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charlene · 12-16-2007, 11:00 PM

http://www.buffalonews.com/entertain...ry/230344.html

Choosing the best music of Canada: The sound of a nation
By Jeff Miers
Updated: 12/16/07 9:47 AM

Jeff Miers picks Joni Mitchell's "Mingus" for his No. 2 Canadian album, right after The Band's "Music From Big Pink." More Photos

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Northern lights

Bob Mersereau says his native Canada is “a nation of doubters; We doubt the quality of our own music, probably because we feel like we live in the shadow of the States.”

Mersereau conceived “The Top 100 Canadian Albums” partly as a means of overturning this self-doubt, but mainly, he wanted to celebrate the rich history of Canadian recordings, and place those recordings in the broader context of the world.

Context is a key concept here, for Mersereau penned thorough histories for each album on the list, his principal aim being to reveal how “all of these albums belong in any serious disc collection, whether you happen to be Canadian or otherwise.”

With the help of an all-star panel of Canadian musicians and industry-types, as well as a handful of high-profile contributing writers – among them Neil Peart of Rush, Leonard Cohen, Gordon Lightfoot, Win Butler of Arcade Fire and Rob Baker of the Tragically Hip – Mersereau has compiled a tome that handily achieves this aim.

A chat with him this week revealed much about the Canadian sense of self, as revealed by its finest recorded music.

The first thing one notices when scanning this list is the diversity of the talent represented. It’s startling, actually.

That’s true. It’s one of the reasons for doing the book, in fact – trying to represent that diversity, which is part of what makes Canadian music such a force.

Bearing that in mind, what’s the connective tissue? What makes an album distinctly Canadian?

That’s the big question. I think the answer has to be, our music is linked by the same thing that links us geographically: nature.

When young bands or artists start out in Canada, they have to tour. And when they do, they get a sense of the expanse of the country, as they travel from one side of it to the other.

Greg Keelor of Blue Rodeo told me, ‘Canadians never tire of a singer/songwriter,’ and that’s true. The reason for that is, we have our own tradition of folk music here, based on the fact that people have always been making music with whatever was at hand. When you’re isolated in some fishing camp or logging and lumber camp in the north, you make music with your voice and probably an acoustic guitar.

I think that’s burned into our DNA now. That’s a big part of who we are, and I think it connects our music.

It’s no surprise to see Neil Young in the top slot – and seven other slots besides! Obviously, Joni Mitchell and the Band are gonna be in there. Did anything surprise you when the panel returned the results?

The most pleasant surprise was the fact that younger people voted for older artists, and older people voted for younger artists. That’s telling, because I believe we know our history in Canada, and we’re proud of it. There’s less of the whole, ‘Oh, they’re an old band that my dad listened to, so forget them,’ sort of thing. There’s a sense of knowing where we come from, musically, and using that knowledge to get where we might be going. I was thrilled by that.

I’m not the first person to say this, but if there was a Canadian Mount Rushmore it certainly wouldn’t have politicians on it – it would have been Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and Gordon Lightfoot on it! We’re aware here that these are the great reference points, and we’re not afraid to look back.

Let’s get your thoughts on a few of the artists who placed more than one record in the top 100. The Band?

They made folk music come alive again, at a time when no one was really doing that. Most of them were rural Canadian guys who heard a wide array of music – not just American music from the south, although that was clearly a big part of it. And they fell in love with the idea of creating interesting sounds and arrangements in service of incredible songs. The music is timeless.

Also, it’s reflective of the rough and tumble R&B scene in Toronto in the ’60s. That scene, which stretched from Toronto to Hamilton and back, was the equal of the scene anywhere in the world. The Band, when they were still the Hawks, came out of that scene.

The Tragically Hip.

They remain our biggest rock band, because they refuse to do it any other way than their own. They could’ve gone another route, they could’ve been made into something they’re not and had much more commercial success – the offers were there. But instead, they steadfastly wrote about what they knew, which meant they were unafraid to learn Canadian history and reference it, or to put the names of obscure hockey players or strange Canadian towns into their songs. That makes it folk music, and it’s our folk music.

Also, the band found a way to appeal to both the jock crowd and the serious music-lover crowd. That’s a pretty big deal. In Canada, we feel like we own them!

Rush.

Certainly an institution. The band has a huge following that has been with it forever.

In Canada, we feel like Rush is our progressive rock. The band is made up of survivors, of serious musicians who have both a sense of humor about it all, and a high-minded approach to what they do. In Neil Peart, you’ve got such an extremely literary, agile mind. It doesn’t hurt, either, that Rush steadfastly avoided the pitfalls all bands face, and many succumb to. They’re the real deal.

and

http://www.buffalonews.com/entertain...ry/230349.html

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
Updated: 12/16/07 8:30 AM

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.

12-16-2007, 11:00 PM	#8
charlene Moderator Join Date: May 2000 Posts: 16,001	Re: top 100 Canadian Albums - "Lightfoot" excerpts from book http://www.buffalonews.com/entertain...ry/230344.html Choosing the best music of Canada: The sound of a nation By Jeff Miers Updated: 12/16/07 9:47 AM Jeff Miers picks Joni Mitchell's "Mingus" for his No. 2 Canadian album, right after The Band's "Music From Big Pink." More Photos Related Stories Northern lights Bob Mersereau says his native Canada is “a nation of doubters; We doubt the quality of our own music, probably because we feel like we live in the shadow of the States.” Mersereau conceived “The Top 100 Canadian Albums” partly as a means of overturning this self-doubt, but mainly, he wanted to celebrate the rich history of Canadian recordings, and place those recordings in the broader context of the world. Context is a key concept here, for Mersereau penned thorough histories for each album on the list, his principal aim being to reveal how “all of these albums belong in any serious disc collection, whether you happen to be Canadian or otherwise.” With the help of an all-star panel of Canadian musicians and industry-types, as well as a handful of high-profile contributing writers – among them Neil Peart of Rush, Leonard Cohen, Gordon Lightfoot, Win Butler of Arcade Fire and Rob Baker of the Tragically Hip – Mersereau has compiled a tome that handily achieves this aim. A chat with him this week revealed much about the Canadian sense of self, as revealed by its finest recorded music. The first thing one notices when scanning this list is the diversity of the talent represented. It’s startling, actually. That’s true. It’s one of the reasons for doing the book, in fact – trying to represent that diversity, which is part of what makes Canadian music such a force. Bearing that in mind, what’s the connective tissue? What makes an album distinctly Canadian? That’s the big question. I think the answer has to be, our music is linked by the same thing that links us geographically: nature. When young bands or artists start out in Canada, they have to tour. And when they do, they get a sense of the expanse of the country, as they travel from one side of it to the other. Greg Keelor of Blue Rodeo told me, ‘Canadians never tire of a singer/songwriter,’ and that’s true. The reason for that is, we have our own tradition of folk music here, based on the fact that people have always been making music with whatever was at hand. When you’re isolated in some fishing camp or logging and lumber camp in the north, you make music with your voice and probably an acoustic guitar. I think that’s burned into our DNA now. That’s a big part of who we are, and I think it connects our music. It’s no surprise to see Neil Young in the top slot – and seven other slots besides! Obviously, Joni Mitchell and the Band are gonna be in there. Did anything surprise you when the panel returned the results? The most pleasant surprise was the fact that younger people voted for older artists, and older people voted for younger artists. That’s telling, because I believe we know our history in Canada, and we’re proud of it. There’s less of the whole, ‘Oh, they’re an old band that my dad listened to, so forget them,’ sort of thing. There’s a sense of knowing where we come from, musically, and using that knowledge to get where we might be going. I was thrilled by that. I’m not the first person to say this, but if there was a Canadian Mount Rushmore it certainly wouldn’t have politicians on it – it would have been Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and Gordon Lightfoot on it! We’re aware here that these are the great reference points, and we’re not afraid to look back. Let’s get your thoughts on a few of the artists who placed more than one record in the top 100. The Band? They made folk music come alive again, at a time when no one was really doing that. Most of them were rural Canadian guys who heard a wide array of music – not just American music from the south, although that was clearly a big part of it. And they fell in love with the idea of creating interesting sounds and arrangements in service of incredible songs. The music is timeless. Also, it’s reflective of the rough and tumble R&B scene in Toronto in the ’60s. That scene, which stretched from Toronto to Hamilton and back, was the equal of the scene anywhere in the world. The Band, when they were still the Hawks, came out of that scene. The Tragically Hip. They remain our biggest rock band, because they refuse to do it any other way than their own. They could’ve gone another route, they could’ve been made into something they’re not and had much more commercial success – the offers were there. But instead, they steadfastly wrote about what they knew, which meant they were unafraid to learn Canadian history and reference it, or to put the names of obscure hockey players or strange Canadian towns into their songs. That makes it folk music, and it’s our folk music. Also, the band found a way to appeal to both the jock crowd and the serious music-lover crowd. That’s a pretty big deal. In Canada, we feel like we own them! Rush. Certainly an institution. The band has a huge following that has been with it forever. In Canada, we feel like Rush is our progressive rock. The band is made up of survivors, of serious musicians who have both a sense of humor about it all, and a high-minded approach to what they do. In Neil Peart, you’ve got such an extremely literary, agile mind. It doesn’t hurt, either, that Rush steadfastly avoided the pitfalls all bands face, and many succumb to. They’re the real deal. and http://www.buffalonews.com/entertain...ry/230349.html 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 Updated: 12/16/07 8:30 AM 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.