If you are a long time reader of this blog you know that I’m a huge fan of everything Canadian. I’ve spent a lot of time in Canada, I love the Canadian people, I love the natural beauty of the country, and most importantly….I love Canadian music. To celebrate that love I have a an amazing Special Performance for you today……Randy Bachman and Neil Young performing two different versions of Prairie Town, one electric and one acoustic and both absolutely great. As a bonus I’ve included a short video from 1987 of a celebration of the music of Winnipeg, Canada that features both Randy, Neil, and Burton Cummings. Enjoy……
I’ve been paying more time looking at analytics data for this blog (i.e. I’ve been paying attention to how many people have visited the blog and what country they are visiting from). I was shocked to note that no one from Greenland has ever visited the blog. I did a little research and discovered that Greenland has an active music scene so I decided to use this week’s Two’fer Tuesday post to highlight a couple of artists from Greenland. My hope is that the post might attract some visitors from that country (if you know anyone that lives in Greenland encourage them to come and visit.
Today’s post highlights a group named Malik and a second group, picture above, named Nanook. I enjoyed both of their songs and hope that you will as well (I don’t speak Greenlandic so I really don’t know what the songs are about). If someone from Greenland visits the blog maybe they will provide us with translations! Let me know what you think……..
Malik – ilumooruma soqutaanngilaq
Nanook – Kisimiinneq – Seqinitta qinngorpaatit
As a bonus here’s a video from Nanook’s 2012 summer tour of the Faroe Islands. It looks like the boys had some travel challenges getting to the Islands but, once there, everyone seemed to have a great time!
Nanook summer tour 2012, Faroe Islands
I did a little research on the Faroe Islands and have decided that I need to visit them myself. They are absolutely beautiful as you can tell from the picture below!
My friend Gerard gave me a tip this weekend about a group from the Netherlands, Vander and Bloom. He and his daughter attended one of their concerts in Ultrecht last week and really enjoyed the show. After listening to a couple of their songs I can understand why….they have a really nice nice folk sound and have written some great songs. It doesn’t hut that they are also quite attractive :-).
As you can tell from the pictures above the group has been paying their dues by traveling around the Netherlands in a van and playing small concerts. You have to appreciate that kind of commitment! They have released two albums, as best I can tell. You can find them on Amazon. Let’s listen to a song from each…..
Brilliance Of You from Simple Peace Of Mind (released 20010)
Not Like You from Shouldn’t Say This (released 2012)
I think Vonder and Bloom has a shot at hitting it big. What about you?
If you aren’t convinced yet….look for them on YouTube and listen to a few more songs. I think you will change your mind.
Hopefully we can convince Gerard to comment on this post and share a little more information about the concert he attended.
My son turned me onto Ballet School, a Berlin based trio that is on the verge of hitting it big. When I listen to their latest song, Heartbeat Overdrive, I ‘m transported back to the 80’s. Some people might look at that as a backhanded compliment but that isn’t how I meant it at all. The band captures the best elements of the 80’s and to be honest I miss that sound in today’s music. Take a listen and let me know what you think…….
Today, while reading my morning newspaper, I discovered a band called The Serenes from a nearby place called Joure in Friesland in the northern part of Holland (where I live). The band existed from 1988 to 1994 but I had never heard of them before reading the article from Gijsbert Kamer, a Dutch journalist (provided below with a rough translation into English).
Rough Translation (With Help From Mike)
So many classic rock albums have been made in the Netherlands. Albums that stand for a certain time in the rock ‘n’ roll history and always sound special. Revolution of Q 65 (1966), Ivy Green of Ivy Green (1978), Mental Floss For the Globe by Urban Dance Squad (1989) and Palomine by Bertie Serveert (1992) all have that status.
The album Barefoot And Pregnant by The Serenes is another such album. During the autumn of 1990, when the American bands Pixies, Sonic Youth, REM and the British band Stone Roses were making their leading guitar music (before the grunge craze), this beautiful record by the Serenes appeared from Joure.
The Serenes had two great singers/guitarists with Paul Dokter and Theo de Jong and a sound data matched the heady understated guitar pop of The Feelies but still sounded very original.
The guitarists created a wonderful guitar sound which is highlighted in the beautiful closing track Trip Down Memory Street. The sound differed from other Dutch rock bands at that time from the so-called Amsterdam School (Claw Boys Claw, Fatal Flowers).
Barefoot and Pregnant was critically acclaimed and did not go unnoticed abroad. But Dokter and de Jong parted, and worse, the album was not available for years.
The later problem has now been resolved with a wonderful reissue on Re, a sub-label of Excelsior. The reissued CD includes unreleased material from Dokter and De Jong as bonus tracks but the album itself still has much to offer even after all these years.
In addition to the Barefoot and Pregnant album mentioned in the article, the band released Back to Wonder in 1993 (by this time Paul Dokter had left the band). Having now listened to both albums by The Serenes all I can say is …..what a great find and what beautiful music. They sound a bit like early R.E.M. and I like them very much. Let’s listen to some music by The Serenes and so you can see what I am talking about…….
Rebecca (You’re Gonna Be Alright) – from Barefoot and Pregnant
Sprit (Let Me Walk With You) – from Back to Wonder
Special thanks to Tony Pas for his great videos for the two songs above!
If you like what you have heard, I have a gift for you all the way from Holland. You can listen to both albums below. Mike tells me that these albums are not easily available in the United States so this may be your best opportunity to listen to them.
My friend Gerard, who I have been lucky enough to become acquainted with through this blog, was nice enough to send me a list of “Rain” songs from his collection. Among those songs was Rain and Rails by a Dutch group called The Nits. Let’s listen…..
I had not heard of The Nits before seeing them in Gerard’s list but I have to say that I love their sound! I very much look forward to exploring more of their music…..thank you my brother for introducing me to The Nits!
This was supposed to be my final post in the Canada Music Celebration. I had planned to publish it on the 4th of July but somehow I got busy with my US 4th of July post and forgot to post this one.
My mom used to say: “Waste Not Want Not” so with that in mind, here is the forgotten post (exactly as I had it written for the 4th).
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Welcome to our fourth and final post in our multi-day Canada Day music celebration. Today we will highlight a Canadian group called Five Man Electrical Band.
The Five Man Electrical Band grew out of an Ottawa 60’s group called the Stacattos. As Five Man Electrical Band, the group is mainly known for a single song called Signs but I have to give them credit…it was one damned good song. Let’s listen……..
The group had a few minor hits after Signs but I think I could have safely written about them in my Underachiever series of posts.
Killer was a Finish band fronted by an amazing female vocalist named Siiri Nordin. They never really made it here in the States but I alway thought that they had a great sound. In case you are not familiar with them, let me introduce you. Liar is from Killer’s second album, Sure You Know How To Drive This Thing. See what you think….
Did you like it? As alway, I am very interested in hearing your opinion….
I’m sad to report that the band broke up in 2005 without producing any further albums.
So…..while we are on the subject of lying, I would like to dedicate this post to Mitt Romney. If you don’t get the connection watch this video.
To quote Neil Young: “I never knew a man could tell so many lies, he had a different story for every set of eyes. How can he remember who he’s talking to? Cause I know it ain’t me, and I hope it isn’t you.”
Since I featured Hocus Pocus as our Long Song Tuesday post for this week, let continue the international flavor.
This is yet another album that I bought back in college without hearing any of the music in advance. This time, I bought the album based on the album title “Moroccan Roll” which I thought was a brilliant play on “More Rock and Roll”.
As I found out more about the group Les Variations I discovered that although they we considered to be a French group, three of their original four members were actually from Morocco so I think the title actually had a different meaning for them than it did for me 🙂 Let’s listen to the title song from the Moroccan Roll album (their first album on Buddah, an American record label).
I did not follow the band after my purchase of Moroccan Roll but enjoyed the title song as I hope you did as well. Let me know what you think.
Osibisa – Criss-crossing rhythms that explode with happiness
As described on the Osibisa website, the band was formed in London in 1969. Three of its members were from Ghana and three were from the Caribbean. The group played a huge role in increasing awareness of African music.
I bought the first Osibisa album in college without ever hearing their music. Why would I do such a thing? I did it strictly based on the cover artwork which was absolutely striking. Take a look for yourself.
To my surprise, I loved the Osibisa music as much as I loved the album cover Let’s listen to Dawn, the first song from the album.
I hope you enjoyed their music as much as I did. It truly does “explode with happiness”!
thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard 