Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: The Rural Alberta Advantage “The wild”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: The Rural Alberta Advantage
Album Title: The wild
Year released: 2017
Details: Yellow vinyl, limited to 200, signed by the band, OBI strip

The skinny: So this impromptu mini-series showcasing the vinyl releases of Toronto-based indie folk rock trio, The Rural Alberta Advantage, comes to an end at four posts (so far). In 2016, it was announced that founding member Amy Cole was replaced by Robin Hatch and the group immediately went on the road to tour new material. “The wild” is the result of these road-tested tunes and though you can hear more polish, with Nils Edenloff’s raucous strumming and hollering and Paul Banwatt’s ever present drum-pounding, these ten tracks are no less ‘wild’ than the band’s previous work. I admit that I was a bit apprehensive at the personnel change but found that Hatch was a worthy replacement when I heard advance singles on YouTube so I jumped all over this second pressing by Paper Bag Records. As usual, the Canadian label’s packaging is fun, complete with an OBI strip, a signed cover, and a pretty yellow disc. (As a post-script: It’s been four years since this album was released, Amy Cole has returned to the group, and given the activity on social media, I expect I’ll have to add a fifth instalment to this series at some date in the not-too-distant future.)

Standout track: “White lights”

Categories
Tunes

100 best covers: #56 Oasis “Cum on feel the noize”

<< #57    |    #55 >>

So here’s a great Friday tune. A rip-roaring number that, if you aren’t already, will get you all revved up to go out on the town, now that we can somewhat go out on the town again. A tune to blast out at eleven and… well… before I get too ahead of myself, let’s get back to some context.

During the mid-1990s, the Manchester quintet known as Oasis had a pretty terrific run of new music, one that I would have to say could rival any band in history, in terms of being prolific and the quality of their rock and roll. And I’m not just talking those brilliant first two albums. They also released a string of hit-making singles in this same period that showcased some pretty amazing b-sides*.

The fourth such single to be released from their sophomore record, “(What’s the story) morning glory?”, was the Noel-sung ballad, “Don’t look back in anger”. And of the three additional b-sides included on the CD single I managed to find as an import, each were great, but I actually recognized the fourth track as a song from my youth. Little did I know that even the commercially successful version from 1983, the one I remember singing to myself while walking to school in grade five, recklessly done by LA metal group, Quiet Riot, was also a cover.

Indeed, I was amused to learn that the original was actually done way back in 1973** by glam hard rockers, Slade. I, of course, knew of this group only by their 1983 hit, “Run runaway”, and though I liked that one well enough during my music video youth, I never felt the urge to check out their version of “Cum on feel the noize” until I sat down to write this post.

I always really liked this Oasis cover for the way it was just fun and raw, rock and roll, and captured that lightning-in-a-bottle live energy of theirs. But really, all of these versions of “Cum on feel the noize”, by such very different musical groups, were all approached from the same direction. All of these are loud and brash and a hell of a good time.

Personally, I’m still going with the Oasis one here over the others: I just don’t see myself cranking up the other two all that often. But… it’s Friday. Crank whichever one floats your boat and just giv’er!

Cover:

The original:

*Some of these were later collected on the group’s 1998 compilation, “The masterplan”.

**I would’ve been way too young to possibly know this one at the time, having been born a few months after its release.

For the rest of the 100 best covers list, click here.

Categories
Tunes

Best tunes of 2003: #30 The Coral “Liezah”

#29 >>

This new list counting down my favourite thirty tunes of 2003 starts off with “Liezah”, a non-single to which I was partial from The Coral’s sophomore album, “Magic and medicine”.

I remember becoming super enamoured with the zaniness of these youngsters’ self-titled debut, especially the infectious hit single, “Dreaming of you”, which appeared at number three on my list for 2002. That album was free-wheeling and full of exuberance and definitely sounded like it had creativity and energy to spare. So it didn’t come as a surprise to me when I heard news of a follow up so soon after I discovered them. In fact, the band members first headed to the studio to work on their sophomore album a mere three months after the debut was released. The sessions were split into a few chunks and were wrapped up in the spring of 2003.

“Magc and medicine” was released on “The Coral”’s first year anniversary, give or take a day, and the difference between the two is remarkable. It’s definitely more polished and tame, something that might not seem like a good thing to all. Where the debut was a melange of everything that made psychedelia great, the scope of the sophomore was more narrow, focused on a bluesier psych-rock in the vein of The Animals. I still enjoyed much of the music and show of musicianship but the lustre was dimmed for me.

Track number three was the exception to all this for me. “Liezah” was even more toned down and scaled back than the rest of the record and yet it somehow managed to share the spark that I saw in “Dreaming of you”. It’s got a bopping baseline that can only come from an upright bass. It’s got a ticky tacky brushing on the high hat and the snare. It’s got a finger picking noodle that sounds timeless and idyllic and breezy. It’s got a restrained vocal turn by James Skelly, showing a gentleness and wistfulness not seen before.

“And every time I think of Liezah
I break down and I start crying
Although she tore me apart
There’s still a place for that girl in my heart”

It’s a song of heartbreak and heartache and bittersweet memory. And yet, “Liezah” never fails to bring a smile and get my toes a-tapping whenever I hear it.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2003 list, click here.