More Music!

Being one who has a great deal of affection for music and is ultimately obssessed with it, I feel it nessecary to pick up new CD every two or so weeks. No qualms, I love music to no-end. So, growing my already exsisting collection is always a top piorioty for me. And in passing by "Future Shop" earlier today, I of course could not resist going in to pick up some new stuff.

I came out of there with two items:

Firstly: Blue Rodeo's 1995 album, "Lost Together". Having yet to own any such recordings from BR and having always had a great appreciation for them, I thought this would be the time to start a collection in respect to this great Canadian band. Should you not already know - Blue Rodeo's music is essentially Country Rock. Well... I suppose that's the best description. They have a lot of music which is indeed Country Rock, but they have a great deal of music which fits into a genre of it's own.

In any event, I am more than glad that I finally picked up some Blue Rodeo stuff. Their music is undoubtedly top-notch. Most of their songs have an incredibly strange musical arrangement; the changes which they bring are unpredictable and exciting. The vocals are sweet, the guitars are imposing, the drums are superb and the bass guitar, is oh-so awesome. And I mean really awesome. Some of the best I've heard in a long while to be frank (excluding Rush that is...).

Secondly, I picked up "The Barenaked Ladies" recently released (on the 6th) concert DVD, "Talk to the Hand: Live in Michigan". Got the opportunity to watch a bit of the DVD earlier today and naturally, it's awesome. The performance is spectacular - the guitars sound downright godly - and the boys are just hilarious. Honestly, this concert is as much as a comedy showcase as it is a music concert. In the short piece I watched, they had me both bursting with laughter and signing along to favourite tunes such as "If I had $1,000,000" and "Be My Yoko Ono"; the latter of which is performed acoustically with the addition of an accordion. And yes, it truly does sound great!

All in all, two purchases which I am very happy with!

And on a side-note - albeit related to my music affection - I ordered this white, Rush "Grace Under Pressure" Tour T-Shirt earlier last week. Should arrive on Tuesday. Can't wait!

I Hate Future Shop

I hate it.

For more reasons than one. Anyways, yesterday I went to Future Shop to purchase a new CD (still a few days until Snakes & Arrows hits the streets..) and I went there with the mission of completing my Rush CD collection. Last time I checked that particular Future Shop (a month ago) they had fifteen copies of a certain Rush CD. (Rush - Gold)

It's a fantastic album no doubt, but I've already got it, hence not purchasing it again.. When I went yesterday they had the exact same fifteen or so Rush CD's. No stock update...For f*** sake, update the stock already.

I then preceded to my next choice, Tom Cochrane & Red Rider, Hoping they'd have some of those great 80's albums. I was extremely disappointed because they had twenty copies of Cochrane's new "No Stranger" album and I wasn't planning on purchasing it. They did have one "old" album though.."Mad Mad World" - but I already have it.

I then decided to check out some of my other favourite bands. Frozen Ghost and Thompson Twins. Now if you haven't the slightest idea who they are, I won't blame you. The Thompson Twins are an British 80's Synthpop band while Frozen Ghost is an 80's Canadian prog-rock band.

Did they have them? Nope. Did they have fifty Johnny Cash CD's? Yes. Did they have forty Neil Young "Live in Massey Hall" CD's? Yes, they did.

In fact, looking over the stock they had it's clear they focus on new releases only. Whores!

In the end, I did end up buying Tom Cochrane's new album, "No Stranger".



Impressions? Well it's good, but a mere "good". Not excellent like previous Cochrane albums. At times it feels quite on dimensional and even a little flat. Definitely not typical for Tom Cochrane, especially with kick ass albums in the past like Ragged Ass Road, Mad Mad World and Victory Day.

Starting out impression was that they used a tad too much voice layering.

Highlights? Song composition is well thought out and I love the use of Piano in this album. Features much acoustic guitar and Red Rider's Ken Greer makes more than a few appearances on the album.

Song highlights at the moment are: "Didn't Mean", "White Horse", "Deep Breath" and "Rough and Tumble"

The one song that I'm still deciding whether I like is "Northern Star". It's a good tune, but it sounds a little too country for my tastes..

22 Days Away..

Just 22 days until the release of Snakes & Arrows and I cannot wait.

I'll be at the door of a Future Shop, Monday morning - May 1st. First on the playlist will be The Main Monkey Business (6 + minute instrumental)