Canadian Music – Page 4 – Is It Possible To See It All

Song of the Day – Remembering Peter Appleyard

British born, but Canadian jazz composer and percussionist Peter Appleyard passed away on July 18, 2013.He was 84. Born in England, he moved to Bermuda in 1949 , eventually landing in Toronto a few years later. In the 1950’s and 60’s , he was a staple on CBC radio, performing live on various shows. In the 1970’s he began touring and playing with the Benny Goodman sextet. As time went on, his reputation grew as a world class vibraphonist. He played with such greats as Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra, while always maintaining his base in Toronto. Among his many awards were a Juno and the Order of Canada. Terrific player. I have posted here a couple of tunes, the first a recent live performance of “It don’t Mean A Thing” and an older clip of “Tangerine”. Both of them have many great artists along with him.

Canadian jazz master Peter Appleyard dies at age 84 (vancouversun.com)
Jazz musician Peter Appleyard dies at 84 (cbc.ca)

Song Of The Day – The Wailin’ Jennys

Great news, for me anyway. My car radio started working again. Good thing for a few reasons. First, I have music again (old car – no iPod plug) and second, I get to tap into my favourite music resource again. Today, we have the Wailin’ Jennys doing a cover of the great one’s (not Gretzky, Neil Young) song “Old Man” off his classic Harvest album. An outstanding cover with superb 3 part harmonies and some great guitaring. I am sure Neil would be proud. The group originated in Winnipeg and has a couple of incarnations over the years. They have performed since 2002 and have 4 albums to their credit. This song is off their 2004 album “40 days”.

The Wailin’ Jennys Home

The Wailin’ Jennys on CBC

The Wailin’ Jennys on iTunes

The Wailin’ Jennys on Amazon

Canada’s Best Music – 5 Songs At A Time – Part 31

Today’s list makes a change. Time to go to a countdown. Only 350 songs to go. The play-list includes both classic rock and a classic player. Yes, the great one, Neil Young, makes another appearance here. It also includes Skinny Puppy, which is a new one on me.

346. Skinny Puppy

“Pro-Test Song”

Skinny Puppy live! (Photo credit: Bernt Rostad)

Skinny Puppy was a Vancouver based electronic band, formed in 1982. They have recorded 15 albums, including a new one “Weapon” this year.

347. Spoons

“Romantic Traffic”

The band, Spoons, hail out of Burlington and were your prototypical 80’s synth-pop hair band that were everywhere back then. This song was one of their bigger hits and was recorded in 1984, only hitting 55 on the Canadian Billboard chart.

348. Trooper

“Two for the Show”

Trooper have played since 1965. I have seen them on two occasions. Once sitting in the front row at a bar in Winnipeg way back in the day, the second, about 10 years ago at the Brier (Canada’s Men’s Curling Championship) in Saskatoon. Don’t really remember either performance that well. This song was recorded in 1976.

349. Corey Hart

“Never Surrender”

Singles (Corey Hart album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Corey Hart was never my favourite, other than “I Wear My Sunglasses At Night” which was kind of cool. To me, he epitomized pretty much everything that I didn’t like about 80’s music. I am sure there will be some disagreement on that, or maybe not.

350. Neil Young

“Only Love Can Break Your Heart”

And now, The Master. Enjoy!! As an added bonus, live at the Fillmore East with Crosby Stills & Nash.

Song Of The Day – Justin Rutledge – “Out Of The Woods”

Toronto artist, Justin Rutledge, has this little piece of smiliness playing on CBC2 on a fairly regular basis. The song, “Out Of The Woods” comes from his 5th album, “Valleyhearts”, which he also produced. His style is very reminiscent of Ryan Adams, somewhat emulating an alt-country style. This song has a more pop feel to it, but still features strong lyrics and a familiar (somewhat military) drum beat. All in all, a very enjoyable song, and very easy to listen to.

Justin Rutledge Home Page

Justin Rutledge on CBC Music

Justin Rutledge on Twitter

Justin Rutledge on iTunes

Song Of The Day – Donovan Woods – “Put On Cologne”

I’m going to give you a 2fer today. Donovan Woods is a Canadian singer-songwriter out of Sarnia. Ontario. This song, “Put On Cologne” is off his 3rd album, “Don’t Get Too Grand”. I say a 2fer as I found a live version that I thought was very good and put it up first, followed by a studio version. I really enjoyed the live version, great voice used by a very unpretentious artist in a very casual setting = GOLD.

Donovan Woods on Twitter

Donovan Woods on CBC Music

Donovan Woods on iTunes

The Live Version:

The Studio Version:

Juno Award Winners – Group Of The Year

Marianas Trench was the 2013 winner in the Group Of The Year Category. They beat out Billy Talent, Rush, Metric and The Sheepdogs in this category. The band is a pop/rock outfit, based out of Vancouver.Their breakthrough album, “Ever After” was released in late 2011 and has gained them a wide following. It is their 3rd album. One of my favourites is the song they played on the big show, “Stutter”. Very cool video.

There you have it. An introduction to Canada’s group of the year.

Song Of The Day – The Guess Who – Running Back To Saskatoon

Broadway Bridge and the Central Business Distr... — Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s theme week on Song Of The Day. The theme, songs about Canadian cities. Winnipeg. Check. Montreal. Check. Now it is time for Saskatoon. The Guess Who did this one way back in 1972. As an added city bonus, the song also has references to Moosomin, Moose Jaw, Broadview in Saskatchewan, Red Deer, Hanna and Medicine Hat in Alberta, Terrace in BC and for some reason Hong Kong. No idea why Hong Kong. The other towns would all be familiar to Winnipeg bands playing the Western Canadian pub and club circuit. Enjoy the classic “Running Back To Saskatoon”.

Song Of The Day – Raine Maida – “Montreal” (joebeans2002.com)

Song Of The Day – The Weakerthans – “One Great City”

A Winnipeger is allowed to speak of Winnipeg in whatever way one wants to. This song, “One Great City”, by Winnipeg band The Weakerthans, is literally a love/hate song of our mutual home town. The band formed in 1997. They are an Alt band with some punk roots. This song is both melodic and ironic. It was on their 2003 album “Reconstruction”. A bit different that what I have featured lately, but, heard it on the drive today and had to post it.

The Weakerthans Home Page

The Weakerthans on CBC

The Weakerthans on iTunes

Song Of The Day – Luke Nicholson – “Just Fell Down”

Canadian Luke Nicholson released his new album “Mad Love” in late 2012. “Just Fell Down” is a recent release off the record. As seems to be the norm for me, I just heard this on CBC2 this morning and couldn’t wait to post it for you. He has been playing and recording for 15 years and is now seeing his hard work move him forward. Great song. Has a nice pop feel,almost English and a very good chorus.

Luke Nicholson Home

Luke Nicholson on iTunes

Luke Nicholson on CBC

Song Of The Day – No Good Woman by Elise LeGrow (joebeans2002.wordpress.com)

Talent From The Net – Just Jun MC

Just Jun MC aka Changster DJ dropped me an email with a link to his music. Took a listen and figured I’d share it with you. Good tune. A bit out of my wheelhouse, but, as I always say, Good is Good, and I am all about promoting Canadian talent. A bit about Just Jun MC as posted on CBC. Thanks for your permission to post your bio here. Give it a listen and let us know what you think.

Just Jun MC on Soundcloud

Vancouver born and bred, Canadian musician representing hip hop and music. Just Jun became interested in Hip Hop as a youth, fanatically following local radio shows and bootlegs of songs, generally unavailable to Canadian kids. He got involved with break-dancing and graffiti as a youth, as well as rapping and rhyming. As he got older, he got involved with deejaying too…

One thing that seemed out of his grasp at the time was understanding music theory and was eventually able to learn by accident, teaching himself and going to school for it. Because of Hip Hop, Just Jun, gained respect for music in general, having learned the history of music and theory and how to produce music.

“I got into music and culture because of hip hop and I grew to find out more history and the roots of everything. I learned from history that you can not appreciate hip hop, without appreciating the history behind music and how it came to be. Much like the movie Back To The Future, other history instigated and formed the history of Hip Hop, and I appreciate that. If you look at hip hop’s birth, it came about from Funk and Soul Records, breaks, and innovation onto disco deejaying techniques. Without the former history, there would be no hip hop, and I would not be here speaking about or involved in this…” JUST JUN MC

“I have a goal to form a funk and soul group as well. I have various melodies and songs I would like to construct. I’d also like to work with an orchestra…” JUST JUN MC

Tag: Canadian Music

Song of the Day – Remembering Peter Appleyard

Like this:

Song Of The Day – The Wailin’ Jennys

Like this: