vintage

Last week East Coast favourite Joel Plaskett released an ambitious album called Three. As you might infer, the record is a triple, featuring 9 songs on each CD. It also has a somewhat annoying gimmick in which many of the song titles feature one word repeated three times (“Through & Through & Through,” “Wait, Wait, Wait,” etc).

Well, I’ve had it since it came out, and I’m still not convinced. So far it doesn’t strike me as being dynamic or interesting or having much variation — most of the 27 songs are hard to tell apart, and “Wishful Thinking” is still a huge disappointment when the first time I heard it was something like this. (OK, that was the second or third time, but you know how it goes.)

There are a few songs that have caught my ear enough for me to return to them, though, and one of them is nearly in the middle of the album: the third track on disc two, “Sailors Eyes”. It’s steeped in East Coast traditional style, featuring a whistle intro and a fabulously Maritime chord progression, and sounds like familiar Joel Plaskett. It gets stuck in my head a lot. I like it! Hope you do too.

Tunesday 15: Sailors Eyes

Oh yeah, and I don’t really want to devote a whole post to the Juno Awards, but I do want to comment on one thing: The Stills for best new group? Seriously? A cursory glance around the Internet proves that they have been active since about 2000, and I personally remember them being a source of reasonably steady hype since at least 2006. This past summer they opened for Paul McCartney for Quebec City’s 400th anniversary, playing to a crowd of about a quarter of a million, and they have released three records. THIS IS NOT A NEW BAND!!!

All right, Ruhee out. Sorry for the negligent blogging lately — I have eight courses this semester. Eight. It’s a wonder I can still communicate in full sentences.