August 4, 2012 saw the passing of guitar player Stuart Swanlund. He was 54. Stuart played guitar with the Marshall Tucker Band from 1983 until his passing. The band’s heyday was the 1970’s, but he was a great addition to the later version of the band. Here is the band playing Walk Outside The Line.
Lianne La Havas is an English singer who has asked the question everyone wants to the answer to, “Is Your Love Big Enough”. Since 2011, she has released 3 EP’s and an album. The album also asks the same question and was released in 2012. The song itself is very catchy and Lianne has an excellent voice. She is an excellent addition to the current British Invasion of women singers.
A pretty good tune from indie band Young Buffalo. A trio out of Mississippi, they have a sound that has a bit of a British vibe to it, and could easily be mistaken for Vampire Weekend. The video is pretty interesting as well.
Blues great Johnnie Bassett died on August 4, 2012 at the age of 76. He was a much in demand electric blues guitarist and a singer-songwriter. In addition to his session work, he toured with such notables as Tina Turner and Little Willie John. In session, he played with the Miracles and others. Here is one of his own compositions played live with the band, Hideaway.
I’ve heard this tune a lot over the past few months. It kind of grows on you. When I first heard it, I immediately thought it was a new tune from Paolo Nutini. Wrong. Bobby Bazini is a French-Canadian sinnger songwriter out of Mont-Laurier, Quebec. The song, I Wonder was released in 2010 and was off his album “Better In Time”. The album garnered him Juno nominations in 2011 for New Artist of the Year and Pop Album of the Year. He did not win in either category.
Quickly becoming one my favourites, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals cook. Great rock/blues voice that can also sing a mean ballad, all backed up by a great band. This video is the band live at Bryant Park in NYC and involves 2 songs, “Paris (Ooh La La)”, a great rocker followed by “Medicine” a good time, old-time song. When you hit 8 minutes, they do something I have never seen before. If you like Heart or Joan Jett, you’ll like this band, a lot. I’m not sure, but I think El Guapo introduced me to this group, can’t remember, but if he did, kudos. If not, pretend.
We last left off awaiting Lori’s post on the Glenmore reservoir Sailing School adventure. As we awaited, I posted about our small road trip to Lake Newell. Well, I guess we are still awaiting, so I will move on to our next investigation, Ghost Lake, near Cochrane, Alberta.
The lake is a reservoir on the Bow River, withing spitting distance of the Rockies. We found it had spectacular views, a large community of boats, a sailing school and plenty of mooring availability. In other words, it ticked most of our boxes. What it is missing is the ability to go on week-long adventures, as in, no down lake areas to moor or anchor. Very beautiful, only that this is all there is. Scratch Ghost Lake.
Didn’t take to many decent pictures, but here is a video of crazy Canucks sailing Ghost Lake in November.
Singer Songwriter Jimmy Jones died on August 2, 2012. He was 75. He was a Sam Cooke style singer, with a great falsetto. He is best known for his huge hit from 1960 “Handy Man“, which reached number 2 in 1960. His other hit was Good Timin’, which rose to number 3, also in 1960. After these 2 successes, he continued to record and write. His influence has been noted by such people as Del Shannon.
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With this post, we have now covered the first 150 songs on this list I discovered. Only 350 to go, blogger gold. This set has some drinking songs and lots of rock and roll, some classic, some newer and some that raises hackles on some people. Enjoy.
“Unicorn Song”
This one is for Hotspur. It isn’t pissing rainbows, but it is purple. One of the great drinking songs, done by the Irish Rovers in 1967, it reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968. Glen Campbell played guitar on the original. I think most people can sing at least a little of this one.
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2. Rush
“2112”
Rush, one of the greatest bands ever. 2112 is not a song, but one side of an album, broken into 7 pieces. The total length is 20:33. One of the best albums of all time. The video here is a live 6 minute piece of the song, taped in 1976.
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3. Treble Charger
“American Psycho”
A little more recent is Treble Charger’s song, American Psycho. Recorded in 2000 on their album “Wide Awake Bored“, it reached number 4 on Billboard’s Canadian Alt chart.
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4. Helix
“Heavy Metal Love”
Helix was popular in the late 70’s to the mid 80’s. Their sound was definitely heavy rock, a classic 80’s style.
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5. Nickelback
“Photograph”
Get your hate on. Nickelback, like em or leave em, are Canadian and are successful.
A bit of humour for a Sunday Morning. This was (is still?) a commercial for Midas that highlights a mock car chase breaking news story.
Is It Possible To See It All 