Reviews

Independent

Vocally and thematically, Dunn’s coming from a space between a pair of Bruces, Cockburn and Springsteen. Like that pair, on this album Dunn’s loking at vanishing technologies with affection and nostalgia. The good news is he’s got the gravel and the ear for the stadium rumble. Not so good is the creeping sense of sameness which shows up around track 5. Sure there are some fast songs and some slow songs but within  those parameters a little more shuffle would have been nice.

Dunn’s foray into ‘new’ country is more like old time country rock, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Coupled to a sense of quality recordiing and a commitment to roots authenticity (recorded in Sudbury) the album has its power moments.

Album opener “Winnipeg” comes out swinging with horns, rattling percussion and keyboard flourishes, and ends up stagggering under the weight of all that. Much better in that regard is “Mexico” featuring  rumbling drums, heavy electric riffage from Dunn and a hoarse, convincing vocal. Which stomps the spit out of the similar-sounding and immediately folllowing “tvs”.

Best on the flipside of that would be slow-burning “Slow Learner”, a well-crafted song which plays to Dunn’s immediate strengths as player and singer. Plus it has the sweetest line on the album; “Christ, you’re a hard love.”

Roadrunner

So you’re one of the biggest prog rock bands on the planet and have been so for a long time. Long enough to cut 18 albums and sell zillions of units. By now no one looks to you for something new; they come for the hits and the musicianship, for the magical memories of nostalgia.

So for album Number Nineteen why not put out something sounding like it might have come out at your peak; bombast, bigass production, impenetrable lyrics and all.

This is exactly what the dudes of Rush, Peart, Geddy and Lifeson have done, dropped an album which amplifies all the quirky stuff and steadfast vision that put them on the radar back in the day, not to mention the throwbackin’, balls-to-the-wall playing which evaluated them to their current exalted status.

‘Clockwork Angel’ sounds like the work of a much younger band, a much less famous band, almost the sound of a band demanding to be heard. That’s probably the biggest surprise here and it shows in shorter, tighter songs and muscular musicianship.

Clockwork Angels is reportedly a concept album involving a repressive force known as ‘The Watchmaker.’ As usual, you have to get into it and dig out Peart’s narrative fingernail by fingernail. It’s a minefield of poetic mazes of rhyme, alliteration, metaphor and allusion, filled with references to “angels,” “prayers,” and “miracles.” Concept aside, these words sound important to the very soul of the project and Lee delivers them with subtlety grace and the deep understanding only possible between brothers in arms.

Electric eclectic folk rock is one way to describe the textured sound of the new CD by Ottawa based duo Sills and Smith. The fifteen song collection is a musical and lyrical journey deftly produced by multi talented and multi instrumentalist Jonathan Edwards. Recorded at Edwards’ Corvidae Music in Ottawa is a ‘thinking man’s” CD ,with introspective , probing and thought provoking lyrics backed by airy, creative tracks of acoustic, slide and electric guitars, bass, drums and keys.

All tracks were written by Frank Smith, Jeremy Sills and Jonathan Edwards with all the lyrics written by Frank Smith. Smith handles the vocals and Sills plays guitars, acoustic and electric and vocals while Edwards plays guitars, bass, keyboards and drums.

Aengus Finnan North Wind is available through Borealis Records, whose slogan is ‘The Best in Canadian Folk Music’ and Aengus Finnan truly fits that description.

A charming CD, that has all the Celtic criteria in every song; getting the stories across mixed with fabulous ‘kitchen party’ musicians on the well mixed and produced tracks. Born in Dublin, Ireland then raised in Canada, Aengus Finnan has the unique way of drawing you into his songs and making them come alive.

Track # 1 ‘Rollin’ Home’ captures the pictures of backroad trips with the live movie rolling by your window. You can almost smell the Canadian countryside, with wheat and corn and idle cows and horses in the fields. ‘Ruins’ continues along that vein of thought with the comment on the CD liner saying “If You Ate Today….Thank a Farmer.” ‘Swing Boys Swing’ was inspired when Finnan walked along an overgrown railroad track and the ghosts of workers long gone could be heard saying “Swing Boys Swing, God Speed Your Hammers.” Tackling a traditional and adding some lyrics, Finnan has done a great rendition of ‘Lost Jimmy Whelan’, a young shanty boy who drowned in the 1878 log drive at King’s Chute near Pembroke, Ontario.

‘My Heart Has Wings’ is a love song and ‘Apple Blossom Tyme’ is a young lad’s first memories of Canada, chasing after summer workers on trucks, hoping to get a dropped apple or two. ‘Sandy’s Story’ is one that will take you back to a time when tales were told in front of fireplaces and families kept the stories going.