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MLT – Cover Requests
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In the late 70s in Canada Trooper was big with a lot of hits, but they didn’t get a lot of traction outside of Canada like The Guess Who, and BTO did. They had some big rock hits like Raise A Little Hell, and Santa Maria, but like the Rolling Stones they had some incredible ballads. Pretty Lady is one of them, and I still find on occasion humming to its melody even now. It has a Whiter Shade of Pale like orchestral movement in it. Have a listen.
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Like Jung said Trooper was huge in Canada, though I like their music, can’t say same for the band, (at least 2 members of the group) as I met them once and 2 members were jerks, leaving at that…
The Tragically Hip are another Iconic Canadian band.
I had previously posted recently on the forum a link about Ottawa being North version of Liverpool for it’s music scene in the 60s, etc.
Also I had just read a book about Canada’s Rock n Roll History… Some bands I was aware of while others not, and as said, many had to get noticed outside Canada before being sought of in Canada afterwards…. There is a DVD out there but I borrowed a copy from public library awhile ago-Shaking All Over (I think that’s the title), about the Canadian music scene in past/recent times-recent as in the time the DVD was made. I still am a fan/friends of/with Glass Tiger band. Not sure how many of the earlier bands in Canada are still going with exception to Guess Who/Burton and Randy or how many band members from those bands went on to solo and/or new bands thereafter, or even still living…. Lol
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Jacki, I had a listen to some Glass Tiger music on youtube and they were quite the great 80s band. “Don’t Forget Me”, “Some Day” were some real 80’s gems I recall. Didn’t realize they were a Canadian band. Great sounds. That would be an interesting DVD to watch about the Canadian music scene. Among the great Canadian rockers, Bryan Adams was/is one of the best, originating right from my backyard of North Vancouver, and he went to a rival high school not too far away. In the early 90’s I even saw him across the street from where I work in gastown at a coffee shop I frequented. Just in jeans and jean jacket came in to the coffee shop to talk to the lady owner whom I guess was a friend of his. He had a studio setup not too far away.
Here is a great Bryan Adams thowback to the 60’s sound with some raw guitar playing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFjjO_lhf9c
I can see the video was filmed in Vancouver with the familiar north shore mountains in the background.
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Wow, Jung… I’m surprised you did not know Glass Tiger were Canadian…. There are one amongst of being of Canada’s Iconic bands…. I’ve been a fan/friend of theirs for basically half my life…. Lol… They know me well. Before they were known as Glass Tiger, they were formerly known as Tokyo and before that, half the band were in their own other band while the others were in their own band, they met up and formed Tokyo. They were a bar/club band… They are awesome live. I prefer their live stuff… Their later /recent stuff is more their true style, roots in music.. Sure “Don’t Forget/Someday” are their hits but really it’s their other stuff that defines them more… The keyboard player did some nature CDs years ago, the lead singer has had a couple of solo CDs out, the guitar player has a solo CD out, the bass player has a great business going, portable backyard observatories (astronomy), their original drummer left the band yrs back to do his own stuff. Great bunch of guys, down to earth. Make awesome music they do. Both MLT/GT are my faves in music first and foremost.
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If Glass Tiger is one of your top faves Jacki, right up there with MLT, I will have to check them out more. I just listened to some of their other songs I haven’t heard before and I like their sounds. Would I be be very far off in your view if I said I feel a little bit of Depeche Mode (my little sisters fave band) style in some of their songs?
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Yes Jung, I would say so… Definitely Not Depeche Mode (never liked their stuff myself, before Glass Tiger entered my world I was a Duran Duran fan)… At least to my knowledge none of the GT guys are into Depeche Mode… Beatles, other rock bands are more their style….. How you came to that notion from their songs I have no idea… Lol… Way off base… Lol…. They had Rod Stewart on their “My Town” song doing guest vocals, The Chieftains on “My Song”, Alan(GT’s slead singer) had Micky Dolenz on one of his songs from his first solo album outside Glass Tiger and Bryan Adam’s did sing on “Don’t Forget Me” and GT’s current CD out, has a nice lineup of Canadian talent guest vocal – ing on songsand got Julian Lennon to sing too on the CD.. Alan did a nice cover of “You Got To Hide Your Love Away” on his last solo CD
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When I heard Glass Tiger – Diamond Sun, Depeche Mode flashed to mind, but perhaps it was just that general 80’s sound I felt that many bands captured so well. 🙂
By the time the 80’s came around and all those 80’s bands like Duran Duran, Thompson Twins, Tears for Fears, The Police, Bananarama, Madonna etc…were in full swing, I was in my late teens/early 20’s and getting into much harder rock like AC/DC, and my baby sister just started highschool and I remember her telling me how Duran Duran was just so huge with all the kids in school. It sounded like there was a little Beatlemania kind of sensation going on with Duran Duran. She said in school they use to call the big fans of Duran Duran, “Duran-ies” or something like that. The music was catchy and I liked it.
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Yes Jung… Durannies was the term used and yes bit was the 80s version mania of the 60s Beatles mania… Lol…
As for GT’s “Diamond Sun”, it’s vibe is Aboriginal and it sounds far more fab done live, nothing whatsoever like the album version.
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Two For The Show was another beautiful ballad hit of theirs. I could imagine Lisa wailing some of those guitar riffs on her Gretsch.
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I see what you mean Jung. Very Procol Harum like. A nice video to go with it too. Perhaps some similarities to the Annie Lennox, “Whiter Shade” video too. We know the Guess Who and BTO well here, but not Trooper, as you suggest. It’s the same here with some of our groups who were well known locally, but not in America.
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Not bad at all Jung. I’m surprised I hadn’t heard them before. Nice rhythm section also with the bass, drums and piano all very tight.
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“Anticipation” was singer-songwriter Carly Simon’s second studio album, released in 1971. The closing song, her version of Kris Kristofferson’s “I’ve Got to Have You”, was released as a single in Australia and reached the top 10 of the Australian charts in 1972. The album cover artwork is a photo of Simon taken at the gates of Queen Mary’s Garden in London’s Regent’s Park.
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That’s a nice one Howard! Carly Simon has a great voice. I like her You’re So Vain and Anticipation.
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I remember you referring to Ottawa as being the North version of Liverpool for its music scene in the 60s, Jacki. Following is a link to a review of the “Shakin’ All Over” DVD. The Movie includes bonus interviews with Randy Bachman, Cockburn, Burton Cummings, Lane, Lightfoot, Murray McLauchlan, Anne Murray, Buffy Ste-Marie and Sylvia Tyson.
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Yes Howard, that was the link about Ottawa being the Northern version of Liverpool…. Lol… And that’s the name of DVD too, you’ve done your research in depth!!
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Yes Jung, like your mom, I well remember Petula Clark’s Downtown constantly being played on radio downunder in 1965. It was a huge hit here.
Some important stats:
“Downtown” rose to No. 2 UK in December 1964, remaining there for three weeks, kept out of the #1 position by the Beatles’ “I Feel Fine”. Certified a Gold record for sales in the UK of 500,000, “Downtown” also reached #2 in Ireland and #1 in Australia, New Zealand, Rhodesia and South Africa, and was also a hit in Denmark (#2), India (#3), the Netherlands (#4) and Norway (#8).
But “Downtown” had its greatest significance in the reception it was afforded in the United States. Downtown” leapt to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated 23 January 1965, retaining that position a further week before being overtaken by the ascendancy of The Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'”. The song became the first #1 hit for the year 1965. Petula Clark thus became the first UK female artist to have a US #1 hit during the rock and roll era and the second in the annals of US charted music, Vera Lynn having hit #1 US with “Auf Wiederseh’n Sweetheart” in 1952.
“Downtown” also made Clark the first UK female artist to have a single certified as a Gold record for US sales of one million units. On Billboard’s annual Disk Jockey poll, “Downtown” was voted the second best single release of 1965 and Petula Clark was voted third most popular female vocalist. “Downtown” would be the first of fifteen consecutive hits Clark would place in the US Top 40 during a period when she’d have considerably less chart impact in her native UK, there reaching the Top 40 eight times.”
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Well, David, “Happy again” and “How can you win?” would have to be candidates for the club Topic “Misheard lyrics”. Your music teacher wasn’t alone in that regard and in those days they didn’t have the internet and google for easy reference like we do now. He would have had to pay for the sheet music!
Another great sixties song I could get excited about the MLT covering, from a couple of years earlier, is “Tell Him” from the Exciters. Unfortunately poor quality video from the early sixties.
“Actually, this wasn’t taken from a TV show. Long before the invention of “music videos,” Scopitones were short 16mm films made to play in bars and restaurants on what were essentially jukeboxes with TV-like screens. You’d select a tune, drop in your coins and the film clip you wanted to see was selected from a reel inside and rear-projected onto the device’s small screen. Some Scopitones, like the Soundies which preceded them, were quite imaginatively staged; others simply showcased a performer in from of a stationary curtain. All, though, preserved those stars (and sometimes non-stars) at their peaks as they were shot around the same time that the songs were hits. In some cases, such little shorts are the ONLY filmed record of these performers in action.”
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Helen Shapiro – Look Who It Is (Ready Steady Go, 1963).
This clip was recorded in October 4, 1963 at Television House in London. Only three Beatles were helping 17 years old Helen to make a beautiful teenage song. Paul was not there because he was busy in a different TH studio, judging a female singing/dancing contest on Brenda Lee’s “Let’s Jump The Broomstick”.
By a strange coincidence, Paul gave a prize to a girl who ran away from home four years later, which McCartney had read about in a newspaper, and so he wrote “She’s Leaving Home”.
Before she was sixteen years old, Shapiro had been voted Britain’s “Top Female Singer”. The Beatles first national tour of Britain, in the late winter/early spring of 1963, was as one of her supporting acts. During the course of the tour, the Beatles had their first hit single.
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Look through any window, what do you see? Hopefully The MLT doing another Hollies cover!
Sorry folk, I can’t help myself as I don’t think you could ever get enough MLT Hollies covers. They are a perfect fit!
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Not sure if it’s been suggested before. Just listened to “Heart of Gold” by Neil Young. WOW. Mona and Lisa could do a fabulous job with this.
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I totally agree with you, John. This would be an excellent option for the MLT to add to their fabulous acoustic “Duo Sessions”. Can’t you just see Mona on harmonica here! Yes, the seventies did happen and Neil Young was all over them. “Cortez The Killer” comes to mind for some reason.
“He came dancing across the water
With his galleons and guns
Looking for the new world
And that palace in the sun”Album: Zuma (1975), Neil Young and Crazy Horse.
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Yeah John, that would be a beautiful one for Mona and Lisa.
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Yes. I love Mona’s harmonica. We need more!
Interesting. I have never heard of “Cortez the Killer” before now. Kind of a Carlos Santana vibe to me. Would love to hear Mona and Lisa’s guitars rock to this. Their cover of “Samba Pi Ti” still amazes me.
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The following is extracted from the web and is intended for fanatics like me. If you are not into Neil Young’s music, you may prefer to ignore it as it is quite long!
“Cortez the Killer”
“This song is about Hernán Cortez, the Spanish conqueror of the Aztec Empire. The Aztecs lived in what is now considered Mexico, and Cortez had an army of 600 sail from what is now Cuba to the Aztec town of Tobasco (yes, where the hot peppers and the name of the sauce originally came from). The Aztecs thought Cortez was a god and bowed before him. They let his army roam free. Cortez, however, became wary of their good nature and took their leader hostage. He then captured and killed many of their people. He also unwittingly brought new diseases to the Americas, in which the natives had no immunities. On top of all this, he built what is now Mexico City with slave labor. He returned to Spain a hero.
Neil Young’s song brings an interesting alternative viewpoint to the history of Cortez’s invasion. While not a complete history of Cortez or the Aztecs, it’s title alone gives you a very good idea of how Young viewed the invasion. Young’s romantic imagery near the end of the track highlights the emotional toll (lost romance, etc.) of the invasion.
Peace is a theme of this song. From verse six: “But they built up with their bare hands, what we still can’t do today” indicates that even in the most barbarian times there was still peace, and in present-day, as sophisticated as it may be, there is anything but peace. The Aztecs were peaceful, representing sort of a utopian nonviolent society. Cortez and the Spanish brigade used trickery to beat the Aztecs, people who had never committed any offensive acts towards the Spanish. The Spanish could represent the status quo society, completely antonymic from the amicable Aztecs.
“Neil Young’s ex-wife Pegi is also a singer/songwriter. When we spoke with Pegi and asked how personal experiences inspired her songs, she told us: “I think there are little kernels of our lives in many of our songs, unless you’re writing ‘Cortez’ or something. It must have been in another life my husband was an Incan warrior.”
The last verse switches from a third to a first-person perspective, characterizing the faceless, historical figure of Cortez into someone romantically pining for an unnamed somebody: “And I know she’s living there, and she loves me to this day. I still can’t remember when or how I lost my way.” Since the song was written around the time of his split with wife Carrie Snodgress, there’s speculation that it’s at least partially autobiographical. However, when Jimmy McDonough, author of the young biography Shakey, questioned the singer about this, Neil simply said: “Its not about information. The song is not meant for them to think about me. The song is meant for people to think about themselves. The specifics about what songs are about are not necessarily constructive or relevant. A lot of stuff I make up because it came to me.”
The song fades out after around seven and a half minutes. According to Neil’s father in the book Neil and Me, this was because an electrical circuit had blown, halting the recording process. This caused a final verse to be lost; Neil, however, opined that he “never liked that verse anyway.” While an official recording of the lost verse was never released, the singer added the lines, “Ship is breaking up on the rocks. Sand beach… so close” to the end of the song while on his 2003 Greendale Tour.
This song has one of the longest intros in rock: Young’s vocals done come in until 3:22.
During a show in Manassas, Virginia on August 13, 1996, Young told the audience that he wrote this song after eating too many hamburgers in high school. “One night I stayed up too late when I was goin’ to high school. I ate like six hamburgers or something. I felt terrible… very bad… this is before McDonald’s. I was studying history, and in the morning I woke up I’d written this song.”
The song’s slow, rambling vibe was partly down to rhythm guitarist Frank Sampedro’s drug use. Sampedro recalled to Uncut: “When we recorded ‘Cortez,’ I had just smoked some angel dust. The whole song I thought the second chord, D, was the first chord. So I emphasized that every time round, while Neil was leaning on the first chord, E minor. I think that helped keep a really slow tune moving along.”
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Wow what a tune, never ever heard it before, love it,
love the lazy chilled out vibes, considering the state they where in it turned out brilliant,
it a cool tune to play along too
cheers Howard
P:)
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