Neil Young (centre) at last January’s Honour the Treaties press conference, Massey Hall, Toronto — photo credit: Dustin Rabin.
Neil Young announced he’s doing a concert in Edmonton on July 3 to benefit the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Legal Defense Fund, an organization that’s fighting the Grand Rapids pipeline implementation.
The show, which is under Young’s “Honour The Treaties” banner, is a continuation of a benefit tour he conducted last year.
I wrote about it for Samaritan Mag. To read the full story go here.
Picking just The Black Ram was a bit of a technical cheat as this record was part of the three-album, one-EP Sojourner box set Magnolia Electric Co. released that year. That said, of the four discs it’s definitely the one I listened to the most. In fact, the title track, “Will-O-The-Wisp” and “A Little At A Time” all rank in my Top 25 most played songs in iTunes. What this all probably means is that because I was pretty deep in my Magnolia fandom at the time, as a conscious act to not look like such a fanatic I ranked this album lower than I felt it deserved in my heart. In truth it’s probably a top five record.
9. Arctic Monkeys Favourite Worst Nightmare
If I’m to be completely honest, I still don’t feel I know this album all that well. I was mostly enamored with the song “505” and had approached the band with more open ears on this album because the hype train for the Monkeys had receded to the point it where wasn’t annoying anymore.
I listened to this record a lot for a month or two and it fits solidly in a Can-Rockpop lineage that includes Sloan, By Divine Right, Limblifter, Zuckerbaby and their ilk. Since then, though, Two Hours Traffic have become extremely irritating to me. This is because of the disproportionate amount of times iTunes tries to play their songs when I’m listening in “random” mode. I have thousands upon thousands of songs. I’ve got the full Neil Young and Bob Dylan discographies. And yet, with peculiar frequency iTunes tries to serve me up songs from this album. The only reason I can guess for this is that one of the band members had a computer engineer cousin who worked at Apple and was in the department that developed the iTunes random algorithm. It’s the only explanation and it’s definitely tempered my enjoyment.
7. Buck 65 Situation
Buck 65 seems to suffer from a bit of Rodney Dangerfield can’t-get-no-respect-ism and Situation is a pretty good example of this. A concept album focused roughly around the year 1957, the songs on Situation deftly traverse topics like crooked cops, Bogart and obscenity trials. The fact that the subject matter is so unlikely — not just for a rapper, but for any type of modern music maker — just makes Situation all the more intriguing.
6. Neil Young Live At Massey Hall 1971
This show may represent the most perfect version of “solo Neil.” It’s a historic document and a brilliant setlist. In cold scrutiny, though, it’s probably not a best of 2007 album. This ranking probably says more about how much I’m willing to jockey parameters because of my Neil love than anything else.
5. Jens Lekman Night Falls Over Kortedala
Night Falls Over Kortedala is an entirely fine album, but this #5 rank is almost entirely attributable to one song, “And I Remember Every Kiss.” A soaring orchestral ballad, the song captures all the fire, all the intensity, all the passion of that nervous, electric first kiss.
Someone recently told me Wayne Petti basically tries to copy The Inbreds’ Mike O’Neill when he’s singing. Fascinating, right? And it explains why I like Cuff The Duke. I don’t listen to this album anymore, though, and I don’t remember why I had it ranked so high.
3. Feist The Reminder
The sort of person who can remain unmoved by “My Moon My Man” is the sort of person I would look upon with great suspicion.
2. Amy Winehouse Back To Black
“Me & Mr. Jones” was really what hooked me on Back To Black. Here was this jazz singer going on about Slick Rick, plus ones and “fuckery” (which has since become a core swear word for me), all with an air of stumbling, drunken tragic romance. I was won over immediately.
A lot of the songs and albums and artists I love have something I’ll define as “turbulence of the soul.” The world, for them, is just a bit tougher, a bit more painful and a bit more difficult than it is for the normals. It was clear from the first listen of Back To Black that Winehouse was one of these people and it reflects beautifully/uncomfortably in these songs.
1. Joel Plaskett Emergency Ashtray Rock
A teenage love triangle that breaks up the band and breaks up a friendship. It seems like such a small narrative to build a concept album around, but Ashtray Rock, like a less morbid Quadrophenia, works perfectly. You feel there when the drunk teenagers party down at the Ashtray Rock and when you’ve got nothing more to say to these people… well, it’s like a grayscale closing scene capturing the back of the jean-jacketed protagonist walking down a slushy sidestreet. Alone.
Other album lists…
2015 Top Ten — SUUNS + Jerusalem In My Heart SUUNS + Jerusalem In My Heart is #1 2014 Top Ten — Sharon Van Etten’s Are We There is #1 2013 Top Ten — M.I.A.’s Matangi is #1 2012 Top Ten — Dirty Ghosts’ Metal Moon is #1 2011 Top Ten — Timber Timbre’s Creep On Creepin’ On is #1 2010 Top Ten — The Black Angels’ Phosphene Dream is #1 2009 Top Ten — Gallows’ Grey Britain is #1 2008 Top Ten — Portishead’s Third is #1 2007 Top Ten — Joel Plaskett Emergency’s Ashtray Rock is #1 2006 Top Ten — My Brightest Diamond’s Bring Me The Workhorse is #1 2005 Top Ten — Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s Howl is #1 2004 Top Ten — Morrissey’s You Are The Quarry is #1 2003 Top Ten — The Dears’ No Cities Left is #1 2002 Top Ten — Archive’s You All Look The Same To Me is #1 2001 Top Ten — Gord Downie’s Coke Machine Glow is #1 2000 Top Ten — Songs: Ohia’s The Lioness is #1 1999 Top Ten — The Boo Radleys’ Kingsize is #1 1998 Top Ten — Baxter’s Baxter is #1 1996 Top Ten — Tricky’s Maxinquaye is #1
Classic rocker and film dabbler recently presented a director’s cut of his rather weird 1982 film Human Highway at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Young, who was in attendance for the premiere, told the audience at the screening about working with Devo for the film as well as a special behind the scenes role played by future star Kevin Costner. To read the story head over to Huffington Post Music Canada by going here.
Back in 1996 I was the Arts & Entertainment Editor of the Centennial College student newspaper, The Siren. I dug into some of those back issues to find my Top Ten album list from that year.
Looking at the list now it’s a pretty clear reaction against grunge in favour of mostly dark, electronic-based music.
Here it is:
1. Tricky Maxinquaye
2. Massive Attack Protection
3. Future Sound of London ISDN
4. Pop Will Eat Itself Dos Dedos Mis Amigos
5. Neil Young Mirror Ball
6. Blue Resistance
7. Portishead Dummy
8. Teenage Fanclub Grand Prix
9. Nine Inch Nails The Downward Spiral
10. Cypress Hill Temple Of Boom
Nearly a decade-and-a-half later, Maxinquaye remains infinitely listenable. Besides the tepid cover of Public Enemy’s “Black Steel” it still sound intriguing today. It’s probably no longer the #1 on this list, but it’s still a solid Top Five.
Of the trip-hop big three Massive Attack’s Protection is probably the one I care the least about now. That’s not to say I don’t care, it’s just that it’s the album I go back to the least amongst them. Again, if you listen to this album in the now it could still fool the kids into maybe thinking it’s current. Or, at the very least, you can trick ’em into believing “these are the guys who used to produce The Weekend.”
Holy smokes did I ever listen to Future Sound of London’s ISDN a lot back in the day. It’s why I’m very been-there, done-that about Boards of Canada in the present. This was also kinda my last flashback buzz album as I transitioned from student rascal/five-day-a-week rave ‘n’ club kid into person-with-a-job.
I wouldn’t quite call this a guilty pleasure because there’s no guilt in my enjoyment of Pop Will Eat Itself’s Dos Dedos Mis Amigos, but of the albums on this list it’s probably the easiest to peg in terms of being of a certain time, scene and sound.
Neil Young’s Mirror Ball is the only good album Pearl Jam’s ever been part of.
In hindsight, the inclusion of Blue’s Resistance on this list is kinda embarrassing. An electro-dub record on Sabres of Paradise’s label, this selection was clearly an act of showing off my expensive import record collection. The album doesn’t suck, but it wouldn’t make my Top Ten now and it speaks of hanging around a bit too much in the chill out room.
Portishead are where it’s at. After some time and distance, Dummy is probably my #1 album for 1996. And Beth Gibbons was doing witchcore at least 10 years before everyone else was.
I’m not sure why I put Teenage Fanclub’s Grand Prix on my list. I don’t really like Teenage Fanclub or much power pop and I haven’t actually listened to this album since 1996. This song’s OK, though, so perhaps I need to revisit this one:
Ah, Nine Inch Nails. I had this at #9, which means I probably didn’t like it all that much, but as a superfan of the band I had to put The Downward Spiral on the list. Maybe it’s because the album’s so familiar. After all, it was the album that anchored a certain big-booted, goth-rivethead scene that year and I would have heard it everywhere I went. It can probably stay on this list… but with a leery eye.
Cypress Hill’s Temple Of Boom? Too much time in the chill out room, for sure.
Other album lists…
2015 Top Ten — SUUNS + Jerusalem In My Heart SUUNS + Jerusalem In My Heart is #1 2014 Top Ten — Sharon Van Etten’s Are We There is #1 2013 Top Ten — M.I.A.’s Matangi is #1 2012 Top Ten — Dirty Ghosts’ Metal Moon is #1 2011 Top Ten — Timber Timbre’s Creep On Creepin’ On is #1 2010 Top Ten — The Black Angels’ Phosphene Dream is #1 2009 Top Ten — Gallows’ Grey Britain is #1 2008 Top Ten — Portishead’s Third is #1 2007 Top Ten — Joel Plaskett Emergency’s Ashtray Rock is #1 2006 Top Ten — My Brightest Diamond’s Bring Me The Workhorse is #1 2005 Top Ten — Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s Howl is #1 2004 Top Ten — Morrissey’s You Are The Quarry is #1 2003 Top Ten — The Dears’ No Cities Left is #1 2002 Top Ten — Archive’s You All Look The Same To Me is #1 2001 Top Ten — Gord Downie’s Coke Machine Glow is #1 2000 Top Ten — Songs: Ohia’s The Lioness is #1 1999 Top Ten — The Boo Radleys’ Kingsize is #1 1998 Top Ten — Baxter’s Baxter is #1 1996 Top Ten — Tricky’s Maxinquaye is #1
Risky Fuel 