Month: April 2006

On his Off The Floor Live! album, from 1996, Amos Garrett talks about all the clubs and acts he heard as a kid along Toronto’s Yonge Street – the Shays, David Clayton Thomas’ pre-Blood Sweat & Tears, with Freddie Keeler on guitar – over a John Lee Hooker boogie. Stuff we never heard “south of the border.”

Danny Marks has filled that void with a trip through space and time, back to the Toronto scene of the ’60s. Or I should say, the Toronto radio scene – because it’s a mix of local heroes, Canadian covers of English and American hits and B-sides, and the eclectic sounds that were streaming out of the radio when radio was cool. So the repertoire represents a regional scene, but isn’t confined to a regional sound; it encompasses all the sounds that were blasting into and out of Toronto – some blasted by Marks himself. And he recreates the Shays’ “Take Me Back” in perfect garage fashion, with a gnarly nod to the aforementioned Keeler.

Thanks to excellent, no-nonsense production by bassist Alec Fraser, with assists from Marks and drummer Leon Stevenson, the sound is great throughout, without resorting to nostalgia or gimmicks.

Similarly, Marks plays what the tune calls for, not what would show off his hottest licks. In other words, he’s got taste – even when all a song like “Tiger” needs is a repeated one-note bend through the 12-bar changes. The Fabian cover is one of the CD’s two non-Canadian entries, and if you’re thinking Fabian personifies the lightweight end of early rock and roll, you’re right – but Danny proves that “Tiger” is a cool song, nonetheless.

Our friends to the north got a lot of these songs second-hand – so the Sevilles’ classic “Charlena,” was a standard by Ritchie Knight And The Mid Knights; Young Jessie’s “Mary Lou” was a bigger hit by Ronnie Hawkins whose part-Canadian combo, the Hawks, later became the Band.

The album closes with Danny covering himself (as it were), with Edward Bear’s 1970 hit, “You, Me And Mexico.” All I need now is a compilation CD of the original (or, I should say, Canadian) versions of these songs. Marks has piqued my interest.

It’s time to give Tommy Castro his due. And with this new record, he might actually get it. For years, he has played the blues circuit, doing his thing – singing about as well as anybody, playing guitar forcefully and soulfully, and being the ultimate showman. He has released fine records in the process. This one seems to have a little more soul influence. And that’s a good thing.

Very few voices in the music industry can do this style of music this well. The Southern soul of “Anytime Soon” is a vehicle for Castro’s voice. His rhythm guitar helps set the pace for that one. Same for the uptempo “What You Gonna Do Now?.” Throw in a solo full of double-stops and chord work, and you’ve got a winner. The boogie-soul mix and pull-offs on “Take Me Off the Road” match the urgency of the lyric. Funk takes over on “Big Love” with a blistering, in-your-face wah solo. The title cut is exactly what it says. It also gets a push from the slide guitar of Roy Rogers. All of these tunes were written or co-written by Castro. All are driven by his guitar, his voice, and some nice horn charts.

I’ve always enjoyed Castro’s material and his pure command of this style of music. In a perfect world, this album would break a very talented artist. If you’re unfamiliar with Castro, check this one out. Then move backwards through the catalog. The reward will be well worth the effort.

Britain’s NME magazine nailed Fu Manchu’s oeuvre when it dubbed them “damn near the most conceptually perfect rock band since the Ramones.” Now comes a damn near perfect double live album. Fu’s concept: Southern Cali pinball playin’ surfer dude into classic American muscle cars, ’70s hard rock and skate punk, belting fuzzed-to-the-gills, yet economical and catchy riffs cranked to 10… er, 11. No frills. Loud-fast-rules for maximum impact. Certainly not far removed from the Ramones’ glue-sniffin’ NYC street-brat shtick.

Recorded on the Cali quartet’s ’02 international tour, the two-disc Go For It features 22 songs culled mainly from Fu’s last three CDs. There are enough old-school Fu nuggets to satisfy longtime fans, though (the band has been recording and touring for more than a decade). The sound is excellent, the performances are head-buttingly strong, and there’s no time for useless stage banter.

If you aren’t lucky enough to own a tricked-out ’72 Camaro, pop this in the player, hit the gas, and you’ll feel like you do. That’s truly one of the beauties of Fu. Sex on four fat tires. Killer tracks: “Boogie Van,” “Regal Begal,” “Downtown in Dogtown” “Weird Beard” and the band’s awesome longtime live cover of BOC’s classic “Godzilla.”

Ultimately, Fu’s got such a sly wink-wink I’m-in-on-the-joke-myself-man, sense of rawk and fun (again, like da Ramones) you can’t help but want to join the club.