12-17-2007, 02:47 AM
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Northern lights
AS A NEW BOOK CELEBRATES THE FINEST CANADIAN ALBUMS, WE CONSIDER OUR MUSICAL CONNECTION TO THE COUNTRY
By Jeff Miers / NEWS POP MUSIC CRITIC
* Choosing the best music of Canada: The sound of a nation
Well, we got more than hockey from them, didn’t we? We Americans like to think we invented most things, and we certainly can lay claim to some worthwhile cultural exports – the blues, jazz, rock ’n’ roll, hip-hop.
In Buffalo, however, we are unique. We remain a suburb of Toronto in many ways.
We still get skipped over on many highprofile concert tours. We still lack both the growing, bustling population and the vibrant club scene that comes along with it. But we have a real fascination with Canadian music on this side of the Peace Bridge.
In a sense, the regional music of the Toronto area is our regional music, as well. We’re separated by some readily apparent cultural differences – a body of water, a bridge and a border. But Toronto is only 100 miles from here.
In fact, there are Canadian groups – the Tea Party, Tragically Hip and Sloan, for example – who are huge in Canada, massive in Buffalo, but have trouble getting arrested anywhere south of here. They sell out large venues in Buffalo and play small-to-medium- sized clubs in the rest of the country.
So when Bob Mersereau’s impressive tome, “The Top 100 Canadian Albums,” was released recently, we were seriously intrigued.
Mersereau compiled an authoritative panel of Canadian musicians and music industry folks to vote in this definitive sweepstakes. On the one hand, some of the results were expected: Neil Young not only claimed the No. 1 spot, he managed to place no less than 8 albums in the top 100. On the other hand, there were a few surprises: Canadian punkers Teenage Head placed two records in the list.
The book is a reminder of just how much we in Western New York share with our Canadian neighbors, musically speaking. We also feel lucky – a lot of the artists on the list at one time or another played in our city, or we were able to take a ride up the QEW to hear them. Take that, Charlotte and Tampa.
This book speaks to us, or at least we are intrigued by the talent, and the fact that someone actually took the time to compile the list.
The popular conception is that Canadians are a tolerant lot, except when it comes to hockey and cross-border shopping sprees. Mersereau’s book speaks to their diversity of opinion as well. How else to explain a list that places jazz giant Oscar Peterson smack up against alt-rockers the Joel Plaskett Emergency? The Band. Neil Young. Joni Mitchell. Rush.
These are some of the biggest names in popular music history. Yet, they have become so much a part of our culture that it’s easy to forget they are all Canadian artists, despite the fact that all of them celebrate their heritage in one fashion or another.
The Band reflected the wide-open spaces and sense of possibility of the Canadian landscape in their music. Young has never shied away from representing in song the sense of wind-blown wistfulness he experienced as a kid growing up amidst the valleys and plains of Manitoba. Mitchell has written extensively about Canada, perhaps most movingly in her evergreen piece, “A Case of You.”
Rush celebrated the open-minded playlist policies of Toronto’s CFNY FM during its late ’70s/’80s heyday with their song “The Spirit of Radio.” The Tragically Hip, a massive draw in Buffalo, have quite possibly penned more Canada-specific tunes than any other artist.
Still, it’s hard to whittle any of this down to a sound that is distinctly Canadian, just as there is no one American sound. It’s a testament to the depth of a culture that so much music of widely divergent stylings can fit neatly beneath a nationalistic umbrella.
So hats off to our northern neighbors. They’ve given us some timeless music.
<!-- e --><a href="mailto:jmiers@buffnews.com">jmiers@buffnews.com</a><!-- e -->
Northern lights
AS A NEW BOOK CELEBRATES THE FINEST CANADIAN ALBUMS, WE CONSIDER OUR MUSICAL CONNECTION TO THE COUNTRY
By Jeff Miers / NEWS POP MUSIC CRITIC
* Choosing the best music of Canada: The sound of a nation
Well, we got more than hockey from them, didn’t we? We Americans like to think we invented most things, and we certainly can lay claim to some worthwhile cultural exports – the blues, jazz, rock ’n’ roll, hip-hop.
In Buffalo, however, we are unique. We remain a suburb of Toronto in many ways.
We still get skipped over on many highprofile concert tours. We still lack both the growing, bustling population and the vibrant club scene that comes along with it. But we have a real fascination with Canadian music on this side of the Peace Bridge.
In a sense, the regional music of the Toronto area is our regional music, as well. We’re separated by some readily apparent cultural differences – a body of water, a bridge and a border. But Toronto is only 100 miles from here.
In fact, there are Canadian groups – the Tea Party, Tragically Hip and Sloan, for example – who are huge in Canada, massive in Buffalo, but have trouble getting arrested anywhere south of here. They sell out large venues in Buffalo and play small-to-medium- sized clubs in the rest of the country.
So when Bob Mersereau’s impressive tome, “The Top 100 Canadian Albums,” was released recently, we were seriously intrigued.
Mersereau compiled an authoritative panel of Canadian musicians and music industry folks to vote in this definitive sweepstakes. On the one hand, some of the results were expected: Neil Young not only claimed the No. 1 spot, he managed to place no less than 8 albums in the top 100. On the other hand, there were a few surprises: Canadian punkers Teenage Head placed two records in the list.
The book is a reminder of just how much we in Western New York share with our Canadian neighbors, musically speaking. We also feel lucky – a lot of the artists on the list at one time or another played in our city, or we were able to take a ride up the QEW to hear them. Take that, Charlotte and Tampa.
This book speaks to us, or at least we are intrigued by the talent, and the fact that someone actually took the time to compile the list.
The popular conception is that Canadians are a tolerant lot, except when it comes to hockey and cross-border shopping sprees. Mersereau’s book speaks to their diversity of opinion as well. How else to explain a list that places jazz giant Oscar Peterson smack up against alt-rockers the Joel Plaskett Emergency? The Band. Neil Young. Joni Mitchell. Rush.
These are some of the biggest names in popular music history. Yet, they have become so much a part of our culture that it’s easy to forget they are all Canadian artists, despite the fact that all of them celebrate their heritage in one fashion or another.
The Band reflected the wide-open spaces and sense of possibility of the Canadian landscape in their music. Young has never shied away from representing in song the sense of wind-blown wistfulness he experienced as a kid growing up amidst the valleys and plains of Manitoba. Mitchell has written extensively about Canada, perhaps most movingly in her evergreen piece, “A Case of You.”
Rush celebrated the open-minded playlist policies of Toronto’s CFNY FM during its late ’70s/’80s heyday with their song “The Spirit of Radio.” The Tragically Hip, a massive draw in Buffalo, have quite possibly penned more Canada-specific tunes than any other artist.
Still, it’s hard to whittle any of this down to a sound that is distinctly Canadian, just as there is no one American sound. It’s a testament to the depth of a culture that so much music of widely divergent stylings can fit neatly beneath a nationalistic umbrella.
So hats off to our northern neighbors. They’ve given us some timeless music.
<!-- e --><a href="mailto:jmiers@buffnews.com">jmiers@buffnews.com</a><!-- e -->
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