Vancouver ShakeDown

Back in early February I was lucky enough to visit the great city of Vancouver British Columbia and hangout with my good friends Metal Todd and his wife Nicole. On one rainy Friday afternoon Nicole asked me if I wanted to check out Stanley Park. “Hell’s Yes!” said I and after having lunch along with Metal Todd’s brother Jordan(Metal Todd unfortunately was working) Myself and Nic started the drive towards Stanley Park. Traffic though was backed up quite a bit(downtown) so in between our conversations in the background Nic had her radio dial set  on Jack Fm 96.6.

Jack Fm is not a metal Station. They do play rock so I thought it would be fun and different to write about some of the songs that to be honest a lot of these tunes I don’t own but due to their success years ago between radio and video airplay there etched in my  brain somewhere.

These songs are ones I do remember and are not in any particular order.

One Week-Barenaked Ladies,and when we were having lunch we talked about Quirkiness and of course I spun the angle of music Quirkiness and for myself that would be Cheap Trick(old school quirky) The Cars (new wave quirky ) and Weezer (alternative quirky). When we were stuck in traffic on came One Week and Nic stated “Speaking Of Quirkiness!” BNL are just that this  song is goofball-itis with its goofy half rap,bit of talk ,bit of rock. But I tell Ya the part when BNL goes into  the pre chorus is the hook! Frigg  man a catchy hook is a catchy hook.

Jesse’s Girl-Rick Springfield man I remember when this song hit huge pay dirt when I was  in Highschool. It was a staple on Casey Kasem’s Top 10 weekly countdown Saturday afternoons at 12 pm on TV. I think it crossed over into my buddy Mucs house as he had a copy of Working Class Dog! Rick being the troublemaker wants his buddy’s chick. Ahh shit this ain’t gonna end very well Rick! Walk away dude ….walk away!

This Time-More Canadian Rock via Mr Adams. This Time is a great catchy tune. The verses are the money shot here with that eery creepy keyboard lurking in the background (with blasts of huge percussion like gun shots)and this is (pre sappy Robin Hood ballad )Adams  before he made a huge dent in the music scene but after this and many other singles from Cuts Like A Knife everyone knew Adams deal! When you think of Canadian AOR Rock. This track has to be in the mix.

Holiday-Green Day kick some ass on this track! The drums courtesy of Tre Cool drive the Day Train to the Station while Billy Joe Armstromg lays down a good vocal and the pre chorus and chorus are real good! Great song!

The Joker-Who doesn’t have Steve Millers Greatest Hits hold your hands up. Yup I got this and it’s the only Steve Miller Band album I own. Props to this guy as he can tour every year just playing the Hits! The Joker is a laid back no make that a real laid back tune. Space Cowboy indeed! Now I know what your gonna say. Deke likes a Greatest Hits set? Yup this one is a all time great! Think I may have to review it at some point!

Mrs Robinson- Out of all the tracks here this one caught my ear right away as I hadn’t heard it about 20 years! The Lemonheads were their name and  cashing out a one hit wonder cover was the game. They do it justice and the bass on this is fantastic as it pushes the tune along and of course for good measure toss in some catchy ‘ do do do’s ” etc  and it’s a sure-fire winner! Whatever happened to that Evan Dando guy anyways! This song  was a great flashback…

Now. Metal Todd drove me out to the airport a day later and it was God Flesh that was playing in his car and what better way to start your day with some Real  Metal at 6:30 am! Aaaaaaaarghhhhh M-E-T-A-L!!

Great story Metal Todd told me as these guys especially the singer/guitarist( Justin Broadwick) crashed and burned literally personally  and professionally and a few years later  bounced back with the bass player(G.C Green) and with a drum machine metalled their way back to the public even into a Vancouver a show at which Metal Todd tossed the horns live at them  in salute!

FYI- Vancouver Shakedown by Nazareth(video posted) was not played on the radio that day! I needed a cool title for this little tale of visiting the Big City! Cool old school Naz tune! Enjoy!