Is it 1995 ... or 2015?

It has been way too long since I last posted. Apologies, but I like to get it right and tell a bit of a story. So let's get it going...

This may be the year 2015, but it's sort of like 1995 with new music from Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller and Blur arriving in the first half of the year. Noel announced his album "Chasing Yesterday" in October 2014 and it dropped on March 3rd, making for a rather painful 4 month wait. We had the first single, In The Heat Of Moment (great chorus) and the excellent b-side Do The Damage to tide us over. But still a 4 month wait to hear the full album seemed kind of long and somewhat mean. At least The Ballad Of The Mighty I also became available in early January. Tremendous song, with a guitar assist from Johnny Marr at the end.

Was the album worth the wait? Yes. We know that Oasis is my favourite band and Noel Gallagher is way up there in terms of my favourite artists. But the music still has to deliver. "Chasing Yesterday" opens with Riverman. The strummed guitar intro sounds a bit like Wonderwall, but the comparisons end for me there. The song has a mellow vibe but after the first verse / chorus, there is a very tasty guitar solo. As much as I like the first High Flying Birds album, I felt it did lack guitar solos, which Noel does excel at. This record makes up for that pretty much in the first song! Then a sax kicks in and it actually fits. The sax is not my fave instrument but it has it's place when done well. It's understated and adds to the breeziness of the song.

In The Heat Of The Moment is the second song and it's okay. Not my favourite song but not the worst either. Good chorus as I said earlier but, I, like most people apparently, could do without the "na na nas" that lead it off. In a live setting, he rectifies this, using horns and guitars to fill the space. It makes the song better, so I'm really hoping for a live DVD of this tour. The Girl With X Ray Eyes is third and this song is good, mellow, sort of like a David Bowie Space Oddity jam. Lock All The Doors is next and it's like a lost Oasis cut. Liam could probably destroy this back in the day but Noel does it more than justice. Just a straight up rocker, something else that was definitely missing on the first High Flying Birds record.

Dying Of The Light ends the first half of the record and it's a solid power ballad. Despite the presence of a credibility-defying lyric about Noel or the character he's singing about "not being able to afford the bus fare", this song really works for me. It's understated and live it just soars. The Right Stuff is next and this is a mind-blowing song if you are an Oasis fan. Saxes, guitars, bass lines, this proves to me that Noel just has solid song writing chops and can make most genres work for him, because he knows the right way around a tune.

The Song Remains The Same is next and this one is mellow but off-kilter enough to be interesting, the guitar solo is nice and it flows nicely into The Mexican, which, again judging from internet rumble, no one really likes. The lyrics are not great but the song is. It's funky, has cowbells and nice guitar flourishes. I just tune out the lyrics and let the music take me away on this one. You Know We Can't Go Back is another lost Oasis-type jam and it rocks nicely. The Ballad Of The Mighty I is tremendous as I said before and it gets better with every listen. Noel brings it vocally on this track. The deluxe edition boasts Do The Damage, Revolution Song (okay) and my fave, Freaky Teeth. This one was performed live on the first High Flying Birds tour and it is a keeper. Really solid rocker that I'm glad got the studio version it deserved.

I'm really hoping we don't have to wait another 4 years for the next follow-up...but given Noel's history and pedigree, I'm sure it will be worth whatever wait we're in for.

I was fortunate enough to see Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds at the Sony Center in Toronto on May 4th. I was also fortunate enough to score 2nd row seats. He played a great set which consisted mostly of High Flying Birds tunes but also some Oasis cuts...including a somewhat acoustic Champagne Supernova and an encore starting The Masterplan. I'm sorry but are you kidding me? A B-Side aired as the first song in the encore in North America. Yes, please. My preference is to hear his solo songs as they are great live but the 5 Oasis songs aired (with the exception of Digsy's Dinner) are choice cuts that aren't Wonderwall. If and when Oasis ever get back together I will be primed to hear all the hits but Noel's solo songs stand on their own and if you are going to attend one of his shows, please do yourself a favour and pick up the 2 High Flying Birds records. To me, Noel Gallagher is the Pete Townsend or equivalent of my generation. Can I even say Paul McCartney? If you don't agree, fine, but seriously, who has been more consistent in the past 20 years at writing great tunes?

Oh wait, I can answer that by talking about Paul Weller. I am a late arriving Weller fan. When I went to V Fest in Toronto in 2008, I went to see Oasis, but also was lucky to see Stereophonics and then Weller in support. All I knew about Paul Weller prior to September 2008 was A Town Called Malice by The Jam and the fact that he played guitar on Champagne Supernova and that he was friends with Noel Gallagher. But, I was pretty engaged in his set overall, enough for me to go out and get his Jam/Style Council/Solo greatest hits album "Hit Parade" and then picking up his at the time latest "22 Dreams". The highlights of his live set were From The Floorboards Up, Eton Rifles, The Changingman, Town Called Malice and when he said he was going to play a B-Side (I don't remember which one, but I just liked the sentiment). That is gold in this day and age.

"22 Dreams" is a concept record I think, but the common theme is that the songs are just great. "Wake Up The Nation" (holy shit, I almost wrote "Waking Up The Neighbours", which of course is the Bryan Adams record from the early '90's with the Robin Hood song on it plus many other amazing guilty pleasures) followed and then "Sonik Kicks". The common thread between all these albums is that Paul Weller was not afraid to experiment, yet keep his strong sense of melody and song craft intact. When I picked up "More Modern Classics" (his 2nd solo greatest hits, after "Modern Classics"), I was surprised about how coherently it all flowed together. But maybe I shouldn't have been. The dude is the modfather and Noel Gallagher is his friend. I was late to this party but I'm glad I caught up.

He released another solo effort in May 2015 called "Saturns Pattern". It is solid. Internet chatter suggests that it isn't as experimental as other efforts but it still works for me. The first 3 songs are classic and the tunefulness is there. Long live the modfather. All in all, the 9 tracks hang together and I'm still spinning this one a few months later.

Which brings me to Blur. When Blur announced in late February that they had recorded a new album, "The Magic Whip" and that it would be out in late April, I was pretty excited, mostly because they were only making me wait 2 months. Blur were/are one of my favourite bands and this would be their first record as Blur since "Think Tank" in 2003 (there were a few songs released in 2010, which were good, a bit of a tease, but never a full record). It would also be their first record with guitarist Grahan Coxon since "13" in 1999. The lead single/song Go Out is a feedback-squalled gem and then they kept releasing other songs from the record, like Lonesome Street and There Are Too Many Of Us, until half of it was available prior to the album actually coming out. I'm fine with this practice. All of them sounded great, but none as sublime as Ong Ong. This song is one of my favourites, if not my favourite of the year so far. Also, great video.

But then there is My Terracotta Heart, which is on par with their greatest I won't say ballads but slower tunes. For an album that was basically discarded and that Graham Coxon had to salvage and piece together for Damon Albarn to write words to, the songs are top notch.

Like Noel Gallagher, Damon Albarn is one of my all time favourite artists. Most of what he touches is gold - Blur, Gorillaz, The Good The Bad & The Queen, weird opera stuff. I have a lot of time for him but Blur will always be the band of his I constantly go back to. The song Beetlebum is likely in my top 5 ever, I never get tired of that song. Come to think of it, 1997 was a pretty great year for music - The Verve's "Urban Hymns", Blur's self-titled record, Oasis' "Be Here Now", Radiohead's "OK Computer", Third Eye Blind's self-titled record, even U2's somewhat misguided "Pop" (really not as bad as you thought). I was going to write a blog piece on U2's "Pop" and it was going to be my first official post but the AV Club beat me to it (here). Nice one AV Club and nice one 1997, thanks for the music.

You often see bands / artists falter and struggle in their later years (see my last Bon Jovi post, who actually have a new album coming out in 1 month, and I'm trying to be nonchalant about it but I'll definitely check it out and am kind of excited even though it will probably not be good), so it's refreshing to see these old school artists still churning out not only respectable music but arguably some of the best music they've ever released.

I promise not to be as long between posts next time! I've got the next few written in my head, just need to get them on the screen so to speak.

Until next time...

The Bon Jovi Saga Vol. 2 - When Sky High Anticipation Results in Gut Wrenching Disappointment

Case Study #2: Every Bon Jovi Album After "These Days"*
* with the exception of 2

So picking up where I left off about a month ago (you should read the Bon Jovi Saga Vol. 1 first, I am not technically inclined to know how to link the post in this post but it's on the site), when I put on "Crush" at 1am the night I got it, It's My Life was the first track, so this was a good start. Then it got a little weird and maybe I should have read the writing on the wall with Real Life.

"Crush" (2000)

"Crush" has some good songs but also some truly bad ones. The good songs are quite good, It's My Life, Just Older, Next 100 Years, Two Story Town. The bad ones are wretched, in particular Thank You For Loving Me. I know people like this song and some play it at their weddings but to me it's awful, just awful. I used to love Save The World, solid power ballads are my bread and butter, but I tried listening to this a little while ago and it is just mega cheesy and the guitar solo is weak. Mystery Train is okay but not fantastic. I Got The Girl is kinda terrible. One Wild Night is like It's My Life 2.0 but misses more than it hits. Nonetheless, I still ended up re-buying the Australian Tour Edition of this album for the bonus 5 song live disc. Which is pretty good. And I saw them at the ACC on this tour and it was solid. Never Say Goodbye was played acoustic in the encore, which was amazing.

It's My Life then is a double-edged sword. Yes, it brought new listeners (generations) to the band. But it also cemented into the band that they needed to be a commercial force to be relevant. They needed to sell out large arenas and while half of "Crush" is introspective (in as much as Bon Jovi can be), half it is shooting for the rafters. Unfortunately, for me, each album after "Crush" started leaning 90% towards a rafter shooting / pop-rock safe zone vs. "These Days" and "Destination Anywhere" introspection. And maybe this is where the band wanted to be, selling out arenas with as much mainstream appeal as possible. '80's music survivors, still going strong in the 2000's. Who can blame them?

"One Wild Night Live" (2001)

As mentioned earlier, I really felt Bon Jovi was a formidable live act, so I was pumped when I heard they were releasing their first official live album. Unfortunately, what we got was a live compilation spanning 1985-2001, not a full live show. While there are highlights (namely the "These Days" and "KTF" songs), it is not a cohesive representation of a live Bon Jovi experience, nor is it even a double album. Definitely a missed opportunity.

"Bounce" (2002)

Everyday was the lead single ... for those of you counting this song can be considered It's My Life 3.0. It's serviceable but not classic, but it pumped me up for the album. "Bounce" is the band's response to 9/11 (not as obvious or heavy-handed as you would think) and some songs are good on this one, Undivided, All About Lovin' You, Misunderstood, The Distance, Bounce. But Joey and Right Side Of Wrong are terrible. I know the press kit when this album was released said these 2 tunes were the return to the band's "singer-songwriter" roots but seriously, Joey is one of the worst Bon Jovi songs ever and maybe even one of the worst songs ever. I did see them on this tour twice, the first concert was great but the 2nd was the first time I saw Bon Jovi phone it in. Plus, I was unsure why no "These Days" songs were finding their way into the set. The silver lining was that the Goo Goo Dolls were great as openers x 2. Iris, Slide, Name, etc. are great late era power ballads.

"This Left Feels Right" (2003)

Remaking your rafter shooting hits as mellow campfire songs. But not unplugged. I wrote an amazon review on this one, which I think captures my feelings well, so please feel free:

http://tinyurl.com/lwh764v

But I still did find the import collector's edition of this album with a bonus live DVD of acoustic performances and that made things sort of better. Though, that said, I haven't played this album since 2003.

As an aside, I got married in 2003 and there were are a few great Bon Jovi moments. The first was when the wedding party all slow danced to Always and everyone sang the song at the top of their lungs on the dance floor. The second was when the DJ ended the night with a Bon Jovi medley of Livin' On A Prayer/It's My Life/Bad Medicine. Everyone was going nuts. Bon Jovi are the people's band forsure and this is my struggle.

When they started out, they were the people's band, diamond selling albums, huge tours, etc. The '90's put them as survivors but mid-tier survivors. The 2000's put them back on the top-tier map and they are still on the map really. They are like the new Stones, minus the critical acclaim, but in 2010 I saw them back-to-back at the 50,000 capacity Rogers Center and it was full both nights. So, yeah, they are still kind of a big deal, but at the expense of creating new songs that I actually want to listen to repeatedly in 2015. More on this later...aside over and moving on.

"100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong" (Box Set, 2004)*

This is actually a cool concept and one of the two exceptions on this list. A 4-CD, 1 DVD compilation of previously unreleased or rare material from the Bon Jovi vaults. I have no issues with this release, I thought it was a nice treat for fans, contained some good songs and it made me excited for the upcoming studio release.

"Have A Nice Day" (2005)

Have A Nice Day is a solid lead single, albeit It's My Life 4.0. It is stronger than Everyday and it made me excited that this record would be good. The press kit leading up to every post-2000 Bon Jovi album touts the forthcoming record as "return to roots", a "loud rock record", etc. No doubt "HAND" has good songs, I Want To Be Loved, Story Of My Life, Last Man Standing, but the country duet of Who Says You Can't Go Home and the rock version of the song itself are, well, I'm not having it. Plus, the rest of the album is mostly filler. Bells Of Freedom, this is a song title and it is as bad as that title. I did see them maybe 3 or 4 times on this tour though. Still a good live act in my mind at this point, but again, the sets were really light on "KTF" and "TD" songs, i.e. 2 songs maybe of the former included and zero of the latter. And really the only "Crush" songs played were IML and Just Older, maybe Captain Crash (but I've blocked this out because that song is definitely not one of my faves). Only Bounce and possibly Everyday were aired from "Bounce". So it was the same greatest hits being trotted out along with some songs from the new album, half of which weren't good. JBJ has said he doesn't want to be "nostalgia act" but when your new releases do not produce many classic or even good songs, what else can you play at shows? Additionally, I'm not sure Bon Jovi's fan base want to hear anything outside of the classics. They aren't looking for deep cuts and that's probably my issue for being a "die hard".

I should mention also that by this point I didn't have a fully negative opinion of the band. I was still going to the concerts, I was still buying the albums, I was still talking to others about the band. I made myself best of compilations after every new album. They released new music every year from 2000 to 2005, which was quite prolific. But each release started getting less play than the one before from me. Thoughts about Bon Jovi's setlists and how "samey" they were started creeping into my head. Other bands were coming more into focus for me. I was really starting to get into Springsteen and the White Stripes and Oasis was just about to release "Don't Believe The Truth" and begin a career resurgence.

It comes down to the music. I never re-visit any of the albums that I've spoken about so far in this post. I do re-visit "These Days", "Slippery", "Keep The Faith" and "New Jersey" fairly often.

"Lost Highway" (2007)*

The other exception on the list, but I was very skeptical at first. A Nashville-inspired Bon Jovi record. After the nightmare that was Who Says You Can't Go Home, I wasn't exactly banging down the door wanting to get this. Everyone was going country in 2007. Hell, people still are. Hootie is still famous because he went country and it fits him well. But "Lost Highway" was an understated, somewhat introspective record with guitar solos. They let Richie off his leash again. I'm not sure if he was having personal issues at this point but his playing on this record is inspiring. Whole Lot Of Leaving, (You Want To) Make A Memory, Lost Highway, Til We Ain't Strangers Anymore, these are all great songs. Though I'll dock this album a point for including my least favourite Bon Jovi song ever, the career nadir We Got It Goin' On. They have played this song live at EVERY show since 2007. Who likes this song??? No one, except Big & Rich, who likely get royalties every time it is played.

I saw them I think 4 times on this tour. The set lists contained a few surprises, Richie Sambora singing These Days, JBJ pulling out Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah but, of course, they also contained the faithful war horses. But the exception here was that the "Lost Highway" songs were pleasant to hear live. People were reacting positively to these songs also. The band seemed to be having fun and there were no auto pilot shows here, except for maybe the one I saw in Sarnia, ON at the Bayfest festival, but I'll give that one to them as there were massive bugs flying all around the stage.

By the time 2007 rolled around, I had means to get albums as they were leaked online before they came out officially so I was already listening to "LH" about a month before it went on sale. As an aside, the Internet is a double edged sword for me when it comes to music. I do like the ability to hear something before it comes out ("try before you buy") but it clearly takes away the excitement and anticipation that I used to feel on new release day, where maybe you only heard the single and had to wait to hear the rest of the record.

"Lost Highway" is the only post-2000 Bon Jovi release that I re-visit every now and then.

"The Circle" (2009)

The lead single We Weren't Born To Follow is pretty terrible. So bad in fact that they had to re-record the initial version to include an actual guitar solo when JBJ calls out "guitar" in the middle of the song. But yet the band feels the need to keep playing this song in concert to this day and include it in the pantheon of their greatest hits. Anyway, there are some good songs on this one, Brokenpromiseland, Thorn In My Pride, When We Were Beautiful, but the bad truly outweighs the good. And the documentary that accompanies this release is something else. JBJ really comes off as arrogant and self-serving. He's a business-MAN, the CEO. The band are his employees. We get it, you're awesome. Now, please back it up with better tunes.

As mentioned earlier, I did see the band twice on this tour at the Rogers Center and the concerts were good. They played Damned and Something For The Pain (maybe Diamond Ring too now that I think about it) from "These Days", so that was a bonus. I was pretty close to the stage the 2nd night (see below).

                                 (Photo courtesy of my friend Jara)

These are the last two Bon Jovi concerts I've attended and potentially, the last ones I will ever attend (but not likely really). Kid Rock opened and he was actually pretty good. I've always enjoyed the "Devil Without A Cause" hits + Picture. He also has a great command of pyrotechnics.

"The Greatest Hits" (2010)

This could have been an amazing and proper career-spanning compilation that highlighted good songs from all eras. A double album release like the Rolling Stones' "40 Licks".

But hold the phone, they had both a single and double disc edition. The single disc edition was essentially "Crossroad", with It's My Life, We Weren't Born To Follow, Have A Nice Day and the country version of Who Says (it won a Grammy, so duh!) tacked on. All the "KTF", "These Days" and "Lost Highway" songs were relegated to the 2nd disc, which was only available if you bought the Ultimate Collection, which of course, I did. I'm a completist, even in the "down years" of a band's career. Living In Sin, Never Say Goodbye, Just Older and none of "7800 Degrees Fahrenheit" or "Bounce" made the cut, even on an "Ultimate Collection".

The 4 new songs were not great. The More Things Change was kind of like winking at the band's career fortunes and is okay, but I don't think I've played it since 2010. Again, a missed opportunity to preserve and showcase the best parts of the band's legacy and maybe introduce people to songs they don't know.

"What About Now" (2013)

This is easily my least favourite Bon Jovi album. The only song I remotely enjoy is I'm With You, and maybe What's Left Of Me, because it sort of sounds like Someday I'll Be Saturday Night. The rest is just awful. My 7 year old daughter really liked the first single Because We Can so I gave her the CD when I purchased it (again, completist) and it stayed in her room CD player for about a year until I found it cleaning up about 6 months ago. That is how much I missed listening to this one. I'm not even going to put an audio / video clip of any of their songs off this one on here.

I think Bon Jovi hit Toronto 5 times on tour for this record. I went to none of these shows, marking the first time I've missed a tour since 1993. I just didn't have a lot of interest in going to see the same old songs and new songs I was not into at all. To top it off, Richie Sambora left the tour and is now subsequently out of the band. Richie's been battling some demons over the past few years and I'm not going to comment as everyone has their issues to sort out. But I just can't fathom how after 30 years with a band (a successful one at that) it's over without a real reason given. There is a lot of speculation over the internet, but we will likely never know the real reason for this break-up.

While the "What About Now" tour racked up big box office receipts, it obviously couldn't have been very fun for the band given all the issues that went on behind the scenes. The clips I saw showed a tired band that in a lot of cases was going through the motions. I've seen Springsteen I think 8 times now and that man is a revelation. He made the Rogers Center feel intimate. Plus, I've never seen him play the same set twice, even on the same tour. I realize that Bruce's songs are maybe "deeper" than Bon Jovi's but he isn't afraid to pull out the rarities or change things up based on the crowd, regardless of what's on the setlist. I also realize that I love Oasis and they play the same set for an entire tour, night in and night out and this doesn't bug me. I think it's because the expectations have been set. Or maybe that the songs they choose to play are better.

Maybe I hold Bon Jovi on too high a pedestal and they are bound to not to be able to live up to it...but the issue there is that they did pretty much live up to it from 1986 to 2000. Maybe, aside from "These Days", "New Jersey", "Slippery" and most of "KTF", Bon Jovi have never been a strong "album" band. But it just seemed like they were trying harder on pre-2000 efforts. I think once you like and invest in a band, it's hard to be objective towards anything they've done. If it's good, it's the "best thing ever" and if it's bad, it's the "worst thing ever". The in-between songs just don't cut it.

I'm sure Richie Sambora will eventually re-join Bon Jovi for the inevitable reunion tour at some point. And you know, I likely will go to at least one of these shows. I have no issues with his replacement Phil X, who is Canadian and a good guitar player, but to me that's not Bon Jovi. Maybe I just really need a long break from the band and when that reunion hits in 5 or so years, I'll be ready to ride that steel horse again. I kinda hope so.

Until next time...

On A Steel Horse I Ride, The Bon Jovi Saga Vol. 1

Yes, this is Part 1 of the long-awaited Bon Jovi post/ramblings. I remember when Bon Jovi was like Oasis for me. My favourite band, no one could talk shit about them and they could do no wrong. The year was 1986 and I was 10 years old. When I first heard the opening salvo of "Shot through the heart and you're to blame" from You Give Love A Bad Name, I was hooked. This was an anthem. This was my jam. And then Livin' On A Prayer came out. This was also my jam. The video featured Jon Bon Jovi (hereby referred to as JBJ) and other band members hanging from cables while rocking an arena. The structure was the same as the video for You Give Love A Bad Name, and thinking about it now, they likely filmed the videos at the same time to save money. Bon Jovi was not a household name prior to 1986, though they had released 2 albums by then. Livin' On A Prayer was even better than YGLABN, the chorus soared, everyone liked and related to Tommy & Gina's tale of hard luck. They had each other and that was a lot for love.

But then the video for Wanted Dead Or Alive came out. As JBJ frequently says in concert prior to playing this tune "Please rise for the singing of our national anthem". This song is epic. The first verses are acoustic and mellow and then it erupts with a classic Richie Sambora guitar solo. And I ride! He plays the double neck acoustic guitar and then straps on the electric guitar for the rest of the song! Amazing. The video is like a mini-movie of life on the road as Bon Jovi was in the midst of hitting it big. By this point, I likely had the vinyl of "Slippery When Wet" and I remember my dad taking me to the Exhibition Stadium in Toronto during the summer of 1986 or 87 to see Bon Jovi. It was the loudest concert ever. We were at the train station and we could still hear Wanted Dead Or Alive perfectly. I'm not sure if I have fond memories of this concert but I know I got a killer 3/4 length Bon Jovi shirt that I wore frequently. I think I liked the whole album but in my early days I was all about singles and American Top 40.

"New Jersey" followed in 1988 and I believe I got the cassette of this one as I was onto cassettes by then. Bad Medicine I liked but I started drifting away from music around this time, focusing instead on sports (namely the Toronto Blue Jays, Maple Leafs and Miami Dolphins) because I was going to be a sports commentator when I grew up. The only time I listened to music really between 1988 and 1991, my taste was what you would call "questionable". Paula Abdul, MC Hammer, Wilson Phillips, yikes. Also Roxette but I'm not putting a yikes beside that. Their greatest hits are solid.

In a past blog post, I mentioned that "Wayne's World" and Bohemian Rhapsody got me back into music and "Classic Queen" was my first CD. This was late 1991 or early 1992. I then read or heard Bon Jovi was coming out with a new album after taking 4 years off (during the hiatus JBJ made "Blaze Of Glory" and Richie Sambora made "Stranger In This Town"). The album and first single was titled "Keep The Faith" and it was certainly different from "Slippery" or "New Jersey" fare, but I was pretty into this song. Great lyric, chorus and guitar solo. I picked up the CD and found that the first 5 songs were pretty amazing. I Believe, Keep The Faith, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, In These Arms and Bed Of Roses. Nice front load of potential hit singles. But the song that was the dark horse in this collection was Dry County, a close to 10 minute epic about JBJ's journey on his motorcycle across America during the band's hiatus. It contains a completely unbelievable 2-3 minute Richie Sambora guitar solo and the lyrics are good, almost movie-like. I also enjoyed the last three songs - I Want You (a more contemporary power ballad), Blame It On The Love Of Rock n' Roll and A Little Bit Of Soul. I remember Bon Jovi had an MTV (or MuchMusic) special called Keep The Faith An Evening With Bon Jovi that I taped and watched frequently. Say what you want about Bon Jovi and their cheesiness, etc, but they were a top-notch live act, especially around this time. They had something to prove after being gone for 4 years and watching music seemingly change overnight. Around this time, I made Bon Jovi and supporting Bon Jovi my mission, my cause, if you will. My friends, I feel they sort of liked the music, but they didn't really have a choice. It was being played in my parent's Ford Villager 24/7 whether you liked it or not!

One of the best moments in Bon Jovi worship/collecting during this era was when we hit the HMV superstore in Toronto one weekend in 1993 (this was a big thing for us Burlingtonians) and I saw "Keep The Faith" in the new releases even though it came out in 1992. So I flipped the CD over and noticed there was a bonus track on the album proper (Save A Prayer) and a bonus live / acoustic CD with 8 tracks. For $17, this was a steal. And thus began my trend of re-buying Bon Jovi albums once I found their special or import editions months or years after the real albums came out. This practice continued until "Bounce", where I couldn't find a special import edition. I wore out the album proper from this edition, which kind of angers me because I still don't have a good version of Save A Prayer and this is a really good song. The bonus live disc is still money today - live renditions of In These Arms, Keep The Faith, Bad Medicine and an acoustic Bed Of Roses and Never Say Goodbye. This is my go to version of NSG. In fact, I heard the original on Sirius XM's 80's on 8 the other day and I didn't understand it fully because it had 80's drums and electric guitars.

I went back and picked up "Slippery", "New Jersey", "Blaze Of Glory" and "Stranger In This Town" on CD. Eventually I acknowledged they had albums before "Slippery" and picked up "Bon Jovi" and "7800 Degrees Fahrenheit" (still my least favourite of the pre-2000 era, but has some good songs on it). I also got their CD singles (the only one I'm still missing from the "KTF" era is In These Arms) because they contained live tracks which were awesome. In February 1993, a bunch of us went to see Bon Jovi at Maple Leaf Gardens, and the band filmed the video for In These Arms. I remember we were so pumped for this concert. I think we had to wait 2 or 3 months and we had daily countdowns. Seriously. Then we went to see them again in December 1993 in Hamilton, where they busted out Dry County. I still have all of my concert shirts from this era and I still proudly wear them from time to time.

I re-discovered "New Jersey" and specifically Living In Sin and Blood On Blood during Christmas of 1992. The latter song was about me and my friends, bar none. We adopted it as our anthem. I don't think any of us now are uptown lawyers, or medicine men or even singers in long haired rock and roll bands but listening to this song still takes me back to ball hockey, Sega Genesis, filming music videos, playing shark in my parents' pool. "New Jersey" is really close to "These Days" in being my favourite Bon Jovi album and it certainly deserved the deluxe anniversary treatment it got last summer. Solid reissue that I now realize should have been put on my best of 2014 list as the CD of unreleased demos is the best thing they've released since "These Days". Hindsight!

I used to bring my old school CD player / ghetto blaster into the bathroom and rock out while in the shower. I programmed the best "New Jersey" songs in this order: Blood On Blood, Wild Is The Wind, Stick To Your Guns, ending with Living In Sin. Long showers were the norm back then.

As you can gather, many of their songs from the "KTF" and earlier eras spoke to me as I was getting deeper into high school, dealing with new feelings, girls, etc. Bon Jovi was there for me, these five words they swore to me. They picked me up. I used to love guitar solos in songs because of Richie Sambora. I was disappointed when songs didn't have guitar solos and didn't understand why they wouldn't. I realize that a lot of music I listen to now doesn't have guitar solos but that was pretty much cost of entry for me to like a band between 92 and 95. I was still consuming other music at this time, but none of it really surpassed Bon Jovi in terms of being my favourite (until fall 1995, see blog post #1).

I was so ultra obsessed and overt with my obsession with Bon Jovi (I used to have a "Keep The Faith" baseball hat that I wore to school, without any shame. I have no idea where this went but I really wish I still had it), it came to the point that when people thought of Bon Jovi, they automatically thought of me and vice versa. I think that is still the case and I am okay with it being part of my identity. You know, husband, father, market researcher, writer, Bon Jovi fan. This is fine. It certainly wasn't in vogue (en vogue?) to be a guy who liked Bon Jovi in high school, but I think people just realized it wasn't a gimmick, I actually cared about the music so everyone just accepted it. There is a lesson in there kids and it's be true to yourself!

"Crossroad" the best of Bon Jovi came out in 1994 and contained the monster power ballad Always and the underrated gem Someday I'll Be Saturday Night. The less said about the other "new" song on the collection, Prayer '94, the better (they had a much better acoustic version of this song on the aforementioned Evening With Bon Jovi special). This was a nice stop gap release until "These Days" dropped in the summer of 1995. I remember hearing the first single This Ain't A Love Song in May of 95 and not being blown away, but like the rest of "These Days", it was a grower. "These Days" starts off with Hey God, which is probably Bon Jovi's bleakest tune. It sounds like it came from the grunge era but still holds up today. "These Days" is the last great album made by the band, IMHO, every song is good. No throwaways. It is in my top 10 albums of all time. As an aside, most of my favourite albums are, it's like that scene in the movie (and likely the book, which I've read twice, but it slips my mind) "High Fidelity" with John Cusack where he is arranging his albums autobiographically. A person's favourite music says something about you, but it may not be the most obvious thing.

The title track of "These Days" is probably in my top 20 of all time favourite songs. "These Days" was the first album I put on in my dorm when I got to Guelph in September 1995. I missed my floor's frosh week ceremony because we were seeing Bon Jovi at the Molson Amphitheater. Definitely in my top 5 best concerts of all time, close to a 3 hour show, many "These Days" tracks included, the band was on fire. It is here where the band reached the cross roads (pardon the pun). In North America, "KTF" and "TD" were moderately successful, certainly not as successful as their earlier albums from the 80's but they were an 80's band surviving and in my opinion, thriving making the music they wanted to make.

But then they took another hiatus. JBJ made some movies (the best being "The Leading Man" and "No Looking Back"), a great solo album in "Destination Anywhere" (not successful commercially in North America but it is really quite good), Richie made another solo album, "Undiscovered Soul" (definitely worth checking out) and married Heather Locklear. Tico started a line of kids clothing and such called Rock Star Baby. The only Bon Jovi band music to come out between 1995-1999 was the song Real Life from the movie EdTV. This song was somewhat disappointing in that it contained no Richie Sambora guitar solo. Although it was underwhelming, I still spent what little money I had at that time buying the soundtrack and playing the shit out the song, almost willing myself to like it.

For me, new Bon Jovi albums were akin to a new Star Wars movie being released. They were events. So when I heard they were coming out with a new album called "Crush" in the summer of 2000, I was all in. Then the first single It's My Life dropped and I loved it instantly. Total throwback to Livin' On A Prayer, they even slid Tommy & Gina and the wah-wah guitar pedal back in to connect the dots. This was a better effort than Real Life forsure. I was pumped for the album to be released and it happened to come out the same Tuesday as the Hip's Music @ Work, so HMV was opening at midnight. I was there, despite having to work the next day. Whatever, I was young then. I bought "Crush" and I'm sure I bought some additional albums (not the Hip though, I was against them then for some reason. Likely because I hated the song New Orleans Is Sinking), got home at 1am and put it on.

And on that note, we'll move onto Part II of the saga...stay tuned...

We Got The Love

First off, happy belated New Year to the 5 people that read this blog :).

A few nights ago, I was presented with a great opportunity to see one of my favourite bands in a unique setting.

I'll back track for a bit, last week, I was in Florida with my family on vacation and was checking my news feed on the Facebook when I saw that I Mother Earth were having an event at Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto on January 28th to debut their new song, hang with fans, play an acoustic set and hang with fans. Automatically I contacted my friend John (also a big fan) and said we should completely go. Although it was his 10th Anniversary that day, he said he'd see what he could do. All you had to do was email saying you wanted in. It was free!

He was down with going (thanks Jen!) but I was still on the fence due to a prior commitment on the night of Friday the 30th with work friends. When you have smaller children, and both spouses work, you need to pick your spots. So I never committed and I felt kinda bummed but the nice Florida weather and good times with the fam pushed it to the back of my mind.

We landed last Sunday and I got a text from John saying that the drummer of his band was friends with Jag and Chris Tanna, guitarist and drummer of IME, respectively, and his drummer got him and a plus 1 on the guest list as the gig was sold out (or I guess full) already. John asked if I would be the plus 1. Um, yes, of course I would and thanks to my wife for understanding that this event needed to be attended. So we were in.

It's probably best to recount my history with I Mother Earth, as I tend to do frequently with all bands I write about in this space before moving forward.

I know I got into them when "Dig" came out in 1993 or 1994. Rain Will Fall was and still is such a killer song that when I first heard it, I picked-up the album. "Dig" also spawned the Canadian rock staples Not Quite Sonic, Levitate and my personal favourite So Gently We Go.

"Scenery & Fish" then came out in 1996, when we were in 2nd year of University. One More Astronaut had become a pretty big hit on MuchMusic and the radio but "S+F" was an album you could put on and let play. Every song was and still is solid. In 2nd year, we used to play Risk, the game of World Domination, every Thursday night from I want to say January 1997 until April or May 1997 and there were 2 albums that were always played in their entirety - Tool's "Aenima" and "Scenery & Fish". I have fond memories of those days, not because I ever won Risk but because it was a great chance to have some cocktails, strategize, get mad at each other and listen to great music.

One of the best things about Guelph was that Canadian bands often frequented Peter Clark Hall, which was a concert hall (using this term very loosely) in the basement of the University Centre. These were mostly Canadian bands but as the 90's gave us a lot of great Canadian music, this was amazing. I believe the concerts were $10-$15, which is a steal. Additionally, bands often came out after their shows and hung out in the hallway.

I Mother Earth made it to PCH in the winter of 1997 and as soon as it was announced, we were all over it. They rocked it (John tells me that the power cut out during one of the songs, which I vaguely remember) and we were hoping we could meet the band afterwards (we all had our CD booklets of "S+F" ready). The crowd was intense and large though in the hallway after the show so we decided instead to hit the Brass Taps for a few post-show beverages. After a few hours of tipping some back, we headed back to the dorm...only to be greeted by Edwin, then lead singer, in the University Centre by himself. John asked if he was "off duty from signing autographs", he laughed and then signed our booklets. This capped off a great evening.

It was then kind of a shock when in the summer of 1997, the announcement came that Edwin was leaving IME. The band was riding a great commercial peak and seemed ready to explode. I know I was disappointed, but these things happen. Maybe we should have read something into Edwin being on his own when we ran into him at the UC. Edwin's replacement was Brian Byrne, whom I hadn't heard of. The first taste of the new IME was Summertime In The Void. This is a great song which showcases Brian Byrne's vocals well. "Blue Green Orange" was released in 1999 and while I will admit it is the IME album I listen to least, it contains one of my top 5 IME songs ever in When Did You Get Back From Mars? Edwin, meanwhile released his solo debut, which I have and dig a few of the tunes.

IME then disappeared for a bit before resurfacing with "The Quicksilver Meat Dream" in 2003. Like The Sun was the first single and I remember seeing the video frequently on MuchMusic. I picked up the album and was immediately blown away in a very positive way. It is completely different in sound vs. anything that came before it from the band. Progressive, dense but still retaining a strong sense of melody. I love "Scenery & Fish" but I think "The Quicksilver Meat Dream" is my fave IME record. This album is deemed to be "uncommercial" but if one actually gave it more than a single listen, I'm sure they could hear how accomplished and complex it is. It was on "TQSMD" tour that I finally saw IME live with Brian Byrne, at the Opera House opening for Theory Of A Deadman. Yes, ahem, we'll leave it at that. The band put on a 2 hour+ show as openers and Brian Byrne's vocals were on, way on. I have seen over 100 concerts in my lifetime and Brian Byrne is easily in my top 5 live vocal performers ever. So versatile and it seems effortless for him. Then IME disappeared again. Hiatus, which was disappointing given how strong "TQSMD" was/is. Brian Byrne released a couple of solo albums (I only have his debut, "Tuesdays, Thursdays and if it Rains", which is a strong collection of songs), the Tannas went onto other endeavours and Bruce Gordon, the bassist, joined the Blue Man Group.

It seemed like it was over but then a cryptic countdown was posted on their website in early 2012. When the dust settled, IME was releasing a new song (yes) and getting back together for live shows at the Sound Academy (double yes). John and I were all over this. We ended up getting tickets for the 2nd date at the Sound Academy (it was the first date but they had to add another show due to overwhelming demand). The concert was epic, I think around 3 hours and everyone was in top form. Plus the new single We Got The Love was/is fantastic. To me, it sounds like it could belong on "Scenery & Fish" and it blew up at Canadian rock radio.

So now we are up to speed, back to 2015 and I was really pumped to hear the new tune, see the guys play acoustic and potentially get a chance to talk to the band. They allowed us each to listen to the song on our own listening station, complete with headphones. The song is called The Devil's Engine and it comes out on iTunes February 15th, so everyone should check it out. I predict that it will be a pretty big hit on rock radio (John agrees). It's the heaviest song the band have done but again doesn't stray away from strong melody. I'm anxious to hear it again (repeatedly). The acoustic set was great, hearing songs such as Used To Be Alright, I Is Us, Pisser, Good For Sule in an acoustic context is always a positive. Then the band came out to hang with fans once the show was done and we had the privilege of meeting both Brian and Jag, who were both super nice and down to earth. Jag told us that more is on the way from the band this year. Definitely a great night.

You have to hand it to a band for putting the fans first - not a lot of bands would go the extra mile of putting this type of event on, not to mention actually taking the time to interact and get to know fans. So thank you gentlemen of IME for a great evening, thanks to John for allowing me to be a plus 1 and thanks to my wife again for understanding.

One final but certainly not unimportant point, the evening was free but the band did ask for donations to The Unison Fund, which helps out Canadian musicians who are facing personal or professional challenges. It is cool that the band is supporting - it makes sure that we'll be able to hear great Canadian music for years to come. Check it out at http://unisonfund.ca/

Until next time...

Best of 2014

So here is my best of 2014, all subjective and based on what I actually heard this year. Overall, I feel this was a pretty good year for music overall. Here goes!

15. Big Wreck - "Ghosts"

Ian Thornley and co. return with their 2nd reunion album after 2012's "Albatross". I personally feel the song Control off "Albatross" opened up a new door for the band. The extended guitar outro on that song proved that a) Ian Thornley is an amazing guitarist and b) the band was back to putting solid musicianship first. I always thought the band Thornley (Thornley's post-Big Wreck band) was too radio friendly and less about taking risks so Control was a real welcome return to the old Big Wreck days. "Ghosts" continues this musical freedom - with most songs clocking in at the 5+ minute mark - and it rewards listeners with solid guitar jams without sacrificing melody.

Key Tracks: Ghosts, Diamonds, My Life

14. Bruce Springsteen - "High Hopes"

I love Bruce Springsteen. Huge fan. Mega-excited that he still releases vital music. His "surprise" 2014 effort "High Hopes" was a nice New Year's gift 11 months ago and it still gets some spins from me today. Although it is more of an 'odds and sods' record, with some covers, re-works and new songs, it still holds together quite cohesively. Plus, Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine plays on 8 of the 12 tracks, adding some explosive fills and in the case of The Ghost Of Tom Joad, an electrifying solo.

Key Tracks: High Hopes, Just Like Fire Would, Hunter Of Invisible Game, Dream Baby Dream

13. U2 - "Songs Of Innocence"

Yes, there was huge backlash that this album was gifted to pretty much everyone in the world. It was kind of arrogant. So delete it if you don't like it! I'm about the music and to me, this is U2's most consistent and cohesive effort since 2000's "All That You Can't Leave Behind". While the first 5 songs shoot for the rafters and I prefer the back-half of the album, no one really does stadium rock like U2.

Key Tracks: Cedarwood Road, The Troubles, Sleep Like A Baby Tonight

12. Foo Fighters - "Sonic Highways"

I still haven't seen Dave Grohl's series of the same name as I don't get TMN, but I've heard it's in many ways better than the album. I have heard the album and it sounds like Foo Fighters to me, which is a great thing. It's a concise 8 song blast of rock and Foos, slowing down only for the last 2 tracks. There hasn't really been a more consistent band over the last 20 years than the Foos and they continue to deliver here.

Key Tracks: Something From Nothing, Congregation, Outside

11. Arkells - "High Noon"

I have all 3 Arkells albums and I've never met one of their songs that I truly dislike. They are the only band I know that have ever name checked Hamilton, Burlington and Oakville in the same song (Cynical Bastards) and that is clearly amazing. The songs Come To Light, Leather Jacket and 11:11 combine '80's stylings, soul and rock, plus they are great live act. Also a plus, they wrote and sing the Hamilton TiCats' (CFL people!) anthem TiCats Are Hummin'.

Key Tracks: Cynical Bastards, Come To Light, Leather Jacket

10. TV On The Radio - "Seeds"

I made fun of my colleague Catherine for liking this album as the first time I heard it, I was put off by its "simplicity". When I was painting one day I re-visited it and wow was I wrong. Yes, it is more of a straightforward effort than previous albums but it is layered and contains probably the best melodies the band have put to tape. So maybe I should give an album more than one listen before I open my big mouth.

Key Tracks: Seeds, Happy Idiot, Test Pilot

9. St. Vincent - "St. Vincent (S/T)"

When I first heard St. Vincent on Indie 88, I was intrigued. She definitely was getting a lot of buzz but I wasn't at all familiar with her previous albums. So I went into Sunrise Records at Yonge and Bloor (RIP Sunrise in Toronto), saw the CD staring at me and decided, what the hell? I was pleasantly surprised and this record has been spun quite a few times. I can't even describe it except as an eclectic mix of music that is held together by a strong sense of melody. There you go, the writer in me has spoken!

Key Tracks: Birth In Reverse, Prince Johnny, Huey Newton

8. Milky Chance - "Sadnecessary"

Another band that I discovered through Indie 88, my gateway to Milky Chance was through the song Stolen Dance. I felt this was a pretty good tune. A few months later I was in HMV in Pickering (the only record store in the town I live in, ridiculous) and saw the album for $9.99 so I decided again what the hell? I'm glad I made this purchase as this is a warm record filled with off-kilter beats but ultimately very accessible songs that get under your skin.

Key Tracks: Flashed Junk Mind, Stunner, Sweet Sun

7. Jack White - "Lazaretto"

Who else releases tricked out vinyl? I don't know anyone other artist who respects the vinyl medium these days more than Jack White. It would be one thing if he released the tricked out vinyl and the music didn't deliver, but it's Jack White, so of course it does. From rockers like the title track to more mellow fare such as Alone In My Home and Temporary Ground, the album is very diverse. Plus, the vinyl generates a hologram when you play it!

Key Tracks: Lazaretto, High Ball Stepper, Alone In My Home

6. Damon Albarn - "Everyday Robots"

I've been a Blur fan since "Parklife" in '94, so naturally I also like Gorillaz and The Good, The Bad & The Queen. I was pretty excited when I heard Damon Albarn was coming out with his first proper solo album in 2014. It's a mellow affair but filled with many melodic surprises and introspective lyrics. Hoping for a Blur reunion record but failing that, another Damon Albarn solo album would work just fine for me!

Key Tracks: You And Me, The Selfish Giant, Heavy Seas Of Love

5. Royal Blood - "Royal Blood"

My friend Josh sent me a youtube link of a Royal Blood concert in England and then I happened to be in Sunrise (again, RIP Sunrise) and saw the album in the new release section. Again, I thought what the hell and picked it up. This is a barn-burner of a debut, 30 minutes of drum, bass and vocals wrapped up in tight melodies. Hopefully these guys have a long future ahead of them.

Key Tracks: Out Of The Black, Blood Hands, Come On Over

4. Counting Crows - "Somewhere Under Wonderland"

Almost as shocking as seeing this album on the new release rack is the fact that it is so good. Not that the Counting Crows haven't been good before ("August And Everything After", Recovering The Satellites", "This Desert Life"), it's just been a really long time since they have been. The album starts with the 8+ minute Palisades Park, which has shades of the 1999 epic Mrs. Potter's Lullaby. The remaining 8 tracks are loose, filled with lyrical and instrumental excursions that make you think it's the 90's all over again but are modern at the same time. A great return to form.

Key Tracks: Earthquake Driver, Dislocation, Possibility Days

3. Spoon - "They Want My Soul"

"Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" may be in my top 10 albums of all time. Definitely top 15. So 2010's "Transference" was good but didn't live up to the previous album for me. "They Want My Soul" is filled with tight, minimalist rock that still somehow manages to be loose and melodic. I really enjoy Brit Daniel's rasp and his lyrics. This is definitely my 2nd favourite Spoon record.

Key Tracks: Inside Out, Let Me Be Mine, New York Kiss, Do You 

2. Weezer - "Everything Will Be Alright In The End"

I wrote a blog about this album, so won't spend a lot of time on this one. I would say, if it wasn't for this year's #1, Weezer would have their 2nd #1 album of the year for me ("The Blue Album" in 1994 was my #1!).

Key Tracks: Da Vinci, The British Are Coming, Foolish Father, The Futurescope Trilogy

1. Against Me! - "Transgender Dysphoria Blues"

This is a 29 minute blast of emotion from Laura Jane Grace and co. as she deals with coming out as a transgendered woman. Make no mistake, the blood is all over the page but each song is sturdy, filled with contained rage and sharp melodies. I've had this album since last January and still play it at least once a week. I also had the privilege of seeing the band open for Gaslight Anthem in September and they brought the same emotion to the stage as on the record. A great rebirth of both person and band and an easy choice for best album of the year for me.

Key Tracks: Black Me Out, Transgender Dysphoria Blues, Two Coffins, Paralytic States

Honorable Mention: The War On Drugs - "Lost In The Dream", Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - "Hypnotic Eye", Ryan Adams - "Ryan Adams", Interpol - "El Pintor", Vance Joy - "Dream Your Life Away"

Most Disappointing:

The Black Keys - "Turn Blue". Please step away from the Danger Mouse and locate the guitar and drums again. Thank you.

The Gaslight Anthem - "Get Hurt". Sure, I understand that divorcing your wife of 10 years is difficult and one needs an outlet to deal with it. And some of these songs are good, but after listening to 15 songs about divorce, it becomes somewhat depressing.

Best Re-Issues

1. Oasis - "Definitely Maybe" & "(What's The Story) Morning Glory?"

This should not be shocking to anyone who has kept up with this blog. Some people on Oasis fan sites have complained about the content on these re-issues, that they don't offer enough rarities, etc. To me, they celebrate the albums proper, all the great b-sides and have enough unreleased and live material to satisfy my needs as a collector. All of the music is top-notch; documents of a band at the top of their game.

2. David Bowie - "Nothing Has Changed" (3 CD Version)

Another Bowie comp, but this one I dig because it gives some props to his '90's and more recent output. I didn't have a blog in 2013 but if I did, David Bowie's "The Next Day" would have easily been in the top 5 albums of the year. And some of those tracks make it to this comp. It goes in reverse chronological order, so you get a new song Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime), all the hits and misses, and then it closes with Liza Jane from the '60's. While I still can't listen to Dancing In The Street with Mick Jagger and some of his '80's output is dated, you can't argue with what is included in this comp. Extensive and exciting.

3. Wilco - "What's Your 20? Essential Tracks 1994-2014"

This was kind of a shocking discovery while I was browsing amazon about a month ago. Wilco was releasing a greatest hits comp though they didn't really have any hits. So a retrospective. I have to admit, I enjoy a good greatest hits or retrospective (Crowded House's "Recurring Dream - The Very Best Of" is one of the best out there). Don't get me wrong, listening to full albums is awesome and rewarding but sometimes I want to listen to all of the songs in one place. Like the Bowie comp, it's interesting to hear where bands started and how they evolve. Wilco's double disc comp covers off "AM", "Being There", "Summerteeth" and the excellent "Mermaid Avenue" albums on Disc 1. Disc 2 starts with 7 cuts from "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" and then moves into the experimental "A Ghost Is Born", "Sky Blue Sky", "Wilco (The Album)" and closes out with "The Whole Love". You trace a band moving from scrappy, almost garage rock to art rock auteurs. But the consistent force is melody. This compilation is essential.


I'm hoping to post again before the holidays but if not, hope everyone has a safe and relaxing break!

Don't Call It A Comeback

Long time, no post. The first 4 posts admittedly were already written in my head before they were put down, so these next few have required more thought. So here we go.

I'm going to try to explain my love of 90's alt rock bands, but not the Nirvana's, Pearl Jam's, Soundgarden's, Alice In Chains, STP's etc (though I do like these bands). Instead I'm going to focus on the "little guys", the underdogs, bands people may have forgotten or dismissed as one hit wonders. I can tell you from experience, these bands have more than 1 good song and still get some heavy spins from me. I don't feel it's nostalgia, rather it's music I enjoy listening to that happens to be 15-20 years old!

Gin Blossoms

Most probably know Hey Jealousy and Til I Hear It From You. Maybe also Follow You Down. And they only had 2 albums before disappearing for a very long time. I have always enjoyed the Gin Blossoms. Their straight ahead, catchy jangle pop spoke to me as did their love lorn lyrics. I discovered them in high school and I want to say I purchased "New Miserable Experience" on a family trip to Florida in 1993. When I put the CD in my discman, I remember not being blown away with Lost Horizons, the first track. It's still not my favourite. But then Hey Jealousy rattled off a string of 11 great songs (especially Hold Me Down), save maybe for the country pastiche Cheatin'. Still 10 out of 12 good tunes on a debut album is a pretty good hit rate. I bought some of their CD singles, which included songs that apparently appeared on an earlier EP "Up & Crumbling" (which I still don't have - what is wrong with the completist in me?). Friends and I also ventured to Kingswood Music Theatre at Canada's Wonderland to see them open, yes open (along with the excellent Cracker) for Spin Doctors. I felt a bit bad for the Spin Doctors as most people took off after they played Two Princes 3 or 4 songs into their set. But I guess I didn't feel that bad, because we were included in those people hitting the exit gates. Gin Blossoms were good live. Nothing phenomenal like light shows or anything of the like but solid, meat and potatoes rock. Front man Robin Wilson interacted well with the crowd. I felt the Gin Blossoms were a band on the rise and I was excited to take that ride with them.

In the summer of 1995, they started playing a new Gin Blossoms tune on the radio from an upcoming film titled "Empire Records". The soundtrack actually came out before the movie. Til I Hear It From You was that tune and it was quite engaging. Bittersweet but solid jangle pop. I felt if the movie was as good as the song, it would be amazing. The soundtrack was solid also, but then the movie only got a limited release and one of the markets it got dumped in certainly wasn't Burlington. My friends did pick it up on video and it is a good movie, one that should have been given a wide release. Rex Manning Day, "Damn the man, save the Empire", Ethan Embry, Johnny Whitworth, Rory Cochrane, Anthony LaPaglia, Liv Tyler, Renee Zellweger, need I say more?

Anyway, Gin Blossoms had a new album coming out but this didn't surface until early 1996, preceded by the lead single Follow You Down. This was a good song also. The rise was continuing. In February 1996, I took the bus to Stone Road Mall to get the new Gin Blossoms, called "Congratulations, I'm Sorry". I got back to the dorm room and popped the CD in. I enjoyed the first 5 songs and felt we were well on our way to another winner. But then the wheels fell off a bit and the remaining 7 weren't fantastic. I found out later that one of the key songwriters on the first record got fired after the first album came out and ended up succumbing to his addictions. So they were like a new band starting over again for the 2nd record. And the songs weren't as sharp. The band seemed to realize this also as they broke-up in 1997, not to be heard from again until 2006 on "Major Lodge Victory". I picked this album up on new release day (I really had to look hard for it, but found it at a Music World in Pickering. Music World RIP) and when I spun it, found it to be enjoyable. Better than "Congratulations". The Gin Blossoms were back on the touring circuit and put out another album called "No Chocolate Cake" in 2010. This album was only okay, but still contained some melodic gems such as first single Miss Disarray.

My greatest late era Gin Blossoms memory is when I was in Montreal doing research a few years back and my colleagues and I closed down a bar (literally we were locked in) and the bar tender allowed us to commandeer his iPod and of course he had some Gin Blossoms! It was Hey Jealousy so we rocked that shit forsure and the 5 people in the bar really enjoyed it.

Semisonic

Known for the last call anthem Closing Time and nothing else, my appreciation for Semisonic has grown over the past couple of years. I did and still do like Closing Time and at one point I did own the album it came from ("Feeling Strangely Fine"), but I couldn't really remember any other song from them off the top of my head except Secret Smile, which was a minor hit in '98. Somehow I read somewhere that Semisonic's drummer had written a funny memoir about being a drummer in a semi-famous alt-rock band. It took me a year and a bit but I finally purchased this book off amazon and it was pretty funny. It's called "So You Wanna Be A Rock and Roll Star" by Jacob Slichter. Honest and funny. But this got me thinking, Gin Blossoms have a greatest hits based off two albums (it came out before the 2000's re-birth), so surely Semisonic has one. Jacob's tales made it sound like they made some smart rock music and were maybe known for the wrong song, like Blur are known in North America for Song 2. Don't even get me started on this.

Sure enough on amazon, they were selling Semisonic's Best Of 20th Century Masters for $12 so I ordered that and their greatest hits are pretty good, specifically Singing In My Sleep and Chemistry. Again, solid, straight forward pop-rock. And their lead singer Dan Wilson is co-writing some of pop's greatest hits these days (Dixie Chicks, Adele). So he clearly was onto something. Plus, his duet with Bic Runga on the first American Pie soundtrack, Good Morning Baby, is amazing.

Blues Traveler

The hook brings you back and that is all you need to know.

Ash

This is a three-piece (was a 3-piece, than a 4-piece and now a 3-piece again if they are even still together - I just checked and Wikipedia says that they are!) from Northern Ireland who I discovered via the "Angus" movie soundtrack in the mid-90's. Their songs Jack Names The Planets and Kung Fu were featured and right away, I felt this was a good band. Again, short, catchy pop-punk blasts. In 1996, they released "1977", which is the year they were born (a year after me and they already had 2 albums to their credit!) and it contained the gem Goldfinger. I picked this album up but then lost track of the band until I was browsing in an HMV around 2003 or 2004 and found their first singles collection "Intergalactic Sonic 7"'s". This is a great compilation, where every song is good and there are 19 in total. So I went back and got "Free All Angels", which I guess was a comeback record for the band - about 5 of the singles on the compilation are from this album so that makes sense.

In 2009, they released a new single once every 2 weeks, eventually putting out the compilation albums A-Z Volumes 1 and 2 (I only have Vol. 1 and it is solid).

I still listen to "Intergalactic Sonic 7"'s" quite frequently.

Canadian Content - The Watchmen and Lowest Of The Low

I love both of these bands, although neither has put out any new music since at least 2004. The Watchmen's All Uncovered is one of my favourite songs of all-time, ditto Lowest Of The Low's Bleed A Little While Tonight. I still listen to LOTTL's "Shakespeare...My Butt" a lot (even have it on vinyl). It's a pretty flawless debut album. And one of these years I will make it to the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto for one of The Watchmen's annual shows.

Third Eye Blind

I was swept into Third Eye Blind's world, like everyone else with Semi-Charmed Life in 1997. I think I didn't even initially own their album, my friend Matt picked it up and we just listened to that in the car that summer, constantly. But outside of SCL, they also had "official" hits with Jumper and How's It Going To Be and unofficial hits with Graduate and Losing A Whole Year from their self-titled debut. I like all of these songs as well as I Want You and Thanks A Lot, but the last 3 songs, Motorcyle Drive By, The Background and God Of Wine may be the best 3 end songs (or Side D) on any album. Yes, this is crazy but it really might be true. The crazier thing is that save for The Background, I didn't really listen to the other two songs until I picked up their "greatest hits" comp "A Collection" in 2006. But now I do all the time.

I was quite excited when "Blue" emerged in 1999 and though I think the lead single Anything is right up there with all else the band has done, it certainly is not the most obvious choice for a lead single. But I was into it. "Blue" certainly does contain some radio friendly gems such as 10 Days Late and Never Let You Go, but also some bold experimentation. The song Slow Motion didn't have verses included until "A Collection" due to the album's release proximity with the Columbine shootings and the verses touching on this, among many other, topics. It's a pretty dark tune.

We then had to wait until 2003 for "Out Of The Vein". I remember I was in Vancouver doing focus groups at the time and hit the Virgin Megastore during some downtime and found this album in the racks. I picked it up and immediately popped it into my discman. At first, I wasn't sold on this record, but I did keep listening to it for the duration of that trip and before long, I found it had some great songs. Forget Myself, Crystal Baller, Palm Reader and the hidden song Good Man are all stand-outs. Like most '90's alt-bands that had that one big hit, commercial reception to "Blue" and "Out Of The Vein" followed the trend of diminishing returns, but this didn't phase me.

There was then a 6 year break between "Out Of The Vein" and "Ursa Major". During this time, the band toured fairly relentlessly, mostly in US College towns, where they developed quite a cult following. But promises of new music in 2007 and 2008 disappeared (save for the digital-only 3 track "Red Star" EP) and only came true in August of 2009. "Ursa Major" is my least favourite 3EB album but it still has merit. Bonfire is a great tune that holds up well in relation to their classics.

The fact of the matter is Stephan Jenkins is a pretty damn good songwriter and if it takes him 4 to 6 years to write new tunes, than so be it. It takes me on average of 4 years to write a new short story, so I hear you Stephan! Of course, they keep firing guitarists, bassists, etc. so this doesn't help. But their songs speak to me and even 17 years after S/T dropped they still do. There is some depth to the lyrics for sure. They say they are mixing their new album so that will be another 6 years between albums if it actually comes out in 2015...here's hoping so.

When Sky High Anticipation Results in Gut Wrenching Disappointment

Case Study #1:  Guns N' Roses "The Spaghetti Incident?"

My friends and I were in Grade 7 or 8 when Guns N' Roses dropped "Appetite For Destruction" and while I wish I could say that I was on the cutting edge of music at that time, it would be a lie. Pop music was in my wheel house those days, with the likes of Paula Abdul, Debbie Gibson and Madonna's "Like A Prayer" getting some serious spins. Yes, I can admit this.

Bohemian Rhapsody brought me back into the realm of rock music in the summer of 1992, when I heard the song in Wayne's World and wondered what it was, followed by I need to get this. Cue the first CD I ever bought, "Classic Queen" by Queen. I wore that CD out and I'm being serious, I actually had to replace it.

I'm not actually sure how I got into Guns N' Roses, I want to say it was likely through my friend Hutch but I do know that "Use Your Illusion I and II" were the first albums I bought by the band in the summer of 1993. I think for $22.99 each because they weren't new releases. I then worked backwards and bought "Appetite" and "GN'R Lies". I was pretty obsessed with the 9 minute epic Estranged, but also felt (and still feel) the Gunners brought it on tunes like Dead Horse, Locomotive, Civil War, Get In The Ring, Rocket Queen, Mr. Brownstone, etc. These are still great albums that I like to spin when feeling aggressive AKA driving to work.

My friends and I - Hutch, Dave, Matt - used to make music videos of songs in my parents' basement. I honestly wish that I still had these tapes because they were gold. Rocking out consisted of using a tennis racket or pool cue as the guitar and jumping off of the couches or chairs while we took turns filming. There was no rehearsing or re-starting. There were some straight performance videos where we stood in place playing the song and also ones that mimicked the actual artist's video, such as the one we did for U2's Numb. But I digress. We definitely did some GN'R. Likely You Could Be Mine or Paradise City or Rocket Queen. Or all 3. Our career high was jamming out to Smashing Pumpkins' 11 minute opus Silverfuck. These were good times.

Another GN'R album that is still in my collection is 1993's "The Spaghetti Incident?". As we all got way into GN'R after purchasing the "Illusion" albums, we were pretty psyched that they were putting out a new album in the fall of 1993. Hit Parader magazine was all over this and this is how we got our info. So we knew the date it was coming out (Wikipedia tells me it was November 23rd, 1993) and we heard the first single Ain't It Fun on the radio. This was a great tune although we had no idea it was a cover song at the time, nor did we understand that the album was actually all covers. I'm not sure if Hit Parader mentioned this.

On November 23rd, Hutch and I skipped English and walked in the cold half an hour to the Sunrise Records at Burlington Mall and each dropped I want to say $19.99 on this album. We then walked another half an hour to his house and met up with Dave and Matt. We then fired up NHL '93 on the Sega Genesis system and put on the album. The first song on the record was Since I Don't Have You, which is GN'R doing a '50's song. It was quite jarring and also quite terrible. It also was the second single.

I believe we all looked at each other and wondered what had happened to the band who dared Andy Secher at the aforementioned Hit Parader to get in the ring. 11 more songs followed, including Ain't It Fun, still the best thing about this album. Duff McKagan sung lead on 3 tracks, which we were okay with, as I believe my friend Dave and I are the only people in Canada to own Duff''s solo debut "Believe In Me", purchased a few months before "The Spaghetti Incident?" and still in my collection. As an aside, Duff''s autobiography "It's So Easy (And Other Lies)" is one of the best rock autobiographies I've ever read, do yourself a favour and check it out.

Some of the tracks on "The Spaghetti Incident?" admittedly after listening to it last week for the first time in 21 years, are good - Hair Of The Dog, You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory, Attitude - but these were not GN'R songs and they didn't (and still don't even now that I understand they are covers and have heard the original artists) hold a candle to Appetite, Lies or the Use Your Illusion records. This was the first record I bought where I felt really let down after purchasing it. There have been many more since, but this record will always hold down 1st place, which makes it special.

After "The Spaghetti Incident?" it was pretty much over for us and GN'R. We moved onto other bands, such as Weezer, STP, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins (and for me Gin Blossoms and Counting Crows so I could discover my "sensitive side"). But GN'R for me was a flame that burned bright from July 1993 to November 1993, unfortunately, they just couldn't keep the fired fanned. I know I courtesy bought their cover of Sympathy For The Devil from "Interview With A Vampire", I think I bought the first Slash's Snakepit album and Gilby Clarke's solo album tying to see if any of them could re-capture the magic. I also bought "Chinese Democracy" when it came out and it was actually pretty good, but it did confirm that the magic was gone when I stopped listening to it after a month.

Maybe the band will get back together, pull a Weezer and release something awesome, which would also be quite special. Until then, I will just hold onto the memories from those 5 months in 1993 when this band ruled our world.