The Hometown Band - The Hometown Band

The Hometown Band released albums in 1976 and 1977, and served as Valdy's backing band for a little while, and then as quickly as they were, they weren't.

As a kid there weren't a lot of choices in terms of television channels - CBC was a universal constant, which explains why so many kids of my generation revered Mister Dressup and Ernie Coombs. We knew there was a Mister Rogers, but that wasn't in our neighbourhood. Casey and Finnegan were awesome, and in a pinch there was always The Friendly Giant and Rusty and Jereome. However CBC was also home to the Juno Awards, which for a long time was the home of iffy Canadian Content that aspired to greatness, and often settled for mediocrity. We did have our own rock royalty - Bachman Turner Overdrive as our resident kings of rock, and Anne Murray was our queen. If she put out an album she won an award.

I remember watching those mid to late '70s shows eagerly hoping to catch a glimpse or even better yet a performance by a band I want into. There were a lot of forgettable things, and some that stuck with me. I remember in '78 (don't ask me why I remember stuff like this, but can't remember where my glasses are - hint: usually wearing them) when Rush won, and also Patsy Gallant who was indeed a star at home and in L.A. according to her song. It was also the year The Hometown Band beat out Max Webster and Prism to win the Juno Award for Breakthrough Group of the Year. Which to me sucked because I really like Prism. For all the name recognition I'd actually never heard anything by The Hometown Band, at least that I can recall. The Juno was a curse of course, and shortly after the band would disband.

Here I am, finally making up for lost time with their second and final album. It's perplexing to me that this was pigeonholed as "folk" music. I suppose looking at the cover one could assume this was some hippy dippy shit that was all about flowers and granola and peace and love. It was 1977 after all, and the echoes of the '60s were still bouncing around.

Still this was pop, fused with jazz and good old rock and roll. The band had chops make no mistake, and the album was solid and enjoyable. The band was comprised of:

• Shari Ulrich - lead vocals, violin, cello, dulcimer, flute
• Claire Lawrence - saxophones, flute
• Geoff Eyre - drums, lead vocals, percussion
• Robbie King - piano, Hammond organ
• Doug Edwards - bass,arp omni, Fender Rhodes
• Edward Patterson, guitars

Interesting that Doug Edwards, Robbie King and Edward Patterson were in Skylark with David Foster and were part of the "Wildflower" line up a few years earlier. Canada may be big, but apparently it's a pretty small musical pond.

Here on The Hometown Band everything felt remarkably cohesive. Reading up on the album it was one of those albums that was respected, hence the Juno nod and win - but it didn't translate into sales or songs on the radio.

Listening to this with fresh ears it is a really solid album. Whether it has any staying power for me is a harder to tell. There aren't any misfires on the album, and I've played it several times, and each time there's a little more to like. I will say that there's something strangely appealing about the closing track "Halleuya, Do Ya" that has warranted repeated plays.

It's too bad this was their swansong, although the times were changing and who knows whether or not the band would have changed with the times. The album was produced by Claire Lawrence, who would later produce Shari Ulrich's solo albums, and if her output is any indication the band if they'd stay together would have made the transition with ease. Mainly because so many of the band's alumni would guest on her albums.

For all that, this was a wonderful addition to my collection, and I'll be on the lookout for their debut, and heck if I find the album they did with Valdy, I'll get that too.