Although, I still think he was reaching a little when he brought home the new "Led Zeppelin" album by Kingdom Come and forced me to listen to "Get it On" over and over again. I'd not listened to Mars Needs Guitars in a long, long, long time. The first thing that I jumped out at me was how David Faulkner's vocals reminded me of his fellow countryman Peter Garrett from Midnight Oil. I think the reason this never occurred to me was at the time I didn't have any Midnight Oil until Diesel and Dust in 1987. I'm not saying it was all the time, but there were a couple of songs where it stood out. Not a bad thing, just a thing. Even at the time this felt slightly out of step with what was going on in 1985. It seemed like everyone was using drum machines and synthesizers and having t

Saturday Night Fever - The Original Movie Soundtrack

It was going to happen sooner or later. Nostalgia is a cruel Mistress...she can dull the sharpest edges and over time can even soften the hardest of opinions. I found this in the dollar bin, and frankly at a dollar I was worried about what this would cost me. Not only from a monetary perspective, but my time, and more important my credibility. Fourteen year old me was screaming "Don't you dare. DON'T DO IT! Put it down. Walk away!" Then there was grey bearded me holding it and looking at it, thinking, "How bad could it be? I actually kind of like "Staying Alive" and me buying this record won't bring disco back, and no one will have to know I bought this." I pulled the album out of the bin, and carefully took out the records. They'd seen better days, and there were a couple of decent scratches that would no doubt make their presence known later. The jacket was in decent condition, and both of the albums had the original sleeves. I dusted the

Old Enough to Forget

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