Poor Young Things - "The Heart. The Head. The End." - review!

Poor Young Things are one of the fastest moving rock bands in Canada, waiting for nobody to make things happen for themselves. Since their move from Thunder Bay to Toronto in November 2010, everything seems to be falling into place nicely for the band. In the little over two years since this move, they were signed to Bumstead Records, toured relentlessly, released their debut EP Let It Sleep, won an Emerging Artist of the Year award from Sirius XM, and are now releasing their debut full length album called ‘The Heart. The Head. The End.’ on May 21st. Who knows how far they will go if they keep this momentum going.

Don’t expect any pop rock, folky ballads or electronic sounding gimmicks when you get Poor Young Things, you`re getting nothing but good old fashioned Rock and Roll. Sure, it may not be the formula that most new bands are using to get noticed, but they prove that the tried and true method of forming a rock band and hitting the road hard can still pay off. In 2012 alone they had played in excess of 100 shows across Canada and the United States. These, along with the cross Canada tour they are beginning this month to support this new LP, shows they have no plans of slowing down.

Poor Young Things consists of Matt Fratpietro on lead vocals/guitar, Michael Kondakow and Dave Grant on guitars, Scott Burke on bass and Konrad Commisso on drums. Whether it be the catchy chanting of “wash away your warpaint” in the song Warpaint, the group singing in Revolver, or screaming “The End” on their closing number Ghost Notes, they will have you singing/screaming along before your even through the first listen.

When I reviewed their EP Let It Sleep last year, I was drawn to the great sound that producer/engineer Jon Drew (Arkells) achieved and he is back for more! He always seems to have particularly great mix on the drums. This, along with the damn near perfect instrument levels with the vocals front and center, really makes for a great sounding rock album.

Poor Young Things’ label Bumstead Records, deserves some recognition in their own right. They are really starting to make some noise in the Canadian music scene releasing albums from artists such as The Trew’s, Tim Chaisson and Two Hours Traffic. Bumstead has also been known to release many of their albums on vinyl, so here’s hoping they follow through with a vinyl release of ‘The Heart. The Head. The End.’. The combination of a hard working band like Poor Young Things and a small passionate label like Bumstead Records is a great recipe for success.

Be sure to pick up a copy of this solid debut upon its release next Tuesday, and also mark June 8^th on your calendar as they will be stopping in Fredericton playing at the Lava Vodka Bar. If they keep moving as fast as they have been, this may be your last chance to see them at a small and personal venue like this one.  

Here is a trailer for ‘The Heart. The Head. The End.’ Including their debut single Sign Of The Times.

 

 

Crash course on the Tuff Darts!

 

I own a few great rockabilly records by Robert Gordon in my collection and have been on the lookout for more of his albums. Recently, I found out that he was the former lead singer of a punk rock band from the 1970’s called the Tuff Darts. So, I picked up a copy of their 1978 debut album Tuff Darts! released on Sire Records in 1978 and it turned out that Robert Gordon never even played on this album, but I was not disappointed.

The Tuff Darts were part of the first batch of punk rock bands formed in New York City in the 70’s. They opened for some very notable bands including the New York Doll’s and became one of the staples at some New York City bars including CBGB’s. Robert Gordon was an original member of the band along with Jeff Salen on lead guitar, Bobby Butani on guitar, John DeSalvo on bass and James Morrison on drums. This line-up performed on the compilation album Live at CBGB’s. Between recording this compilation album and their debut album Tuff Darts!, Robert Gordon decided to leave the band to pursue a solo rockabilly career. Gordon was replaced by Tommy Frenzy on vocals and drummer John Morelli replaced James Morrison. This was the line-up for the album I have, but it too was short lived as they disbanded shortly after it was released.

I would consider the Tuff Darts’ sound similar to a band like Television. They were not heavy sounding punk rock like the Ramones, but the group photo on the album cover, the back cover photo of Butani with a gun pointed at DeSalvo with smoke coming out of his mouth, or having “thanks to nobody” on their liner notes, few could question them being classified as punk rockers. If this isn’t enough, their lyrics seal the deal. Lyrics like the following from the song Fun City: “I’m sick of the crap I gotta take in this town; If I didn’t love it I swear I’d burn it to the ground”; have punk written all over them.

While the band may have been short-lived, some members continued to perform and re-record songs off of this album. Jeff Salen recorded an album with Robert Gordon in 1994 called All For the Love of Rock ‘N’ Roll, playing guitar on five songs and writing four including Slash and Love and Trouble which were from the Tuff Darts LP. Jeff Salen went on to record a few solo albums in 2005 and 2007, also revisiting a few songs from this album: Head over Heels, All For the Love Of Rock N’ Roll and Love and Trouble.

All members from the line-up on this album except Butani reformed in 2002 to celebrate the CD release of Tuff Darts!. They went on a short tour after and recorded a new album called You Can’t Keep a Good Band Down in 2007. Unfortunately, the following year Jeff Salen died of a heart attack.

Its finding albums like this by mistake that keeps the adventure in record collecting. I love discovering somebody I like such as Robert Gordon and tracing back his history. Even though in this case I never found a Gordon album, I did find something interesting. Now I just need to find myself a copy of Live at CBGB’s!

Ross Neilsen Band - Resurrection - review!

One of Canada’s hardest working blues rock acts, Ross Neilsen, is at it again releasing his sixth studio album Resurrection. This album is the first attributed to the Ross Neilsen Band, and seems to put a final nail in the coffin of The Sufferin’ Bastards. Regardless of the name change, the only major switch is replacing Shawn Worden with Jim Guitar on bass. Karl Gans is still holding strong on drums: full of dynamics and feeling, sounding better than ever.

Ross and the boys ventured down to Maurice, Louisiana to record this album with singer/songwriter Anders Osborne handling production. This is Ross’ third trip down south with Redemption and The Shack Up Sessions being recorded in Mississippi. The blues from the deep South is definitely rubbing off on Ross, you hear the fresh bluesy riffs in his guitar and (believe it or not) even more growl in his voice. Even with all this bluesy influence, this is still the most rock and roll record I have heard from Ross, the bluesy feel is just icing on the cake.

There were a few familiar tunes as Ross revisits the songs: When My Trouble’s Gone and Heartache Apart from his previous solo album The Shack Up Sessions. When My Trouble’s Gone has some added backup vocals, a distorted guitar and … well, the rest of the band, yet it still doesn’t lose the personal feel it had with Ross and his acoustic guitar. Heartbreak Apart, on the other hand, was totally revisited replacing the slow tempo acoustic number with a fast-paced, shuffle drumming, distorted vocal, rocking tune. This song was my favorite on the Shack Up Sessions so I am definitely partial to the original. When I first heard the fast pace at the intro I got a little nervous, but they came through giving it an entire new, crank up the stereo, fun sound.

This album doesn’t have a weak song in the mix. In my opinion, any of them could be a single and I really feel this album is going to go far with Ross and the band. Whether it is the fat distorted guitar sound on Walk On Buy or Ross’s palm muting rhythm leading into the epic lead guitar riff in Daddy Taught Me, there is something on this album for all rock and roll fans. Plus, Ross’ guitar solos can still give me chills.

Resurrection is due out in stores and online on May 21^st and as always, Ross and the boys are touring heavy. He starts his Canada-wide tour supporting Resurrection on May 11^th and ends at the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival in Fredericton in September. All this, plus having 50ish shows under his belt so far in 2013, makes Ross one of Canada’s hardest working rock blues artists and his hard work sure is paying off on this album.

 

 

Bob Marley and The Wailers - Live Forever - review!

One of the best parts of my daily routine is getting an email from www.popmarket.com notifying me of the music deal of the day. If you haven’t discovered this site yet, you are in for a treat. Pop Market has daily and weekly deals on vinyl, CD’s, and music blurays/DVD’s. These are private sales that come to the company from various distributors, so you never know what they are going to have. For example: Monday there can be a half-price sale on a deluxe edition of Fleetwood Mac Rumours and then Tuesday it is replaced by a discounted price on David Bowie’s newest vinyl release The Next Day. They give you a hint of what will come each day of the week but no details, only what artist. This mystery is a part of the fun. Words of warning, there are only limited quantities of each item and they often sell out so don’t wait until the last minute.

I recently took advantage of their sale on the Bob Marley and the Wailers Live Forever box set. This is a live recording of Bob Marley & The Wailers’ final concert on September 23, 1980 at The Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Bob and his band were touring to support their final studio album called Uprising. Nearing the end of the tour and after two sold out shows at Madison Square Gardens in New York, Bob collapsed while jogging in Central Park. Two days later, even though he was still feeling very sick, Bob decided to play this final show in Pittsburgh.

When this album came in the mail, I immediately played it before I read the liner notes explaining how sick he was and the significance of this being his final performance. Even before knowing these details, I was completely happy with the performance. I loved the raw-ness of the recording/performance, hearing tape hiss and feedback. I didn’t feel it was as great a live album as Babylon By Bus but definitely enjoyed hearing new performances of all of my favorite Bob Marley songs. Once I read the liner notes and really understood how he was feeling and the significance of this recording, I enjoyed it at an entire new level. He was far from sounding like a sick man performing, his voice full of energy and character. There wasn’t a bad performance in the entire set. It’s hard to imagine what was going through Bob’s head at this point, just visiting the doctor after his collapse days prior who likely gave him his death sentence. The fact that he could portray such a positive vibe in his music regardless of his circumstances amazes me.

The packaging for this album is beautiful. The three 180 gram albums are housed in a hard cover book, with the record sleeves forming the pages full of liner notes and pictures. Three beautiful discs are housed in poly lined paper sleeves, before being placed in the pages for added protection. I really felt like I was getting a quality product. Also included was the entire show on two CD’s and a reproduction of the program from the tour. I would be satisfied with this album paying full price, but getting it shipped to my door from www.popmarket.com for only $42 made me one happy customer.

Pro-Ject Debut Carbon turntable!

 

 

After many months of contemplating I finally took the plunge and bought myself a brand new turntable. Many people know that I often buy older turntables and refurbish them to the best of my ability so I definitely enjoy vintage tables, however I have been struggling to find the “right” vintage table. I like to keep things as simple as possible with turntables. The less moving parts the better; I want something built to last a lifetime. This ‘need for less’ completely voids all automatic turntables as options having too many electronic circuit boards that make them, what I consider, throw away electronics. I was on the hunt for an attractive looking table (style is important), simple controls and fully manual operation. So in short I want a motor, a platter and a tonearm.

The sky may be the limit on what you can spend on something like this, but definitely not on what I personally could spend. I put myself on a $600 budget and after countless hours of searching and reading online I managed to narrow it down to two brand names: Rega and Pro-ject.

While I liked the Rega turntables and how they sounded, it just didn’t do it for me in regards to style. Matte black or dull silver finishes were the limited options at least in my price range. Pro-ject has more selection with their Debut turntable having a choice between eight colors. These color options, the carbon tonearm and Ortofon 2m Red cartridge made the Pro-ject Debut Carbon the right choice for me. It even fit into my budget at $449 + tax.

Below are the specifications on this table:

Speed	33, 45 (manual speed change)
Drive principle	belt drive
Platter	300mm metal with felt mat
Mains bearing	stainless steel
Wow & flutter	+/- 0,10%
Speed drift	+/- 0,80%
Signal to noise	- 68dB
Tonearm	8,6”, Carbon
Effective arm length	218,5 mm
Effective arm mass	6,0 g
Overhang	18,5mm
Tracking force	10 - 30mN
Included accessories	RCA cable, lid
Power connection	110/120 or 230/240 Volt - 50 or 60 Hz
Dimensions	415 x 118 x 320mm (WxHxD) lid closed
Weight	5,6 kg net

 

I am very satisfied with this table. The factory installed Ortofon 2M Red stylus has a great crisp sound that only gets better as time goes by. I guess what they say is true; you do need to break in a stylus.

Sound and Vision magazine did a review on the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon in September 2012 and had a great explanation of the advantages of having the carbon tonearm comparing it to golf clubs. If you tap on the side of a metal golf club you will hear a ringing noise but if you tap on the side of a carbon golf club you will hear nothing but a soft click. The carbon makes the tonearm have no echo and carry virtually no sound. This quietness causes no interference with the sound coming directly from the stylus.

I love the “hanging weight” style of anti-skating on this table. A quick explanation of anti-skating: when a turntable is spinning, the natural force causes the tonearm to pull towards the center of the record; anti-skating is offsetting this force and pulling the tonearm towards the edge of the record. This allows the same amount of force to hit both sides of the groove. There are two common types of anti-skating controls, one being a knob that controls a spring under the table pulling the tonearm towards the edge of the record and the other being a weight that hangs on the tonearm causing torque to pull the tonearm toward the edge. I have always preferred this weight anti-skating compared to the dial having experienced many problems with the latter through my repair projects. Even without these repair issues, the weight just looks cool!

Another bonus with this table is that the cables all plug into the back of the turntable rather than being hard wired. So if you want to upgrade or replace the cables it is an easy switch.

I bought this table at Cox Electronics in Fredericton, NB from Rick Bastedo. I highly recommend visiting Rick and telling him what you’re looking for in a table. If you want a full automatic turntable rather than manual, Rick will be able to help you with this too. Rick is full of knowledge on anything vinyl related and has been in the record/turntable industry for decades formerly owning his own record store in Fredericton called Magic Forest Music Store. If Rick doesn’t have the model in stock you are looking for, rest assured he will do the research to get you what you want. He can order in tables made by Pro-ject, Rega, Audio Technica, etc. So even if you don’t see what you’re looking for on display, just ask Rick! 

 

Tommy Roe - Sheila!

Life was great for Tommy Roe in early 1963, having a hit single with Sheila and getting ready to begin a UK tour sharing top of the bill with fellow American singer Chris Montez who was supporting his hit single Let's Dance. Little did Tommy know that the ‘up and coming’ band signed a month earlier to open the tour had just released a fairly big single themselves and would upstage the two leading acts! After the first night of the tour, Tommy agreed to let the opening band close the show for the remainder of the tour. It would soon be well known that nobody could follow The Beatles.

 

If an artist was to be upstaged by anybody, The Beatles would have to be the most forgiving. But let’s forget about The Beatles for a moment and concentrate on this catchy single that started it all for Roe called Sheila.



Tommy Roe was born in Athens, Georgia. He started playing and performing music at the age of fourteen performing at high school dances and parties. Eventually, he ventured to record a song he had written called Sheila for a small record label called Judd Records. Once ABC got wind of this song, they signed Tommy Roe to their label and re-recorded the track for their own release. Sheila went on to be a smash hit reaching number 1 on the charts in Canada, USA and Austrialia and number 3 in the UK.

 

 

I’m a little stuck in the middle on my thoughts of this song. Sure it has a great catchy drum beat, steady rhythm guitar and fun lyrics, but it’s hard to not hear Buddy Holly’s Peggy Sue throughout this single. Now I know it is well documented that it was heavily influenced by Peggy Sue, but this is an understatement. The similarities between the two are uncanny, if this single was released in today’s lawyer heavy world then a lawsuit would be sure to follow.

 

But in Tommy Roe’s defense, I’m sure he was just trying to give the audience what they wanted to hear and he didn’t have as much inspiration in the early 60’s like he would today. Regardless, originality definitely wasn’t there, but it's a catchy song nonetheless.

The original US pressing of this single would be on the ABC label with Save Your Kisses as the ‘B’ side. My copy is on the Canadian shadow label Sparton who pressed records for ABC until 1969. Sparton labels were fuchsia with black print for most of the 60’s (like my copy of Tommy Roe’s 1964 single Everybody shown below) switching to a yellow label in 1969. This makes my copy of Sheila a 1969 re-release.



The rest is history; Tommy went on to have a few more hit singles including the songs Everybody, Sweet Pea and Hoorway for Hazel and his last big hit Dizzy in 1969. He continued recording for twenty more years after Dizzy but failed to top the charts. A pretty impressive career on it's own, but he will go down in history as the man that The Beatles opened for on March 9, 1963.

 

Johnny Cash - Orange Blossom Special!

I’m always excited to find Johnny Cash records when hunting for vinyl and luckily in a recent dig I found a copy of the single Orange Blossom Special. Having only been familiar with Johnny Cash’s live version of this song on the At Folsom Prison LP, I was excited to hear his studio recording of this song.

Orange Blossom Special was written by Ervin T. Rouse in 1938 and originally recorded with Ervin and his brother Gordon Rouse in 1939. People like me who are only familiar with Johnny Cash’s version know it as a harmonica heavy song. The original, however, was recorded an instrumental with the fiddle as the lead instrument even though Ervin had written lyrics. This original version is also quite a bit faster than Cash’s version, making it a pretty catchy bluegrass number. The fiddle imitates the sound of a train which I’m sure played a part in Cash covering the song, hence the whole “steady as a train” style he will always be remembered for.

On the At Folsom Prison live version Johnny Cash continuously blows two harmonicas from left to right up the scales back to back, there was no real skill in this harmonica playing but it was the novelty effect that was appealing. In this studio version, the harmonica is played much more complex (played by Charlie McCoy rather than Cash) and it gives it a more detailed sound.

Along with the harmonica, there is a saxophone present being played by Boots Randolph. Boots was well known as a part of the Nashville sound, recording with artists such as Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and even REO Speedwagon. I wasn’t familiar with Boots’ work until I recently picked up a few of his albums in a collection which coincidentally also included this Orange Blossom Special single. It’s funny how I never hear of someone like Boots and then his name turns up continuously.

This is the American pressing label (not my copy). The Canadian label is identical except the color.

This is an original 1965 Canadian pressing of the single with Cash’s All Of God’s Children Ain’t Free song on the ‘B’ side. Columbia used this orange label starting in 1960. Aside from the color, this label is identical to the red US label used at this time. In my collection, the only thing better than an original pressing is an original Canadian pressing! It may not be a rare single, but important nonetheless being one of Johnny Cash’s best covers and most well-known songs.