One of the great things about the music streaming revolution is the number of analytics services like Apple Music and Spotify provide about your listening habits. In the case of Apple Music, my primary streaming provider, I can access my listening data going back to about 2015. While that information may only be interesting to me, it can provide a valuable snapshot of my thoughts, feelings, and experiences based on what was my personal soundtrack at the time.
Over the years, I have become more conscious of that fact, wondering how the new music I would add to my library would be collected by year’s end. Spotify’s Wrapped feature, for instance, is another fun way to look back. This year, instead of just giving a straight-up list of my most-played songs and albums, I thought I would take advantage of the space Substack allows to give some capsule reviews of each. So here goes.
Big Wreck - 7.2
Big Wreck seems to be going through something of a late-career renaissance. When other bands of their era, that is to say the mid-90s, have either broken up or have abandoned creating new material, there’s Ian Thornley, now just the lone original member of the band, still out there, still playing gigs and writing new music. 7.2 is the second in a series of EPs, following last year’s 7.1. And unlike some of the band’s full-length albums, there isn’t an ounce of fat on either of them. 7.2, as you would expect, picks up where its predecessor leaves off: loud guitars, interlocking riffs, and layered and aggressive vocals. It’s been said before, but if there were any justice in the world, Big Wreck would be playing stadiums, instead of being the club and theatre level act they are now. (Still, 25 years after their debut, they maintain a respectable following, even if their greatest commercial success is pretty much behind them.) I like all the songs on 7.2, but two really seal the deal, “Fear and Cowardice” and “The House,” which closes the EP. (Actually, my CD came with a bonus track, a cover of “Shout” by Tears for Fears, which turned out surprisingly good.) “Fear and Cowardice” is a slow, moody rocker in the grand Big Wreck tradition — think “Mistake” from their second record, while “The House” is more ballad-y, but rocks as hard as anything on here and has a soaring vocal to match. I’m looking forward to hearing what Ian has cooked up for 7.3, hopefully arriving in 2023.
The Black Keys - Dropout Boogie
Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney – the Akron, Ohio duo behind The Black Keys – have become quite reliable at putting out a slab of good time, blues-rock every year or two. Last year, it was all the all-covers Delta Kream, one of my favourites of 2021. This year it’s Dropout Boogie, their 11th album. I don’t own all their records, but their track record with me is such that when they do put something out, I will make a point of giving it a listen. I’m like that with Jack White too, but I find his solo stuff a bit more hit-and-miss. More on that later. Anyway. There is lots to like here. “Wild Child” and “It Ain’t Over” are a great one-two punch to start things off. But my favourite song here is “Your Team is Looking Good” which is almost something of a jock jam.
Your team is lookin' good
But not as good as ours
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
Beat everybody, but you won't beat us
You get the idea. Much like Dropout Boogie itself, the song makes its point and gets out. The album clocks in at a brisk 33:55 – just enough for two sides of vinyl and that’s it. Other artists would do well to follow this example.
Blondie – “Heart of Glass (Chris Stein Mix)”
Blondie is like a favourite pair of shoes: instantly comfortable and familiar. Growing up, it felt like my parents always had Blondie or ABBA on Boney M. on the stereo. Now, as I get older, I take some comfort in that music as it reminds of being a little kid. Against the Odds (1974-82) is a box set of Blondie’s peak commercial years on Chrysalis Records. It covers the band’s first eight albums along with assorted rarities and outtakes. Two stuck out for me – “I Love You Honey, Give Me a Beer (Go Through With It)” and “Heart of Glass (Chris Stein Mix)” – the latter most of all. I do enjoy hearing the evolution of certain songs and I often find myself listening to the bed tracks of some of my favourites to hear them in their root forms. That’s exactly what “Heart of Glass (Chris Stein Mix)” does – it gives you a glimpse into the creative process behind Blondie’s biggest hit, while also bringing to the fore elements of the production that get buried once Debbie Harry’s vocal kicks in. Without her voice, the song is almost like a trance and it’s very easy to get lost in it, especially if you leave it on repeat. It’s also a great new spin on a song I’ve heard many, many times over the years.
David Bowie – I’m Afraid of Americans – EP (2022 Remaster)
This is a bit of a hangover from last year’s Brilliant Adventures [1992-2001] box set which covered Bowie’s adventurous late career revival as an alt-rock pioneer. There is a great quote of his about getting older. "Aging is an extraordinary process whereby you become the person you always should have been." And there was no better embodiment of that than Bowie himself upon turning 50 in 1997. That was also the year he released “I’m Afraid of Americans” – now regarded as one of the most important songs of his later career. The EP contains no fewer than six versions of the song plus two radio edits. I liked the first two cuts on the EP so much, they showed up on my Apple Music most-played list of the year. Twenty-five years later, the song sounds as fresh and as forward looking as it did then. Bowie truly was ahead of his time.
Death Cab For Cutie - Asphalt Meadows
I’ve been fan of these guys for some time, going back to the song “I Will Possess Your Heart” which is on their Narrow Stairs record from 2008. I only found out later that they were from Bellingham, Washington — a short hop across the border from my hometown of Vancouver, BC and where I buy a significant amount of my records. (They even have a song called “Expo ‘86” on their fourth album.) Anyway, since those Narrow Stairs days, I have found them quite good at grabbing me with at least one or two keepers from each of their albums that I will listen to on repeat for weeks on end. There were two of those on their last record, Thank You for Today — “Gold Rush” which samples an old Yoko Ono song and “60 and Punk” which apparently was written about the lead singer’s unfortunate encounter with REM’s Peter Buck. Asphalt Meadows continues that tradition with “I Will Never Give Up on You” which closes the record. The rest of the album chugs along in that almost formula Death Cab manner, but nothing is quite as good as “I Will Never Give Up on You” to these ears. It’s definitely one of my most-listened to songs of the year.
Lana Del Rey – “Watercolour Eyes” (from “Euphoria” An Original HBO Series) – Single
2022 was a relatively quite year for the former Elisabeth Woolridge Grant. Last year, she put out two records: Chemtrails Over the Country Club and Blue Banisters – this year: none. I’m not complaining. My problem with Lana Del Rey is the same as my problem with Jack White. They’re so prolific that it seems like quantity counts more than quality. And in LDR’s case, I find I just can’t keep up. “Watercolour Eyes” is a nice enough tune though. I certainly enjoyed it enough for it to show up among my most listened to songs on Apple Music. It’s another in a line of LDR songs where she is complaining to a partner about how annoying they are. “Why you always doing that/Playing guitar when I'm sleeping/Acting like a brat.” It’s quite a pretty little tune once it grows on you. But I still wish she would rock out a little more like she did in her Ultraviolence days.
Gord Downie and Bob Rock – “Lustre Parfait”
Say what you want about The Tragically Hip — I appreciate they’re not everyone’s cup of tea, as un-Canadian as that is to admit — our country lost a hell of a writer and performer when Gord Downie passed away in 2017. As prolific as he was in life, it seems, much like Tupac, he is more so in death, with whole albums of material now beginning to see the light of day. “Lustre Parfait” is the pre-release single from one of those albums, this one a collaboration with ex-Payolas guitarist turned Metallica uber-producer Bob Rock. This song is more celebratory in tone than a lot of Downie’s solo work and I think I can even pick out a horn section in the background. This was one of those songs I kept on repeat for the first few days it was out. As I tweeted at the time, “Gord still has the power to amaze, even now.” I don’t know what a “Lustre Parfait” is but, whatever it is, it rocks.
Eels - Extreme Witchcraft
Mark Oliver Everett — or “E” as he is also known — has been quietly creating an incredible catalogue of smart, funny indie-rock songs, starting way back with “Novocaine for the Soul,” his big hit from 1996. While nothing he has done since then has been quite as successful (at least commercially speaking), he continues to write and perform to this day. My fandom was solidified with 2001’s Souljacker and I have drifted in and out ever since, a song here, a song there. This year brought Extreme Witchcraft, his 14th album under the Eels banner, and a creative reunion with Souljacker collaborator John Parish. I first heard “Good Night on Earth” and then got into “Stumbling Bee” and “The Magic.” Everett’s words are always clever, self-deprecating, and funny. “The Magic” might be the best example of this.
I get it, don't sweat it, I'm not your cup of tea
Believe it or not, not everyone loves me
But try me, you'll find me, a personality
That you can't get enough of once you can feel
The magic
Feel the magic
Who couldn’t identify with a sentiment like that? Needless to say, I was hooked pretty quick. I ended up splurging on the deluxe two record set, pressed on translucent yellow vinyl. It was well worth the money.
Envy of None - Envy of None
This one really came out of left field. I was not expecting to like this nearly as much as I did. Envy of None is the first full-length project from former Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson since he and Geddy Lee called time on the band following the passing of drummer and lyricist Neil Peart. Lifeson is joined here by former Coney Hatch bassist and singer Andy Curran and newcomers Maiah Wynne on vocals and Alfio Annibalini on keyboards. The result is an at times moody and atmospheric record that reminds me of Massive Attack in spots but with the unmistakable crunch that you would expect from Lifeson. The best example of that moody, atmospheric style I’m talking about it “Look Inside,” which starts off slow and builds from there. The real star of the record, for me, is Maiah Wynne, whose voice is perfectly suited to the material here. The most Rush-sounding song on here is “Spy House” which is underpinned by a simple Lifeson guitar riff that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Counterparts, a favourite of mine from the `90s. “Kabul Blues” is another Lifeson contribution, as is “Western Sunset,” an instrumental that closes Side Two. I’m not even sure if he plays on the whole album or just those three songs. So, credit to everyone involved for such a complete sounding record.
Liam Gallagher - C'mon You Know
I was never a big Oasis fan. During their initial heyday in the mid-90s, I was listening to the likes of Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, and Nirvana as well as collecting the back catalogues of my favourite classic rock artists. Sure, the odd song would grab me here and there. I picked up the CD-single for “D’You Know What I Mean?” — a song that was inescapable the summer after I turned 19. I even have an Apple Music playlist called Oasis Songs I Don’t (Completely) Hate. But I was not expecting to go all-in for this Liam Gallagher solo record, his third. That changed once I heard “Everything’s Electric,” the pre-release single. Everyone knows Noel was the writer in Oasis, but no-one could sell his songs quite like his troublesome younger brother. Here, Liam is helped out by a small army of song doctors and the results are pretty good. “Everything’s Electric” was co-written with Dave Grohl and uber-producer Greg Kurstin. It’s probably the catchiest thing Liam has done since “D’You Know What I Mean” back in ‘97. While nothing on the album is quite that good, a decent standard of quality is maintained throughout. Other favourites include “Diamond in the Dark,” “I’m Free” and the album-closing ballad “Oh Sweet Children.”
KISS - Creatures of the Night (40th Anniversary) (Super Deluxe Edition)
I got into KISS relatively late in my youth. Growing up, I was more into Aerosmith. When I was 10 or 11 years old, I used to walk around with one of those briefcase-style cassette tape carry cases with what was the Aerosmith discography up to that point. (And now to completely date myself, their latest album at the time was 1989’s Pump.) All of this is to say, I didn’t like KISS back then. It wasn’t until the early `90s and the Grunge revolution that I gave them a second look because many of those Seattle guys cited KISS, and specifically guitarist Ace Frehley, as an influence.
Creatures of the Night features Ace’s likeness on the cover, but that’s about all he has to do with it. Much of the guitar work is done by one Vincent Cusano, aka Vinnie Vincent. I still don’t think of myself as a big KISS fan, but listening to Creatures again because of the 40th anniversary reissue makes me realize what a great album I snoozed on here. Besides the original LP’s worth of songs, there are a slew of outtakes and alternative versions. In true KISS fashion, if you want to own them all, you have to spring for the deluxe edition which will set you back about 300 bucks. So, I will make do with the double CD version instead.
Dan Mangan - Being Somewhere
I didn’t know much about Dan Mangan before this album, not even the fact that he’s a local boy. (Well, he’s Vancouver-based, but originally from Smithers.) Anyway, I was hooked by the first single, “Fire Escape,” and the viral campaign around it. The video shows Mangan getting beat up by actor (and fellow Canadian) Steven Ogg, who you may recognize from The Walking Dead and Better Call Saul. I read somewhere that Ogg is supposed to represent Mangan’s Id. Anyway, it’s a fine little piece of confessional indie-rock and really grows on you after a while. At least it did in my case. The rest of the album continues in that style, but nothing is quite as catchy as “Fire Escape.”
Pink Floyd - Animals (2018 remix)
Pink Floyd was one of those seminal bands for me. My first-ever concert was when their Division Bell tour came to BC Place for two nights in June 1994. (I attended on the second night.) I had essentially grown up with their music. My older brother had Dark Side of the Moon on vinyl and The Wall movie on VHS. A friend at elementary school had A Collection of Great Dance Songs on cassette. (I still remember using the school Xerox machine to photocopy the liner card when I dubbed a copy for myself.)
I discovered the Animals record a little later, when I picked up the Shine On box set in '94, not long after that Division Bell show. To me, it’s just as vital as Dark Side or The Wall and is another chapter in the same story. (Is This The Life We Really Want? — the most recent solo effort from Roger Waters — also fits into this narrative and the tour behind it featured a good chunk of Animals too.)
The version of the album, a remix done in 2018 by Floyd engineer extraordinaire James Guthrie, has its own backstory which I won’t get into here. Suffice it to say, band politics held up its release for four years. But the result is well worth the wait. Songs I’ve been listening to for 25 years or more have a new sheen, with certain musical dynamics more apparent and other vocal elements brought to the fore. The updated cover art is also quite the nice touch, especially if you spring for the vinyl like I did.
Red Hot Chili Peppers - “Black Summer”
The Chili Peppers have always been a singles act for me. Most of their stuff still gets played on the radio enough that I have never felt the need to buy any of their albums. I did pick up the What Hits?! compilation as a kid and that neatly summarizes their early career, right up to their breakthrough with “Under the Bridge” from Blood Sugar Sex Magik. There have been a handful of others since then too. All these years later, “Black Summer” shows they can still write a hooky, grabby song that rewards repeated listens. The return of John Frusciante is a big part of that, hearkening back to some of their best work. He is really allowed to stretch out here, ripping out a guitar solo that builds up to a big finish. It’s one of my most listened to songs of the year because it has all those basic ingredients that made the Chilis great in the first place.
Keith Richards – Main Offender (30th Anniversary Edition)
This is Keith’s second solo record, written and recorded between two monster Stones projects, Steel Wheels and Voodoo Lounge. And since his first solo record, Talk is Cheap, got the 30th anniversary reissue treatment a few years ago, this year was Main Offender’s turn. Main Offender is one of those albums I bought as a kid and now find myself buying again in middle age, much to my chagrin. Anyway, I’ve always loved the one-two punch that opens the record, the album track “999” and “As Wicked As It Seems,” the lead single which also got a stylish Mark Romanek-directed music video. Hearing the album again, I actually listened to it front to back for perhaps the first time ever. “Eileen,” the second single, chugs along in an almost workmanlike Stones fashion but with some nice country guitar lines I may have snoozed on the first time around. “Words of Wonder” is another one of Keith’s reggae exercises. The older I get, the more I enjoy these. But “Hate It When You Leave” is the real surprise this time around. It has a nice, straight-up beat like an old soul song with horns and background vocals to match. Again, it’s the kind of tune I wouldn’t have enjoyed the first time around, but with the perspective only age can provide, it sounds much better now. There isn’t much more I can say about ol’ Keith that hasn’t been said already. Now pushing 80, he continues to defy the odds and prove the naysayers wrong. To quote the internet, we really should start thinking about what kind of world we are leaving behind for Keith Richards.
The Rolling Stones – El Mocambo 1977
Sticking with our Stones theme, most fans will know some at least some of these songs from the band’s 1977’s release, Love You Live. Side Three of that double album was recorded at Toronto’s legendary El Mocambo nightclub. The Stones actually played two nights there – March 4-5, 1977 – but only four songs made the cut. That is, until now. Much has been written about this period in the band’s history – Keith’s drug bust, those unkind rumours about Margaret Trudeau, etc. – often at the expense of the music itself. Listening to El Mocambo 1977 reminds you how great these guys were, even when their glory years were supposed to be behind them. “Mannish Boy,” “Crackin’ Up,” “Little Red Rooster,” and “Around and Around” from Love You Live are all here, of course. But even songs from 1976’s Black and Blue sound refreshed and revitalized in the live context. “Crazy Mama,” “Hand of Fate,” and “Hot Stuff,” while hardly in the top tier of Stones songs, at least in my opinion, have a new grit and swagger here. If there is an award for best archival release of the year, El Mocambo 1977 should definitely be in the conversation.
Rush – Moving Pictures (40th Anniversary)
Rush is running a little behind on its 40th anniversary reissues. Moving Pictures actually came out in February of ’81 making it almost 42 years old as of this writing. If Rush were on schedule, 1982’s Signals would have been reissued and repackaged this year. (I hope that does eventually happen, since it is still my favourite Rush record.) Anyway, Moving Pictures was one of those albums I thought I couldn’t possibly know any better than I already did until I picked up this reissue. My original copy of this was one of the first Rush CDs I ever purchased, likely in junior high. Putting it on again with fresh ears I realized I had snoozed on a couple of great songs. Sure, I can still enjoy “Tom Sawyer” and “Red Barchetta” and “Vital Signs” as I always have, but I never really gave “The Camera Eye” or “YYZ” a proper chance. It’s no secret Rush, and especially Geddy Lee, were big fans of Yes. Well, it really shows here. “The Camera Eye” is the most Yes-sounding song of theirs I’ve ever heard. Clocking-in at almost 11 minutes, it’s also the longest song on the album and a bit of a throwback to the longer, progressive rock suites they had only relatively recently abandoned in favour of more compact, radio-friendly numbers. For those reasons, it kind of serves as the centrepiece of the record. “YYZ” sounds great here too. It’s one of those rare birds: the Rush instrumental and it’s one of their better ones at that. Included with the 40th anniversary reissue is a pretty skookum live album recorded in their hometown of Toronto, the appropriately titled Live in YYZ 1981. Geddy introduces the song there with the words, “This is where we live. This is YYZ.” I’m not a Toronto guy at all. In fact, as a proud Vancouverite, I have an almost reflexive disdain for anything that celebrates the self-professed centre of the Canadian universe. But even I can admit “YYZ” is pretty cool. The live version also has one of Neil Peart’s trademark drum solos. I feel lucky to have witnessed a few of those in person over the years. Alas, no more. Rest well, Neil.
The Sheepdogs - Outta Sight
Eleven years removed from winning a contest to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine as an unsigned band, Saskatoon’s The Sheepdogs continue to reliably churn out what I like to call their particular brand of classic rock cosplay. This is a band that is not afraid to wear their influences on their sleeve. I can hear bits of CCR, the Allman Brothers, and even The Guess Who throughout. This was another album I wasn’t expecting to like as much as I did, but here we are. “Here I Am” serves as both the opening track and mission statement. “Here I am/With the Band/Sing it loud/That’s the plan/Making noise/With the fam/Would someone please give me a hand.” Simple but effective. Much like the Sloan album, all the songs flow quite nicely into each other, like an old school LP should. It’s hard to pick a favourite, but I recommend “Here I Am,” “Scarborough Street Fight,” and “Roughrider ‘89” to start.
Sloan - Steady
Sloan is undeniable. The Halifax-born indie-rockers are one of those rare birds where all four members sing and write their own tunes, giving them a great diversity in sound. Steady — as in ‘slow and steady’ — is Sloan’s 13th album. It was also released almost 30 years to the day of their debut, Smeared. I was immediately hooked by “Spend the Day,” one of the pre-release singles. I picked up the record — pressed on fancy pink vinyl, no less — and was quickly bowled over by how one song seemed to flow into another quite naturally. You can tell someone took great care with the running order of the songs, which is the hallmark of any good album. Lots of hooky choruses and witty lyrics along with Sloan’s trademark harmonies made this a winner for me. All the songs are great, but especially “Spend the Day” and the moody “Panic on Runnymede” which closes Side One.
The Smile - A Light for Attracting Attention
Featuring Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead, The Smile sounds a lot like, uh, Radiohead. Many of the songs are spiky and guitar-driven, kind of like Radiohead was before OK Computer. Honestly, they could have put this out as a Radiohead album, and I would have been none the wiser. This was another one of those albums that grew on me after repeated streams before I went out and picked it up on vinyl. Highlights for me include “You’ll Never Work in Television Again” and “The Smoke” – but it all flows nicely together. More of this, please.
Jack White - Fear of the Dawn
Jack White - Entering Heaven Alive
Jack White is nothing if not prolific. Ever since The White Stripes officially called it a day in 2011, he has put out five solo albums – two of them this year alone. That’s on top of everything else he does, from running his Third Man Records business to his membership in two other bands, The Dead Weather and The Raconteurs. It’s almost too much for me to keep up with but I do try to listen to his new stuff whenever he puts something out. My problem with Jack, like with Lana Del Rey, is that sometimes it seems like quality take a back seat to quantity. There is great stuff on almost all his albums, but some are a little too spotty for my taste. Thankfully, Fear of the Dawn and especially Entering Heaven Alive don’t really have that problem. Fear of the Dawn is billed as a more traditional rock album while Entering Heaven Alive is meant to be more acoustic and folky. I don’t know about that. Entering Heaven Alive is a little gentler for the most part, but it can rock out too. Of the two, Entering Heaven Alive is the stronger record, basically because the semi-acoustic format keeps some of White’s usual excesses – his not-always-appealing screech vocals and his sometimes-noisy guitar freakouts – in check. What you get instead is one of his best albums in years, solo or otherwise. Turns out, he’s a much better singer than a screamer and when he focuses on the craft of the songs instead of how to make them as noisy as possible, everybody wins. Standouts for me include the opener, “A Tip From Me to You,” and the riff-y “I’ve Got You Surrounded (With My Love).” The guitar hook sounds like something Jeff Beck would have come up with. He would do well to cover it. There are also two versions of “Taking Me Back” – the harder one opens Fear of the Dawn and the softer one closes Entering Heaven Alive. They’re fitting bookends if you consider the albums as two halves of one larger project. And thanks to the wonder of playlists, you can. Try it.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Cool It Down
Another great thing about streaming, besides the listening analytics, is the ability to test-drive new music. I had a passing acquaintance with Yeah Yeah Yeahs before this album, mainly from a Saturday Night Live appearance back in 2009. (In fact, they were supposed to appear on SNL’s Christmas episode but were replaced by Lizzo at the last minute because their guitarist was battling pneumonia.) So, based on liking that one song, “Zero,” I decided to give Cool It Down a try. I’m glad I did. The result is an LP’s worth of competent electro-pop, not unlike Canada’s Metric. The song on Cool It Down that sealed the deal for me was “Lovebomb” – one of those earworms that you listen to on repeat for days. “Spitting Off the Edge of the World” is also good. Really, there isn’t anything on here that shouldn’t be. Clocking in at 32:24, the album is just long enough to be an LP but not too long to overstay its welcome. After streaming it a couple of times, I picked it up on yellow vinyl and it still holds up beyond the initial honeymoon phase I often have with records.
