vintage

Sorry about the belated post today. I’ve been busy exorcising, adventuring and hoeing-down, so as you can imagine, there is precious little time left for blogging. Ha ha.

(For the record, I liked Constantine more than I thought I would. It was rather interesting, and Keanu Reeves’ trademark wooden face served him remarkably well in it.)

Today I’d like to draw your attention to an album that not enough Canadians have heard, not to mention the rest of the world. That album is called Melville, recorded by a legendary — and legendarily under-the-radar — band known as the Rheostatics.

Some background: the Rheos started up in 1980, and soon gained a well-deserved reputation as one of the most influential Canadian bands in history. Curiously enough, they haven’t gotten much attention in the mainstream, but with the musicians these days that are, that might have been a good thing. Whatever the case may be, the Rheostatics forged on and ahead for twenty-seven years, disbanding officially with a farewell show at Massey Hall in March 2007 (tragically, before I was employed there).

The album in question, Melville, was released in 1991, when I was two years old and wouldn’t have been able to appreciate it anyway. Chart magazine (RIP) ran a poll in 1995 to determine the top 50 Canadian albums of all time, and Melville placed 16th; in subsequent polls, it was fifth (2000) and 44th (2005).

The 2005 poll was actually what first drew my attention to the record, as I had been subscribing to Chart for a little while at that point and made it my goal to listen to all the records on that top 50. Other artists leading that album included the usual suspects of Canadian legend, namely Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Sloan, the Tragically Hip, etc.

It’s strange, then, that the Rheos would be considered equals of such muscular musical forces as these, but usually provoke a reaction of “Rheo-who?” from the average Canadian. Strange and unfortunate. They’re one of the most eclectic and undefinable artists in the country, for certain; it’s impossible to pigeonhole their sound, and I can only imagine what they might have said to people when they were starting out and were asked to describe their sound. “Uh … weird?”

Melville is a quirky record, and one that might take a while to grow on you if you haven’t had the pleasure of hearing the ‘Statics before. It’s pretty classic material, though, and along with Whale Music, was what first introduced me to the Gospel of Rheo. It features the usual suspects of jerky and somewhat angular tunes, Martin Tielli’s twisting, soaring vocals (for the uninitiated, think an intense-er Hawksley Workman), rollicking good-times tunes (in French!) in the form of “Chanson Les Ruelles,” and even a quintessential Canadian cover. And a song called “Saskatchewan”.

You might have noticed the excess use of the word “Canadian” in this post; that’s because it’s impossible to describe the Rheostatics without the use of that adjective. They are hosers through and through, and routinely write about the homeland in everything they do. To listen to this band is to snowshoe, to eat maple syrup, or to tack “eh” annoyingly onto the end of every sentence; but it’s also to appreciate everything that this giant landmass has to offer. Especially bands like this. They don’t come around often, so we had better listen up when they do.

Tunesday 8: Horses