AUDIO REVIEWS

CANADIAN

by Jaimie Vernon

DIANA CATHERINE AND THE THRUSTY TWEETERS
The Spirit Ranch Sessions
(Indiepool)

Don't let the name Thrusty Tweeters throw you off. This isn't some jokey traditional Country & Western throwback from Memphis, Tennessee. This album is a heaping helping of alt-country, blues, and a smattering of new and old female pop vocal sensibilities. Diana Catherine is the focal point of this release...and with good reason. She offers up a sweet alternative country charm without the trappings of Neko Case angst or snoozy Margo Timmins (Cowboy Junkies) blandness. She's been compared, vocally, to Stevie Nicks and Chrissy Hynde but has neither the monotone gargling glass harshness of the former or the nasal mid-western flatness of the latter.
 
The first three songs out of the gate are rollicking fast shuffles - "Walk" showcases a Carl Perkins guitar feast (presumed to be played by guitarist Kevin Robinson); "Blueberry Eyes" gives one of the few 'Canadian' sounding tracks which recalls Lightfoot, Murray MacLaughlin or even Bruce Cockburn's earlier work; and "Sober (Is Too Hard To Stay)" is a lyrical bed of confessional drinking-gone-wrong.

Just when you think drummer Matt Blackie is stuck in a rolling steam-train rut, along comes a change-up with a more traditional blues number called "Travelin' Man" where Blackie and bassist Nic DiSanto lock step for a sultry 12-bar showcase. They take another stab at the 1-4-5 with a sassy bump-and-grind number called "Train Song" later on the album.

Much of the album rests on variations of the alt-country feel with the likes of a Dylanesque "Come With Me Baby" complete with harmonica which gives it a peppering of Tom Petty's "You Don't Know How It Feels"; "4 Leaf Clover" walks a more 'Americana' route and could be the book end to "Blueberry Eyes"; and "Lucinda" takes the power of "Train Song", and wraps it in a Linda Barry -- of 4 Non-Blonde fame -- scorching vocal treatment.

Between and amongst all of the band's bread and butter tracks comes a few welcome curve-balls when they move away from Country all together. For instance, they're quite adept at modern pop courtesy of "Long Road" which not only shows Diana Catherine can out-sing Sheryl Crow, but writes a better song (at least compared to Crows last few albums worth of output); "Last Dance" has the most dynamic arrangement as it recalls some of the best of the 1970s A.M. Top40 radio chanteuses like Maria Muldaur, Rita Coolidge and even Chi Coltrane.

Without a ballad on the album to lull the listener into a false sense of relaxation, the proceedings cool down effectively at the very end with what used to be called an 'album track'; "Drifting" is aptly named as it doesn't rely on a traditional hook and chorus arrangement to engage the listener, but instead develops from a rolling wave of moody guitar and dreamy vocals as though the band were wandering off into the sunset. The album ends before you know it...and you end up wanting to hear it again.
http://www.myspace.com/dianassound

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ 1/2 out of 5

DONKEY
The Calling Of The Streets
(Donkey Records)

DONKEY may seem like an odd name for a band, but has been the recognized nom de plume of mainman Alex Radeff for nearly two decades. 'The Calling Of The Streets' is the band's third full-length disc since 1999 and follows seven years after the excellent sophomore album 'Nodding At The Universe'. On the surface that seems a painfully slow proliferation of output but Radeff is both a victim and auteur of his own craft; he not only writes all his own material, but is a virtual one-man band providing vocals, guitar, keyboards and bass to songs he also produces and records with a zero budget in a fabricated church basement-cum-studio bunker in Toronto's west-end using only vintage analog equipment. Guest drummers are the norm -- including live band-mate Terry Kavanagh, Battered Wives/Blue Rodeo veteran Cleave Anderson and Clark Institute's Jim Clark -- but there are sparse drop-in musicians like bassists Joe Spina and Richard Sturge or vocalists Mark Doucet and Donna Hoo augmenting the proceedings.

The ten years of laboratory-like recording has resulted in 'The Calling Of The Streets' being Radeff's most accessible and polished of releases. The over-all feel of the album is a push and pull between trippy Pink Floydian psychedelia on tracks like "Nobody", the abbreviated passages "Railway Crossing" and "Recall", and the title track itself versus the straight-out garage-psyche of "You Ooze Love", "Nuclear Fallout" and the album's catchiest, stand-out song "Even Though I Want You".

That's not to say this is strictly a psyche record. Far from it. Radeff goes for the throat right off the top of the disc with his potent observational protest song "The Jews Think I'm An Arab; The Arabs Think I'm A Jew". It is both pithy and uncomfortable to list to on a humanitarian level only because he pulls no punches, does not wallow in Political Correctness...and is bang on.

Where Radeff shines both vocally and lyrically is the acoustic, balladry of his hippie hymn "The Squattor", the pensive anti-love song "I Don't Know Anything", the weepy "Broken Heart Doctor" and the beautifully plaintiff "Read 'Em And Weep".

This album was well-worth waiting seven years to hear. Here's hoping it doesn't take another seven for the next one.
http://www.donkey.ca

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ 1/2 out of 5

 

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INTERNATIONAL

by David Bash

THE BEATLES
Mono Boxed Set
(Capitol-EMI)

What to do…what to do…to shell out or not to shell out…that is the question.  Well, it may be nobler in the mind to debate about this than to run down to your local record emporium and drop your large wad of cash into the hands of the eagerly awaiting clerk, but in reality the answer is a no-brainer. You absolutely should buy the Beatles mono box! 

Admittedly, the improvements in sonic quality of these new mono masters compared to any that you might already own or have heard (the CDs of the first four albums, or anything on vinyl) is not as great as advertised, but they are noticeable…and there is a marked uptick of sonic improvement starting with Rubber Soul…but if you’ve never heard Revolver in mono (and most of you haven’t, or own it either on a beat up LP or a newfangled ‘needledrop’), man, you will not be prepared for the sonic assault you’ll be hit with.  Revolver in mono is the ultimate psychedelic experience, with the swirling, pulsating guitars so far up in the mix they will fry your brain!  Check out “I’m Only Sleeping”, “She Said, She Said”, and “Tomorrow Never Knows” in particular-you’ll gasp, and exclaim “I’ve never heard it like that before”! 

Then of course you have Sgt. Pepper and The White Album, both of which contain songs which are vastly different from their stereo counterparts, particuarly in tempo (e.g. “She’s Leaving Home” is much faster in mono, and Ringo sounds like he’d been sucking down some helium on “Don’t Pass Me By”).  A guitar lick here, a drum fill there…things you’ve never heard will continue to rattle your gray matter! 

The bottom line is this: you’re a Beatles fanatic, you need to own their music in all forms, and so you need this!  If there was ever $200+ to spend on one compendium of music, this is the time.  Plus, the mono CDs will not be sold separately, as their stereo counterparts will (not that I’m trying to discourage anyone from purchasing the stereo box-you should, as it has its own benefits), so in order to have this music, you’ll need to buy the box.  Finally, the mono box is being pressed in a limited run- ok, not as limited as EMI would have you believe, but still-once they’re gone, they’re gone.  The old collector’s chestnut, “if you snooze you lose” will never be as palpable as it will be if you don’t buy this box set, then wake up a few months later, say “Damn!”, and rush to your computer to pull up the eBay page and search for one.  Oh yeah, you’ll find it…at twice or three times the price.  To those of you, I wish God Speed. 

As a postscript, don’t even think about downloading this music, or having someone burn these CDs for you.  You’re a record collector, a lover of the genuine article.  Do you want to be one of those who hastens the departure of physical product.  Do you want this on your head?  I didn’t think so. 

Buy the Beatles Mono Box.