And the Conquering Sun

This week in the pod, the gang is up to their neck in the fantastic effort by Gord and the Sadies. You're gonna want to check this one out!

Transcript:

Track 1:

[0:00] Hey, it's Craig here, and I just wanted to let you know that Christmastime in.

Track 1:

[0:03] Toronto is coming early this year. Join me and the Discovering Downey crew for the recording of our podcast finale, live at The Rec Room in downtown Toronto on Friday, July 19th. Long Slice Brewing presents A Celebration of Gord Downey, which will include a special in-person interview with Gord's brother, Patrick Downey. Spend the evening listening to your favorite hip tunes provided by the almost hip and help us raise money for the gourd downy fund for brain cancer research with a silent auction featuring incredible items up for grabs visit discoveringdowny.com for tickets or for more information about the event, let's have a toast for charity wickedness and most importantly hope.

Track 2:

[1:04] DOS Beauty I name my guitar My Beautiful Behor Everybody's coughing here And music's infiltrating work In the most pleasant way It's a system based on silverware Listening's an extrasensory Perception And talking the only psychic thing and I can dress you in my thoughts until you wear them. I've been taking care of my clothes like they're cattle. Try this shirt. It would look so good on you.

Track 1:

[1:42] Welcome, music lovers. Long Slice Brewery presents Discovering Downy. Hey, it's J.D.

Track 2:

[1:52] Here, and welcome to Discovering Downey, an 11-part project with a focus on the music and poetry of Mr. Gord Downey. The late frontman of the Tragically Hip gave to the world an extensive solo discography on top of the hip's vocal acrobatics that awed us for years. So far, he's released eight records in total, three of them posthumously. Now listen, you might be the biggest fan of The Hip out there, but have you heard these records? Because I'm an inquisitive podcaster, I enlisted my friends Craig, Justin, and Kirk, giant fans in their own right, to discover Downey with me, JD, as their host. Every week we'll get together and listen to one of Gord's records. We're starting with Coke Machine Glow and working from there in chronological order. We discuss and dissect the album, the production, the lyrics, and we break it down song by song. This week we're going to be talking about Gord's fourth record, and his first and only with the Sadies.

Track 3:

[2:58] Occurring son kirk from chino how the fuck are things with you buddy jd.

Track 6:

[3:04] I'm uh i'm back home after a little bit of travel it's been good travel um it's allowed me to really kind of soak this album in so i'm excited talking about it with you boys.

Track 3:

[3:15] Can you confirm this craig i'm kidding yeah how's it going pretty.

Track 4:

[3:20] Good yeah also looking forward to talking about this album them and it this one took me a little bit of time to get into but we'll talk about that i have been a little under the weather since the last recording it was about halfway through the last podcast i started feeling something coming on and just won't go away just a cold thankfully but yeah other than that things are well.

Track 3:

[3:41] Well that's good justin you've been a podcasting machine today are you spent or are you ready to talk shop with me i'm.

Track 5:

[3:49] Just getting started buddy.

Track 3:

[3:50] Yeah well let's get into it then and the conquering sun is the album we are discussing this week after three consecutive solo outings with some form of the country of miracles gourd wrote and produced this one with the sadies who had just come from supporting the hip on their world container tour Like so many, this marriage was consummated by the CBC, when the Sadies chose Mr. Downey to collaborate with, as was the program's premise. The Sadies are a Toronto-based and road-tested throughout Canada and beyond, with an original lineup consisting of Travis Goode, Sean Dean, Mike Belotiski, and Dallas Goode, who sadly passed away in 2022. This band, as I mentioned, is road-tested with buckets of swagger and chops for days. But how do you talk about The Conquering Sun? After the loose and improvised feeling of the last three records, this record is tight and economical. With a 30-minute runtime, I had to listen twice to get my walk in.

Track 3:

[4:55] Of the four records we've listened to so far, this one makes my Olympic podium for rock and roll with a hard-fought bronze medal, which is nothing to shake a stick at unless, of course, you're shaking the stick in a complimentary fashion. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this album. In fact, in my opinion, this record is the closest we get to a sound that is reminiscent of the hip, up and down on this record. The songs are screaming for radio play if only radio had been a factor upon its release in 2014. From the rip of Crater right through Saved, there isn't a missed opportunity on this record. I could go on about how much I like this record, na-na-na-na, blah-blah-blah, etc. You might be curious how I'm literally singing this album's praises, yet I've only ranked it third of four. I promise I'm not damning with faint praise. It's more that I loved the ceiling of the country of miracles, particles and the idea that we don't get a fourth effort from that entity bums me out a little bit so it's hard to go into this one with that ripple of bummed outness influencing me a little more than frankly i'd like but who cares what i think let's check in with the crew craig we'll start with you this week.

Track 4:

[6:04] Yeah this album like i i mentioned took took a few listens to get into um it's definitely not in you know it's not my favorite of the four we've heard so far but it's really just it's drastically different it just has a different vibe and there are a lot of things I really like about it and I think that my biggest realization is this this is a summer album this is a a nice weather taking a drive in the car putting the windows down this it's that kind of album and for the first couple weeks I didn't have that weather but but just past in the past few days we have and it's just it totally changed my outlook of this this album.

Track 3:

[6:45] I was on mute. Justin, what are your thoughts overall?

Track 5:

[6:49] Oh, I needed this one. I needed this album to get my headspace back into this. And I think I'm going to rank this number two so far out of the four. I actually really love this album a lot. And like Craig, it took me a minute to get into it, but something clicked and I have been listening to it at least two or three times a day every day since. And in the car, on my phone, with or without earbuds trying to get the different parts of the sound, and it kicks my ass every time. I really just like this album from start to finish. Every song kind of sounds the same, which makes it sound like one big long song, and I really kind of love that.

Track 3:

[7:28] Interesting. I can't wait till we break it down. What say you, Kirk from Chino?

Track 6:

[7:32] Like my brethren here, it took me a while. In fact, it took me a while because it almost felt like a divorce and maybe a bit of an affair Was going on with with our buddy Gord. I was so I.

Track 6:

[7:48] Immersed into what was happening with the country miracles and like you said in the beginning like the ceiling like i wanted more and i was so ready for more i had the vinyl of this one the last ground bounce i didn't and i listened to it and i knew there was something there but i was angry honestly i was angry because i wanted more as we had mentioned but man did it grow and grow row. I'm not going to rank it right now because every time I rank something, a day or two goes by and something happens. And I realized, oh man, that was, you know, the grand bounce. That was Coke machine glow that, and you know, every album that we've had a chance to listen to has been, I think in every slot, if that makes sense, depending on the time of day or what's going on. And and so again it just brings you back to joy because i didn't dive in when it was happening which of course i'm a little sad about but i'm so excited now that i'm like i'm really loving music discovery again i'm really loving listening to albums i'm really loving i don't care if it's in the car if i'm walking the dog if i'm sitting at work if i'm you know working on something on on the computer and I've got the music going.

Track 6:

[9:11] Like I have not spent this much time with new music. I say that in quotes because it's obviously not new, but it's new to me, new to us.

Track 6:

[9:23] And I'm just, I'm loving the ride. That's all I got to say. This one is the last two, I mean, like I'm going to be listening to these forever. And I'm going to try and preach the word and get some people to jump on board because it makes me sad when I look at Spotify or something and I see the honestly and don't jump on me. It's like the limited number of listens to the Gord stuff. I have friends that have put stuff out that have more downloads than that. I'm not saying that in a negative, I'm saying that in a like, that shouldn't be. That shouldn't be, so. Right. My diatribe's over, sorry.

Track 3:

[10:03] No, no. Well, that's why I was mentioning off the top too too, that it screams for radio play to me. It's very radio-friendly. There's nothing over four minutes. And fucking radio just didn't matter in 2014. So of course we were never going to hear this. Unless we were paying very close attention.

Track 6:

[10:26] Absolutely.

Track 3:

[10:27] Clearly we were not.

Track 6:

[10:28] Absolutely. Radio.

Track 5:

[10:29] Radio still matters to me. I'm a radio guy. I'm going to tell you that right now. Yeah. Love radio.

Track 3:

[10:34] Radio doesn't love you back though. That's the problem. Like it's getting stripped down and worn down and these formats, you know, like if you've got a, if you've got a local that you love, then by going to stand with it, right?

Track 5:

[10:47] Yeah, you're right. We have, we have a, I'm going to sidebar here for just a second. We have a great station here in Southern Vermont, WEQX, which is one of the last great independent alternative rock stations in North America. And they discovered No Rain by Blind Melon. They were the first one to play it. And they just got this great pedigree, and they love to play Gord's solo stuff. From 2020 on, there's been a lot of new Gord solo stuff that's really been great.

Track 3:

[11:19] Get up. Right.

Track 5:

[11:20] And it's kind of been hard to not listen ahead during this project. Wow. I don't know if they played any of the stuff from this album, but this would totally fit.

Track 4:

[11:28] Yeah, we once had a really awesome independent radio station down in Bellingham, Washington, which we could pick up in Vancouver. And they actually, their tagline was something like, we don't play Canadian music because we have to. We play it because it rocks or something along those lines. And they would play The Hip and Rush. and yeah that's the only american station i've heard that that played a ton of the hip and yeah of course about 15 years ago they got whatever bought out by chorus or someone and it's now just yeah yeah your standard rock radio well.

Track 3:

[12:02] Should we eradicate this problem and educate people on this record go through it track by track are we ready let's.

Track 5:

[12:10] Go sure yeah.

Track 3:

[12:12] All right we start with track one side a it's the classic rock tinged crater what did you think of this one mr greg.

Track 4:

[12:25] My dad uh came to vancouver from new zealand in 1965 to to buy a 65 chevy impala and this song crater is a 1965 chevy impala cruising down the road it's just a great rock and roll track yeah um man that snare drum is yes snare snare yeah it is it is there in the mix yeah definitely i didn't dive into the lyrics at all especially um the songs that were more kind of rocking i i just i was just enjoying them and the only thought i had lyric wise was um almost like an idea of like either you're you're the crater or you're the meter meteor And I was kind of thinking along the lines of there's that not so great Dire Straits song, Heavy Fuel, where he says, you know, sometimes you're the windshield and sometimes you're the bug. And that was kind of the... What i got out of the lyrics on this song.

Track 6:

[13:25] I i wonder in the lyrics and maybe you guys did further research that i didn't see like how much of it was gord how much of it was the gents from the sadies because i i knew the name the sadies but i honestly until this i had not really you know dove into some of their music and i think in one of our you know communications justin had mentioned that as well like he's doing a lot of listening to the sadies and and i try i you know my listening at first it's this is it's going to sound weird um i did a lot of listening at first obviously like through spotify or whatever else but it wasn't until youtube and i got to see these guys and they're wearing like their nudie suits is what it looks like you know and i just i just saw a bunch of them they had a big exhibit at the you know country music uh hall of fame and they were We're talking about that LA country and, you know, very much a country tinge, but, you know, they're using those hollow body guitars. And anyway, so back to lyrics, like what's the balance between Gord and the Sadie's? Did anyone find anything on that?

Track 4:

[14:30] My understanding is that they, that the Sadie's wrote the songs and Gord wrote the lyrics that, yeah. And it was recorded apparently over a number of years. This wasn't like an album that was done in one session, which I find surprising because like someone said earlier, it's, it sounds just like a, it's a great album. It, it really sounds like it was just tracked in one day or something. It's yeah, there's a.

Track 6:

[14:53] There's YouTube has a, uh, interview of, I think the Sadie's had just put an album out. It was like 2010 and Gord was with them and they, you know, obviously had some discussions about their, their time together. And in some of the research it talks about, this has definitely been a long-term type of thing. Great song.

Track 5:

[15:10] Yeah, there was a CBC fuse in 2007 is what put them together. So it took seven years for this album to come out from that first collaboration. Collaboration I really like the sound.

Track 6:

[15:21] From a musicianship standpoint ethereal is really the kind of the adjective that came to mind on a lot of the the guitar parts that the Sadie's had you know very much a hollow body type guitar going through either a Fender a lot of reverb I really liked that driving sound I really really liked it it was it was pretty prevalent throughout in my opinion anything.

Track 3:

[15:43] Else on crater i.

Track 5:

[15:46] Just yeah i mean this is gourd this is like this is a live show on a record um this one song particularly and he is giving it all he has what at the end of the second verse and if we record any of these songs this is the one i'm doing because this is a this is a screamer and it's so much fun to be it you know we don't want to we don't want to do it we want to be it this song is fun to sing, Yeah. So I also, I downloaded an app because I noticed my foot was tapping a lot faster at the end of the song than the beginning. And I, so I, I downloaded an app and it picks up 13 beats per minute from the start to the finish.

Track 4:

[16:29] Oh yeah. That's something I'm going to be talking about later. Cause I, it was driving me nuts. One of the songs I was trying to actually figure out what was happening mathematically and yeah. Okay. I'm glad I'm not the only one noticed.

Track 6:

[16:43] I love that. I love the time changes in a variety of different songs. I put them down in a few notes. But the one thing I really want to say before we dive into any more, long live the guitar solo. And there's quite a few guitar solos on this album, specifically Crater. And they're just, they're solos. They're good solos. And on the other albums, we'll call lead lines, but there's not a lot of solos. And I'm digging that, getting that back, because we haven't had that in the first three.

Track 5:

[17:15] Oh, yes.

Track 3:

[17:16] Nice. Well, the next one is sort of the titular track, but not quite. The Conquering Sun does what for you, Justin?

Track 5:

[17:27] When I look out the window and see Audette's Blue Spruce Farm across the street, That's kind of what I think about. I mean, it's getting on time to plant. And here it is as we record this. It's planting season and working the fugitive dust. Nature, please be good to us. You know, we just had this massively wet spring that wiped out a shit ton of the farms around here. That's, you know, before they even got started. For me, that's part of what this song is. There's also the line, she is more than a conqueror. And I wonder if that's a reference to Gord's wife, Laura, with her recent cancer battle. I don't know when this song was recorded in the timeline of all that, like what year this happened. But I interpreted it as possibly something that could be a reference to defeating the cancer. And the other thing that I really, it was a callback to We Are The Same is when Gord's, his vocal run during hearing, ooh, day is your word, night is the glue. He does that exact same thing in The Depression Suite. That very same run, the change, the pitch, the length, I love it.

Track 4:

[18:41] Yeah, I caught that too. That's great.

Track 6:

[18:43] Great song. It was one of those. I think I mentioned on the last time we spoke, there was not a definitive MVP for me. This one has fallen in and out of MVP, and it may fall back in at the end of this recording. morning. But that's one of the things that really showed me this was a great album, but specifically this song. I just felt immersed in it. And like I said earlier, Ethereal, again, another great solo, another great, that sound that the Sadies have. They have, these guys, what are they like six, five, six, six, they look like trees and they might be a buck or five soaking wet and the suits are barely hanging on them and he's just playing this you know telecaster like it's a little tiny you know a small ukulele and they just have this they they just have this presence and like i said it really wasn't until i i started seeing them that i i got the sadie's because when i was listening it didn't hit me as much and i was kind of hoping i don't know if i mentioned this earlier because they were on the world container tour and i was wondering if they were the opening band I didn't find anything that showed them specifically, but when I watch the videos, it doesn't bring a memory or recollection that I saw. I think it was Sam Roberts that opened for a lot of the shows that I saw here in California.

Track 5:

[20:06] I saw Joel Plaskett as the opener on that tour.

Track 6:

[20:11] Got it. Got it. Yeah. So I was kind of hoping that they were one of the openers. But you know now i'm really excited that you know just in the last couple of days i would say is really when my attention has gone towards them and when you start hearing and seeing how they crafted these songs together and how they worked so well with gourd and his phrasing and and so yeah love this love this yeah.

Track 4:

[20:38] The the sadies are actually on tour as we record this and i'm hoping to pick to go down to the the vancouver show uh so you might you might want to look at dates they They might be coming down your way.

Track 6:

[20:48] I hope so.

Track 4:

[20:48] Yeah, this song, to me, as soon as I heard it, it reminded me of Nico Case. And Nico Case is someone who's worked with the Sadies. And so it is very much that sort of alt-country vibe on this song. And this was probably the song that drew me in right away. Again, like Kirk said, it was in the contention for my MVP track for sure, which, like you, keeps changing. and yeah it's just just a great feel to this song.

Track 3:

[21:18] Yeah i couldn't agree more i think we're two for two so far on this record and we're gonna find out that let's go pretty even record it's a pretty even fucking record los angeles times has the aforementioned swagger dripping from it, Kirk, did you like this one as much as I did?

Track 6:

[25:07] I'm going to say yes, absolutely. But it didn't start out that way. This actually was one of my least favorite tunes after the first couple of passes. I just didn't quite get it. It was just kind of like, it was almost too much swagger at first for me. Because remember, I think we're in a divorce right now. I think this is an affair that's going on. So I'm a little adverse to the song and the album and almost everything because I still have his last, you know, that last record that just moved us all. It was still here. So there was this almost a betrayal, swagger, distaste that I had in the beginning. But listening to it, re-listening to it, listening to it in headphones, listening to it on vinyl, listening to it in the car, listening to it in the plane, listening to it in the hotel. The key changes, like we'd mentioned earlier, just another great solo, just great rock. And, hey, I'm an LA guy. So this one definitely turned and has also filtered through multiple times sometimes on the mvp track side so yeah to me it's three for three and i'm just gonna pre-call it for y'all.

Track 4:

[26:22] Yeah yeah i found this song to be um i was the same way i found the the progression to be a bit generic at first and so i didn't really love it right away but yeah it really grew and i think what makes it work is that this band is just so tight they're so i mean loose but Yeah, the tempo, you know, picks up and, you know, there's the push and push and pull, but they are such a great band that they can pull off anything. Just a simple strumming pattern and make it sound pro. And there's that thing you mentioned off the top, JD, the blah, blah, blah, et cetera, which I was wondering if, I'm sure you guys were thinking the music at work, live, Gord would do the et cetera thing. Did you find anything lyrically, Justin?

Track 5:

[27:10] Yeah. So there's a dedication at the end of the lyrics for Walter Van Tilburg Clark, who wrote The Oxbow Incident, among many other works. And that became kind of one of the great Western movies of all time. And it's about, the subject is these cowboys thought that one of their buddies got murdered and that somebody stole their cows. And then they found this group of three people that they thought did it and they hanged them. And then they found out that the guy survived and it wasn't them and you know it was just a big mess so it was it was the oxbow incident and uh yeah so it was a complicated story and but this isn't about the story it's about the author there are a lot of references to lines in the book or the movie but it's you know there's a line he was born and raised and moved away and that's about i think walter van tillberg clark who was born in maine but then his parents moved him to nevada and then he moved to in New York and then he went he was kind of all over the place beyond that I don't know it's, There's one thing that is a bit of a departure, I think, on this album is that the lyrics aren't too deep. There's not a lot of mystery in this album with Gord's lyrics. And I was hoping for more of that, but the research was a little easier than I wanted it to be on this.

Track 4:

[28:26] That was something I noticed too, is like there didn't seem to be as much to dig into.

Track 4:

[28:31] And once I kind of got past that and just started enjoying it, I really did grow to appreciate the album a lot more. It's funny that you mentioned the Oxbow incident because number one, a couple of weeks ago i was in la and we did did a couple studio tours and this is one of the movies they actually mentioned i forget if it was warner brothers or universal but it was shot at one of those two places in the next song so one good fast job one of my notes here is oxbow incident because of the line it says art shot said wellman to fonda so wellman the director and uh fonda the the star of the show so um nice kind of a neat little tie and i had no idea that the previous song had that reference so i'm glad you caught that this song i really love and this was the one i was um i found really interesting the the progression you've got like almost like a eight bar blues but then they throw in an extra bar so it's like this nine bar which just throws you off off balance a little bit once you once you hear it a few times it makes perfect sense but there's the lyric about drop you know planes dropping paper and dropping scissors and the chimps becoming regular wizards i think it is. And so that made me think of, there's a couple of Simpsons episode that reference like the infinite monkey theorem.

Track 4:

[29:46] What is it? Infinite monkeys, or give a monkey a typewriter and let it type for infinity. It would create, you know, Shakespeare. And you know, it would just some ridiculous theory that has, you know, been, you know, criticized heavily, but I wonder if there's something to that.

Track 6:

[30:03] Sorely discredited.

Track 4:

[30:05] And I really like, there's the line too about something about forget the commas. This is one good fast job. And it almost made me think of this album that they just like banged off this out. Like, let's not, let's just have fun. Let's just write some songs and let's not take ourselves too seriously. So those are my thoughts.

Track 5:

[30:23] Well, I think there was some controversy over the name of the band. And there are commas in that band name. And I think that they're just saying, you know, screw it. And like, nobody asked for this. We're just doing it. let us enjoy it. I did see a couple of interviews where Gord and members of the band were like, can we not dissect this? This is just rock and roll.

Track 4:

[30:44] Yeah.

Track 6:

[30:46] One thing in watching some of those videos that I had mentioned, the last two songs that we discussed that they had played, it was a Greenbelt Harvest Festival thing show that was on. They had almost every song on there and he was playing with the Sadie's and watching the crowd to me was actually quite entertaining because they just sat there and looked in bewilderment right because I don't know they obviously have probably some relationship with with the hip and who knows if they're early hit people or later hit people or die hard all the way but when Gord does the solo stuff and then if they're not familiar with the Sadie's they just sat there and looked like yeah why don't what are we experiencing here what what's what's going on and bewilderment was the note note that i wrote right.

Track 3:

[31:34] Right i mean this makes no sense to me fuck okay sorry uh continue.

Track 6:

[31:42] It man one good fast job and almost back to kind of those punk type roots and that driving rocking it it's uh who i jd like this album has everything and, Also, one thing I wanted to mention, I know we're not through it all, but I think they did a great job of tracking. I really felt good about where all the songs were. I needed Crater to get me going, even though I was still mad and angry, like we mentioned, and then Saved at the end that we'll talk about. It just was like, okay, I got a good, nice, warm hug. Thank you. you um which.

Track 5:

[32:26] You know what's amazing is there were so many reviews about this album that said it was not cohesive and inconsistent and like what the hell are you talking about and.

Track 3:

[32:36] Uneven and blah blah.

Track 4:

[32:37] Blah yeah what.

Track 3:

[32:38] The hell man agree.

Track 4:

[32:39] Yeah no that's a reviewer who read that it was you know recorded over many years yeah that's ridiculous like maybe if you gave it one or two listens but even then even the first listen i didn't love it but it sounded like an album yeah Yeah. One more thing about this song though, before, before we move on, I love the middle section. There's like a bridge or maybe even call it a chorus. It only goes to it once the, I had to look, I had to go, I had to laugh. And it's really interesting how they go through it once, then there's that extra bar, like they keep doing, and then they change the chord progression and back off a bit. Like if you listen to the way the, you know, they're the same instruments, but they just back off and the feel changes totally. And it's such a great effect. Rather than ramping up a bridge, they almost like pull back a bit. And that really was unique. And it only happens once. It feels like a chorus to me, but it's right smack dab in the middle of the song. And I think it's two minutes and like 23 seconds or something. And this is definitely one of my favorites.

Track 3:

[33:43] Yeah, it's a good one. And the next one is a good one as well. It's got to hold the record for the longest title in Gord's solo oeuvre. Kirk mentioned a moment ago that there's a bit of everything on this record. And to me, the beginning of this song, just the very beginning, is shoegazy.

Track 5:

[34:00] Yes.

Track 3:

[34:00] Or it goes into a real punk sort of vibe. And it didn't start to break my heart until this afternoon. Justin, what have you got for us?

Track 5:

[34:09] So the line, we fought like two Irons, really stuck out to me. and it goes with Kirk. I don't know that this was the middle of a divorce. I think Gord is just polyamorous at this point because this project took seven years and in the middle of it, he released the third album, Grand Bounce. So he is just sleeping around. I love the punk, the hard driving, just we're going to beat the fuck out of this song.

Track 4:

[34:38] My first real positive experience with this song was driving to my show last weekend and it was like i said a nice day i was driving along and to me like i said it's a real good driving album and i was coming up to this i guess it was a school zone but it was a weekend so there's no school and there was a uh a flashing like speed limit sign it was like a happy face and as i'm driving by it's like it turns to a sad face because i guess i was a little bit above the limit i'm not a huge speeder but i found that kind of quite funny especially after the i just just listen to the line what is it um something about driving fast oh yeah drive drive it like we stole it yeah it's a great great line that's right and then later on there's the dishwasher loaded which i love because i i wish i could say that most of my music listening was in the car but i only have about a five minute commute to work so most of my listening is actually doing the dishes and so this is just a great song when you're doing the dishes and and dishwasher loaded it and it really really kind of got you know i.

Track 5:

[35:40] Had the same experience man that's.

Track 4:

[35:41] Found it pretty funny and i actually the first time i noticed that lyric i was actually had just put this open i was closing the door of the dishwasher and so it was just it was just perfect it's so funny yeah.

Track 5:

[35:51] That's amazing oh.

Track 4:

[35:53] And great harmonies too on the chorus like love those harmonies yeah.

Track 6:

[35:57] That's one thing you'll notice too when you watch those or or you see them like the the harmony part especially especially after what we had just experienced for the last three albums, you know, with the female voice going back to a male voice backing. I love that element that it brought to it. And I'm just gonna jump into the next song, Budget Shoes. This is one that I think has probably held the number one spot for me. I would say it's not necessarily still there, but it's been there more often than not. And maybe I'm far off on this, but being the American, one of the two Americans that really likes Canadian culture, it brought me back to Kids in the Hall for some reason. In fact, so much so, if you think of the Kids in the Hall intro, I actually looked it up to go hoping it was the sadies like that really would have made my day if it was the sadies that had done that song that's the intro to kids in the hall.

Track 4:

[39:34] There is there is a connection there and i hope i'm correct here but i believe i read that the dallas good the the younger brother who you know passed away recently who.

Track 3:

[39:44] Was the drummer.

Track 4:

[39:44] He he played so so the good family was a was a country family like they had like a family band and and the older brother travis actually played with his band and Dallas being younger he he went more towards punk and I believe it said that his first or one of his first bands was with one of the members of uh Shadowy Men is that the name of the band that does the theme yeah yeah.

Track 3:

[40:11] Shadowy Men oh.

Track 6:

[40:12] Wow nice it definitely was reminiscent of that uh the entire song to me is just brilliant and it it gives you I mean it It really just digs deep inside my soul going back to the ethereal. When Gord hits those moments of the desperation vocal that we heard a lot, not only in recording, but live when he was with the hip, that brought such a comfort to me, right? Knowing where the hip is at, knowing where Gord is at, knowing what's coming. Like this is three years prior to his passing. And just so thankful that we get another version of Gord. And that's really what it was to me is we got, we have the hip and we love that. We have these first three albums, but now we have another one. And it was, Justin, you mentioned it in his lyrics. It's like, I'm not trying to confuse anyone here. I got this great band. They've given me this good music and I'm just gonna give it, I'm gonna give it what's coming to me at the moment. so when he does his and i call it a desperation vocal i know exactly what.

Track 5:

[41:22] You mean when you say it though.

Track 3:

[41:26] Yeah.

Track 5:

[41:26] Yep. Yep. So I'm going to ask the Canadians in the room here about budget shoes because I did some research on this as well. And apparently there's a tradition in Canada that finance ministers buy a new pair of shoes before presenting the budget and they wear them on the floor. Or if they're pissed off about it, they don't.

Track 4:

[41:48] Oh, wow.

Track 5:

[41:48] And it's this thing that has happened since the 1860s.

Track 3:

[41:53] Jesus. Do they go bare feet? I mean, listen, I was a political science major, and I've never heard of it before, but that doesn't really mean anything.

Track 6:

[42:01] As the other American, I agree with what you say full-heartedly. Love it. Love that connection.

Track 3:

[42:10] Yeah, I think it's great.

Track 5:

[42:11] It was strange, but interesting. And I don't know if this song is a commentary on politics and that, or if it just works well with... I mean, this song sounds like, you know, we're sleeping in a tent in a winter storm unexpectedly in the middle of the desert, you know, and I've got nice shoes and you don't, you know, and I'm going to keep my feet and you're going to lose them to frostbite. I don't know.

Track 4:

[42:37] What I was thinking was I was imagining almost like an old Western movie. It's like sweltering hot in the desert. And yeah, they're camping overnight. Night and you know the most iconic thing you'll see in a western is that you know the shot of the cowboy boots and the pan up and and i'm just picturing this you know guy sleeping in his budget you know there's cheap shoes and that's kind of what i do balances on yeah yeah.

Track 6:

[43:04] Ouch shots fired they're.

Track 5:

[43:05] A great company and they.

Track 6:

[43:06] Make a fine shoe thank you we're not sponsored by any of these particular shoe brands yeah i mean budget shoes you talk about the westerns it's almost like a spaghetti western type feel just in that uh the guitar riff as well so.

Track 3:

[43:26] Oh, that's cool. I felt that, too. I wouldn't have put that together. All right, let's move on. Demand Destruction. Is it just me, Justin, or does this song feel very much like the Tragically Hip? Am I crazy?

Track 5:

[43:38] No, I don't think you're crazy about that at all. And this song is, I think, Gord kind of putting out his own views. Again, there's a notation at the bottom. The last one, Budget Shoes, was dedicated to Evan S. Connell, who was the author of the book about Custer where the title of The Grand Bounce came from. So that's a continuation. And then this one is dedicated to Dr. Helen Caldicott, who was an Australian physicist and anti-nuclear war advocate. And it just feels like a protest song to me. I really don't have a lot of notes about it. It's just a nice, fun tune. But there's definitely a message in there. And I think it's Gord speaking about, let's not fuck this up. and maybe some reverence for Dr. Caldecott. It says, I'm not a fan, I just like what you do. I don't know. I don't have a whole lot to unpack on this one.

Track 3:

[44:30] Right. Well, no, I think you unpacked quite a bit. Craig, what have you got for us?

Track 4:

[44:36] One thing I'll say about this song is I found maybe the snare was a little too biting for me. I found that if you if you were listening quietly it it just jumped right out of the mix to the point where you almost couldn't hear anything else and when you turned it up it just had just a little a tinge too much oh yeah you guys know who who mixed the album yeah so bob rock and i think he did a great job overall but it definitely you know he's known for those big huge drums and i just would have liked a little more balance i thought the snare was just a little peeking out a little bit too much the rest of the album i think it it works but maybe the song is the poppiest.

Track 5:

[45:17] I think of the of the songs on the album it's certainly.

Track 4:

[45:20] Radio friendly fairly typical like blues rock sort of yeah um riff at the start yeah.

Track 3:

[45:25] That's what reminds me it reminds me of something off of road apples you know oh yeah yeah that era.

Track 4:

[45:31] Yeah great great harmonies again especially in the chorus all.

Track 3:

[45:34] Right from there we get a change of pace with mandolin and organ off the top of devil enough. Am I right? Was it mandolin Craig?

Track 4:

[45:44] Um, yeah, I believe so. I need to go back and listen again. Um, yeah, this is the song I referenced earlier that was driving me nuts. Even today I was sitting there tapping my toes, like trying to figure out the time change. And I actually had this like theory about what they were doing with it, you know, how they're getting from one tempo to the next. And then I just realized after a while it's just feel it's all feel. And I won't even get into it, because there are some weird things that happen. And I think it is what Justin mentioned earlier, I think it's just that flexibility of, of like, you know, they're really pushing the tempo, bringing it back quite frequently. And so.

Track 4:

[46:25] Yeah, if anyone wants to transcribe this drum part for me and send it to me, I would love to see that because I would love to know mathematically how it works, but I'm pretty sure it is just like a feel thing. This was a song that really stuck out to me. I love that time change. Having said all that, it really, the first few times just really struck me. The guitar playing at the end, the sort of Nashville picking at the end is just amazing. There's a few songs that have those great guitar solos. I think often it's Travis, according to the videos I watched, although I believe Dallas will trade off solo sometimes too. There's the line, Streets Ahead, which of course is a song name from Now For Plan A. And I had just actually recently been watching Community. And I'm not sure if you guys know that reference, but there's a, you know, it's like a catchphrase of Chevy Chase's character. And I actually found a, I wondered if it was related and I found an interview where someone asked Gord that question and he's just like, what? He was so like, no, like what are you talking about? Which of course makes sense. I mean, you don't write books. All these songs you're not a prolific writer like gourd if you're if you're.

Track 6:

[47:36] Spending countless hours.

Track 4:

[47:39] Binging you know sitcoms with 120 episodes.

Track 5:

[47:44] Well and gourd gourd's a dan akroyd guy not a chevy chase guy.

Track 6:

[47:48] Yeah true hey going back to that the ending part craig yes uh you know they almost have a bluegrass feel in some of these instrumental type solos there's There's rock going on against a different instrumentation, which I absolutely love the devil enough to me almost was reminiscent of like your seventies kind of, you know, Barracuda and like the big songs that would have a slow intro and then rock out or go to another slow, but very seventies rock and kind of anthemic type of we're going to switch keys. We're going to switch tempos i very much got that but again going back to the swagger you feel the swagger in in the presentation of the lyrics at least from my perspective with gourd on this loved it loved it.

Track 4:

[48:43] Yeah there are some um really great songwriting techniques on this album that you can tell you know the sadies are just a pro band i think is it uh one of the guys from blue rodeo i believe was was quoted in the in the barclay book about saying that you know they're the world's greatest rock band and there's the little things like in this song they use the little bars of two to set up you know those changes and just lots of little things like that like an extra bar here an extra bar there it's just some really great little songwriting tricks what did you think justin i.

Track 5:

[49:14] Just this song you know growing up we only had like 10 or 12 channels on on tv and one of them was tnn the nashville network and so the grand ole opry was was on all the time, because we didn't have a choice. If it wasn't Hockey Night in Canada, it was TNN. And just this song, that run with the picking is really cool. It brought me back to late 80s, early 90s, just watching the hoedown.

Track 4:

[49:42] Not a country fan, but when I hear a great guitar player like that, though, like a great Nashville player, it really is great. This whole album isn't the type of music I would typically listen to. And I think that's why I gravitate more towards an indie rock feel, like the Battle of the Nudes. But man, this album is really, really solid.

Track 6:

[50:06] Yeah, it has a good... I mean, I know you guys say you don't like country, and I say it too. But I bet you you'd be surprised about what you do like that's country-esque. And so for me, when I think of country, I get turned away by some of the modern country. although I'm really digging some Chris Stapleton and some of these other guys I'm really digging. But like when I hear country, I think Kenny Rogers, Merle Haggard, I think Willie Nelson, I think, and I think we really do dig, even going back Hank Williams and even a little further, like when the, as you listen to, I love this that we're talking like, oh, we only had 10 channels and whatever else. And I'm going hockey night in Canada and the nashville network you know and throw in a little emma daughter's jug band christmas and that's my childhood and i'm happy and i love all that so i i i get what you're saying but this i mean the sadie's i think alt country i heard earlier from one of you guys that's very much the feel from devil enough you roll into i'm free disarray me justin you you inspired me because i I have the vinyl here with me. And so I quick looked at the bottom and I'm like, okay, I gotta catch this one cause I've missed all the other references that you mentioned. So you got Virginia Woolf, who's listed at the bottom of I'm Free Disarray Me. And when you do your research, you think about stream of consciousness.

Track 6:

[51:31] And that really, I think, kind of sums up your lyrics in this particular song.

Track 6:

[51:37] Swagger again it's it's it's it's it's the same but it's not i heard us all say that it's the same but it's not i i i loved where it went with this and it's bringing us down now right because we only have one more song we talked about the track listings and the order and now it's given us getting us i think this is kind of setting us up for saved at least me personally uh what you think craig.

Track 4:

[52:03] This was the first song that actually popped into my head just out of the blue one morning when i woke up because it took quite a long time for that to happen with this album i was still singing grand bounce songs you know every morning waking up and then one day it was that i was like wow okay and and same one thing i want to mention this is kind of, going off of what you're talking about with vinyl i was listening to this you know doing dishes.

Track 4:

[52:29] With you know on apple and the amount of times in the last few months of doing this you know this show with you guys listening to music and it glitches for just a second when i'm streaming and it just drives me nuts and so just that was one thing that i just had a note note about that that this album needs to be listened to on cd on on on vinyl anyways that was just a little pet peeve of mine and also the the snare again in this song was just a little a little much for me it was it was it was really up front and i i like loud drums typically in a mix but i just I don't know there there was it's almost like with the snare being that loud I'm missing a bit of the kick drum and speaking of which you guys must have noticed that the the bass players you know playing stand-up I had the thought a few times like I wonder and this is not to take away from what he's doing but I just wonder what it would have sounded like if they if they used an electric bass on this album because I found the bass to be not as prominent as on the last three albums you know there it wasn't sticking i don't think that's just part of the style of this band.

Track 6:

[53:38] Great i have a question though craig in when i look at the watch the videos oh yeah he has an he has an ampeg like he has a bass amp so he's taking a stand-up bass which traditionally you just mic or go straight into the board and he's he's running it through a traditional rock bass you know pickup bass right in through like the standard road hard ampeg so um so it gives it that good gritty sound but i will agree 100 it's not as prominent and i would like it to be a little bit more only just being a musician but it didn't didn't didn't dissuade me from my love for this album yeah.

Track 4:

[54:21] Not at all and i think it were like sometimes the best bass players are the ones you don't notice like they're just tight to the to the drummer and that's really all that matters but there was really only a couple times on this album where i where i noticed.

Track 6:

[54:34] Very accurate Accurate statement.

Track 5:

[54:36] This, I think, is my MVP. As a kid who was raised on prog, you fall into the song and just let it kind of take over. I don't know. I actually found, weirdly, a karaoke version of this on YouTube.

Track 3:

[54:52] Really?

Track 5:

[54:53] An instrumental version of this. No way. And I played the piss out of it just today driving. Driving and uh yeah it's it's really odd that this is the one that's an instrumental track for, yeah but just the phrasing of things lyrically and musically like he's it this doesn't sound like any other song that gourd has has put together as far as i'm concerned i.

Track 6:

[55:17] Love i love that connection with prog rock justin because you've mentioned that multiple times that that's something you love. And when you said it, I had not placed it until you said it. And I agree with you on that's a great, great, great description of it.

Track 5:

[55:31] There was a lot of references to the Sadie's covering Pink Floyd in live shows. And I'm like, oh, there it is right there. The song is that.

Track 6:

[55:42] The next one to the next one to could be, you know, Jim Ladd headset session, listening like with Pink Floyd.

Track 3:

[55:50] Oh, the next one is gorgeous, I think. It's the first slower tempo song that we have on the record called Saved.

Track 5:

[58:56] Again, I can't believe that the reviews said this album doesn't make sense because about halfway down, the plane starts to land, right? And every song from halfway on is just you're descending and you land perfectly softly unsaved. And this song also sounds a lot like Coke Machine Glow. And it's just really mellow and it's Gord doing his thing. and i i don't know i love it.

Track 6:

[59:26] Almost every album i feel like has had a an extended version of coke machine glow track to it i i i love that i i hadn't placed it until you just said that because i felt the same way about some of the other the other albums is there that could be on coke machine glow but you're exactly right and then he continues that theme as it goes almost like the uh like his is the poetry book.

Track 3:

[59:53] Craig is holding up his notes.

Track 4:

[59:55] Nobody else can see it. I said the exact same thing. Pattern of Ending solo albums and some hip albums with a track with a much different feel is what I had written.

Track 5:

[1:00:07] Which goes back to Road Apples.

Track 4:

[1:00:12] I really love the line the music is so loud that it flaps your pant leg. It reminded me a little bit of Yawning or Snarling. Just the line in that.

Track 5:

[1:00:23] Thank you. I would hold up my notebook if it wasn't typed out. Because that's exactly what I have to.

Track 4:

[1:00:30] We are, let's see, as of recording this episode, we are, what time is it there? We're about two and a half hours away from the 10 year anniversary of this album. Of the release of this album.

Track 3:

[1:00:41] Oh, get the fuck out.

Track 4:

[1:00:42] Yeah. Wow.

Track 3:

[1:00:44] Oh, wow.

Track 4:

[1:00:46] I just had to look it up yesterday. I was like, wow, that's pretty cool.

Track 5:

[1:00:48] Oh, shit.

Track 3:

[1:00:48] That is cool. Huh. I normally have them all in my calendar, and I don't have that in my calendar. Huh. Good find. Yeah, it's going to be, yeah.

Track 6:

[1:01:00] Good find, Craig. Great find.

Track 5:

[1:01:02] J.D., you have about two and a half hours to make a post.

Track 3:

[1:01:06] Any more unsaved?

Track 5:

[1:01:09] I don't know. I didn't pick it apart too much. I loved that imagery of the line, Craig, that you just mentioned. The music is so loud, it flaps your pant leg. And there's a really strange, it's almost not, rhythm to the way that he sings it. It would be really hard to transcribe that onto a, onto a sheet of music.

Track 4:

[1:01:29] I also enjoyed the, um, the, the, the, they finally played a bit without the drums, you know, like this whole album has been very much like a full band. And I mentioned last week, I believe that one of the strengths of, of country of miracles was that they had so many members that they could all just take a break every once in a while. They didn't feel the need to always fill up every space. This band's the opposite because they're, you know, there's just four of them and they, they, you know, they're very much a typical rock band where everyone's playing all the time and so i actually enjoyed that there was a bit of time at the start of the song without drums no no offense to the drummer um but sometimes you just need a break this.

Track 6:

[1:02:07] Song to me was the you know that that cup of coffee after dessert or you know the cigarette after sex it was that finisher it was uh it was that we're all in good, good, good company. I love the connection back with Coke Machine Glow. I love the connection back with that changing that ending song. But to me, it was, all right, more so than the others. It was like, okay, here's your big warm hug before whatever comes up next.

Track 3:

[1:02:39] Oh, I like it. It does feel like a warm hug. It's a very comforting song for me. I don't know why, but it chills me right out. It's a great cigarette after sex. Kirk, I love that. It's really tremendous.

Track 5:

[1:02:55] It sucks that this album was only a half hour long.

Track 3:

[1:02:58] I know. It's so strange after The Grand Bounce, which was nearly an hour. But again, these guys are just so efficient and economical.

Track 5:

[1:03:10] It's one good fast job, baby.

Track 3:

[1:03:12] That's right.

Track 6:

[1:03:14] So does- Hey, did you know that that is his second highest played single, or at least versus Spotify when I last checked? Does that not totally blow you away? Like at least if you just look in his Spotify category, I believe it's number two behind like the Chancellor, I think is probably the most sense. But now i'm now i'm gonna look sorry i'm gonna i'm gonna see if i can back my own research.

Track 5:

[1:03:43] So interestingly i i don't have hard copies of any of these albums so i'm i'm strictly listening on streaming i use the youtube music app i don't really care for the interface on spotify and there is zero existence of this album in that in that space so i had to download band camp and buy the album that way which i was happy to do yeah i love band camp but yeah i had to uh that's the only way I could find this lyrics.

Track 6:

[1:04:07] All right, gents. I did the research. I was incorrect by two. It's Chancellor, the East wind. Oh, I am lost.

Track 4:

[1:04:15] That's then one good. Mind blowing.

Track 5:

[1:04:17] No shit.

Track 6:

[1:04:18] Number four.

Track 4:

[1:04:19] Yeah.

Track 6:

[1:04:20] Like that. It's even in the top five to me over like.

Track 4:

[1:04:23] You know, it's a great song. These songs that I thought were more well-known. Wow.

Track 6:

[1:04:29] Thank you.

Track 4:

[1:04:29] Yeah.

Track 6:

[1:04:30] It's surprising to me that.

Track 3:

[1:04:32] Yeah.

Track 5:

[1:04:33] Well, even, Even the opener on this one, Crater, I mean, it has a great video too.

Track 6:

[1:04:39] Oh, that's right. That's right. It is a really cool video.

Track 4:

[1:04:43] So the album art's interesting too. Did you catch that there's the different members of the band on the album? There's probably about these portraits of like, I don't know, 50 people. And if you look carefully, you can find all of the members of the band. I did.

Track 6:

[1:05:01] I did, absolutely. It's, yeah, on the album.

Track 5:

[1:05:04] And the artwork and the sound and all that, it kind of reminded me of the Beatles. I don't know why. But there was something about it that was familiar.

Track 3:

[1:05:16] Beatles-esque.

Track 5:

[1:05:17] Yeah. Yeah.

Track 6:

[1:05:20] I could see that. I mean, especially from an artistic standpoint. Yeah. Very much can see that.

Track 3:

[1:05:26] Yeah.

Track 5:

[1:05:27] Overall, I was super happy that this was the next thing. And I wish that there had been another one to follow it.

Track 3:

[1:05:33] So does it stay in your rotation then, Justin?

Track 5:

[1:05:36] Mm-hmm.

Track 3:

[1:05:37] Yeah, it does. Craig, how about you?

Track 4:

[1:05:40] A couple of days ago, I probably would have said maybe not. It's an album I'll definitely pull out here and there. But no, I do think I really am enjoying it lately. And like I said, the turn of the weather really helped. This is, to me, a summer album, not a, I think, come winter, I'll put it away again.

Track 5:

[1:05:59] End but the i'm sorry but i got it before i forget it right we just had the eclipse as we're recording this and i was stuck in traffic it's a 17 minute commute to get home and it took me 90 minutes so i listened to this album three times on the ride home and it's a great even if you're stopped it's a great album to be in the car.

Track 6:

[1:06:20] It's going to hit the turntable for me on a fairly regular basis for a while. Like I said, Grand Bounce, I couldn't get it out of my head. And finally, it might even have been an I'm Free Disarray Me, just that very methodical line that came through that turned it for me. Me but i love i i love it absolutely love it in fact i'm i'm probably more excited about digging deeper into the sadies once this whole project is done the sadies and several other canadian bands that i'm not as familiar with that you guys have introduced me to and i'm very thankful for but uh yeah this this one's staying in the rotation if you've got any.

Track 3:

[1:07:02] Bands that are gore adjacent or canadian indie adjacent uh send them our way discovering downy at gmail.com And we'll be sure to read that email on the air.

Track 5:

[1:07:18] I will say that as much as I've enjoyed this album, I've also really enjoyed the songs that are not on the album that Gordon and Sadie have played together. The cover of Search and Destroy. Holy shit.

Track 3:

[1:07:32] Right, you sent that to us a few days ago.

Track 5:

[1:07:35] That song melted my goddamn face off. It was so good. So good. And it was like 7, 12 in the morning or something. I was like, all right, I'm out of bed now. This is awesome.

Track 4:

[1:07:45] One of the shows I found online was here in Vancouver at the media club. And I actually remember hearing about it. And I'm just kicking myself that I didn't get to that show. This is like a tiny, tiny, like this is where my original band a number of years ago did our CD release party. And yeah, there's maybe room for 80 to 100 people in there. would have been amazing.

Track 3:

[1:08:10] Oh damn that.

Track 6:

[1:08:14] Is definitely i don't have a lot of regrets gentlemen but not seeing any iteration of gourd solo is very much i'm glad video was around because but i would have really really really enjoyed.

Track 3:

[1:08:28] Seeing that feeling thousand percent live yeah.

Track 5:

[1:08:32] I go back to that sweaty basement uh in me in massachusetts and like dude i went to those shows all the time and I wasn't there.

Track 3:

[1:08:39] That's crazy so Justin you've already sort of given this away even though we we you know we tease it throughout the show and typically give it away at the end but we'll start with you and your MVP track.

Track 5:

[1:08:56] Yeah, it's totally I'm free, disarray me, which took me by surprise, but then it didn't totally. You know, after the way that by, you know, the music that my parents played when I was a kid, this song is just cosmic cowboy, trippy shit.

Track 3:

[1:09:14] Kirk, how about you?

Track 6:

[1:09:15] All right. Los Angeles Times.

Track 3:

[1:09:21] Excellent. I love that pick. I liked your pick too, Justin.

Track 5:

[1:09:25] That's the hometown.

Track 6:

[1:09:26] Oh, yeah.

Track 5:

[1:09:27] That's okay.

Track 6:

[1:09:28] And it definitely is not one that I would have really settled in on had it not been for our discussion today, honestly. Because almost every song on the album has really fallen into near the top. You know, Conquering Sun, Budget Shoes, I would say, of everything, those definitely hit that number one spot for me multiple times. But Los Angeles Times is the one that just kept coming back, and I just kept feeling, and I kept growing further, enamored with on all fronts. So that's my pick, and I'm sticking to it.

Track 3:

[1:10:03] Very cool. Craig, you?

Track 4:

[1:10:06] Yeah, I had a hard time picking a song. And I found, kind of like what Kirk said, there was almost less of a range between the songs I enjoyed and the songs I enjoyed less. They were all in roughly the same region, whereas the other albums, there was some tracks that right away really, really got to another level with me. I think this album maybe doesn't quite have quite the emotion that the first three did, which is usually what hits me when I really love a song. Usually it just grabs me emotionally. And this album didn't have that in the same way. my my go-to song here is is going to be uh it didn't start to break my heart until this afternoon, just just a good good punk rock song yeah just nice just a great yeah great driving tune and.

Track 3:

[1:11:00] Gets the blood flowing, right? And I agree with you about the previous three records. They're just sort of more raw and improvised feeling.

Track 4:

[1:11:08] And more range to them, right? This just feels... There was more... Yeah, just... More variety. Yeah, more...

Track 3:

[1:11:15] Dynamics. Yeah. Yeah.

Track 5:

[1:11:20] There was a point where critics were really starting to tear Gord and the hip down. Yeah. When this album was coming out. An