City and Colour
Sometimes
(Dine Alone Records/EMI)

B

Website: www.cityandcolour.com

Dolly Parton
Those Were The Days
(Sugar Hill)

C-



Website: www.sugarhillrecords.com

After her recent spate of well-received bluegrass-themed releases, larger-than-life country music ‘superstar’ Dolly Parton is in need of another intervention. Not that her new 1960s tribute album (of sorts) has anything wrong with it whatsoever. It just begs the question, “Why, Dolly, why?” It’s obvious Partons’ personal address book is filled with only the top 40-est of retro friends, including Steven Yusuf (Cat Stevens), Georgiou Islam, Tommy James and Roger McGuinn... Didn’t we just see a PBS fundraising special with all these artists shilling for public television? And aren’t the roots of bluegrass music imbedded and often associated with the social code of the antebellum Southern U.S.? Singer Joe Nichols’ appallingly mediocre vocal George Jones-isms will have you scrambling for the stop button. Step aside and let this one pass.
Jeff Monk

Fats Waller
Happy Birthday Fats
(True North Records)

A-

Composer, vocalist, ‘Harlem Stride’ piano player extraordinaire, Fats Waller has recently returned to the public eye via the popular musical Ain’t Misbehavin’. If you’ve ever heard a recorded version of the music from that show, you’ll have been exposed to a tidied-up ‘show vocal’ version of the real thing… Happy Birthday Fats is the real thing — two CDs with over 93 minutes of some of his best, most of it originally recorded for radio and not released on LP at the time. This is not for everyone, and not likely to be a permanent fixture in your CD changer, but if you’re interested in one of the people who gave shape to jazz — which in turn has influenced a vast array of current music forms — then this is a pretty decent place to start.
Jamie Howison

From upstate New York comes Flywheel, an indie rock/post-grunge outfit trying hard to make it big. The band’s debut album reportedly sold 10,000 copies — no small feat for an indie band — and Flywheel is the follow-up. The quartet plays a style of rock that recalls Default, and vocalist Steve Bell indeed has the pipes to match those of Dallas Smith. Bell’s aggressive delivery is showcased on tracks such as Comin’ Alive and Watch. The single Dissolve was recently added to the playlist at Freq 107, but Water might be the best track here. It’s certainly the track where the guys are at their most aggressive. It’ll take some effort to stand out in the post-grunge crowd, but these road warriors might just have the drive to do it. Catch the band Nov. 19 at the Pyramid Cabaret.
Mike Warkentin

Mr. Stefani’s new band, Institute, unleashes a forgettable platter of early-’90s-sounding rockers. The ladies sure love the guy, and his low-register crooning is at its best on the single Bullet Proof Skin. Backed by an alternative supergroup featuring members of Helmet and Orange 9mm, Gavin Rossdale continues with the same formula — cutting, de-tuned guitar riffs with his patented hard rock choruses. The biting tone of bassist Cache Tolmans adds some variety — but not enough. We wait for some diversity or something so insanely heavy that it melts our faces, but it never comes. Helmet mainman Page Hamilton produces, and Gwen even appears on Ambulances, but nothing makes Distort Yourself a candidate for repeat listens. If you’re a fan of the ex-Bush frontman, you’ve already bought this. For the rest of us, stick with Helmet’s In the Meantime.
Ashley McCurdy

Do you remember way back in junior high, when some bright teacher would make a valiant attempt to use some piece of pop culture as a way to make part of the curriculum appealing? For all you know, it might just have been Mike Ford, or at least someone cut from the same cloth. Ford is quite good at what he does — both he and album producer David Matheson are members of the legendary Moxy Früvous, and it shows — but I’m afraid that an album dedicated to memorializing some of the people and events from pre-1905 Canadian history is almost guaranteed to sound a bit pedantic. It might work with the elementary school crowd in a live setting, but I have a hard time imagining it could have much appeal beyond that. My 10-year-old step-daughter isn’t convinced either.
Jamie Howison

“Post-grunge what? New wave who? What the fuck is a ‘syn-the-sizer?’ To hell with it — let’s rock.” That must have been the gist of the conversation when these four Montreal-based dudes formed Priestess from the ashes of The Dropouts. The result of their labours in the garage is Hello Master, a debut disc characterized by blues-based hard rawk infused with just a bit of trippiness and psychedelia. It’s an old formula, but Priestess — and other bands such as Chicago’s The Last Vegas — are making it vibrant and current by cranking the amps and really putting their backs into it. Amidst the snarling guitars are some bitchin’ vocal harmonies (Talk to Her and The Shakes are good examples) that make this stuff stand out.
Mike Warkentin

This commercial, self-produced debut from Canadian singer/songwriter Sharon Coward is an entirely listenable, soul-tinged folk project loaded with promise of what just might lie ahead. Lyrically, Coward seems informed by a spirituality unafraid of some of the more melancholy spots along life’s road, which makes a close listening worth the effort. If there is a downside to this project, it’s that after a while the tracks begin to blend together. In fact, the press release suggests this music for the “front porch on a hot summer evening.” Hmmm. That’s a bit too close to wallpaper, and This Time does tip dangerously close to that slippery slope. The press release also mentions that the live show has a “stronger soul feel,” and a really good outside producer might be able to capture that next time. Still, a very fine debut.
Jamie Howison