Old Enough to Forget

When TOTO released their massive All in In 1978 - 2018 anthology it was as a record and CD collection, and at the time I didn't want the records, but boy oh boy was I interested in getting the remastered discs. Elliot Scheiner by all accounts had worked his magic and the much maligned Turn Back in particular was supposed to sound amazing. I remember following on the band's site and there were questions about when and if the CDs would be offered as a standalone ... Short answer: Yes, and in May of 2019 I picked up the set, and when it arrived it was a good day. The box set included a bunch of stuff like Live in Tokyo 1980 as well as XX and Old is New which were all included in the box set. Of course I now have serious buyers remorse in not getting the records as I'd love to have Kingdom of Desire and Tambu on vinyl ... even though I have the original CD releases and the remastered CDs. I was scrolling on line and saw Old is New on sale and snapped it up. Which is sort o...

Sloan is one of those bands who has slipped in and out of my field of vision for a long time. I went through a phase after Action Pact dropped back in 2003 and their song "The Rest of My Life" was getting a lot of play up here in the Great White North that I decided it was time to make up for lost time and pick up their albums ... all of them. Now not everything resonated with me, but there always seemed to be a standout or a spark that was enough to fan the fire and keep me engaged. When thinking about the great Canadian bands who never really got a shot outside of the country most people will usually proclaim The Tragically Hip as Canada's best kept secret. That's one answer, but there are other responses that are equally valid. To me Sloan was the band who had had the goods, and their retro feel and quirky image should have been enough. They've not so quietly crafted one power pop album after another delivering the goods. Woulda, shoulda, coulda - the classic C...

I love pleasant surprises. This popped up on an auction site and it looked interesting, so I put in the minimum bid and forgot about it ... until I got a message telling me I'd won and should go pick it up. It was still sealed which was a bonus. Of course the cardboard dust and tight fit was irritating and I'm sure the extra bit of unwanted scuffing as on the record as I tried to get it out of the sleeve is just the way things are nowadays apparently. This is why I seldom buy new stuff. Still, this was about the music, and I had deliberately not looked up the band in advance. I was sort of expecting so indie artsy fartsy stuff, but honestly I had no idea what to expect. From the opening notes of the title track, the album was one unexpected surprise and another. Brave Shores is a synth-pop duo comprised of Jay and Stefanie McCarrol. The credits are a little sparse which is too bad. It merely says Jay vocals / production and Stefanie vocals. Then a little further down it says th...