The Bird Collector

The Bonnevilles formed in 1963 in Thunder Bay and soon changed name to The Plague before they went to California to record two singles with Gary Paxton in 1966. They then changed name again to Lexington Avenue and recorded three more singles - the first single was The Bird Collector from 1967 - I suspect they had some Kinks albums lying around:

Lexington Avenue:

Donald Brown (guitar, vocals)
Tommy Horricks (saxaphone, vocals)
Lyn McEachern (drums, vocals)
Joey Stapansky (keyboards, vocals)
George Stevenson (bass, vocals)

Tommy Horricks would go on to The Jarvis Street Revue which released the highly recommended Mr. Oil Man LP in 1970.

Canadian History

The Kids in the Hall:

According to wikipedia, the name “came from Sid Caesar, who, if a joke did not go over, or played worse than expected, would attribute it to ‘the kids in the hall’, referring to a group of young writers hanging around the studio.”

Dave Foley
Bruce McCulloch
Kevin McDonald
Mark McKinney
Scott Thompson

Nothin'

Someone paired The Ugly Duckling’s “Nothin’” (their first single from 1966) with some choice footage of Yorkville back in the day - enjoy.

My Indole Ring

Dang, this is some heavy psych for the ol’ CBC:

My Indole Ring was one of Vancouver’s top underground bands in the mid-sixties. They didn’t release any singles or LPs in their career, but in 2000 a CD compilation of unreleased recordings was released which has some fairly wigged out gems on it.

John Cluff: organ
Chris Dahl: drums
David Jordan-Knox: bass
John King: lead guitar, vocals

An indole ring is an aromatic heterocyclic organic compound which makes up part of the LSD molecule, btw.

Allen-Ward Trio

The picture below is of the Allen-Ward Trio at the Penny Farthing on February 21 1967. This was their first public performance with electronic amplification as they were purely acoustic folkies - according to The Toronto Star, Robin Ward said that night: “We’re probably the most unhip group they’ve had in this place in a long time“. The review mentioned technical difficulties with amps and feedback, and also that this was their first gig with new singer - that’s Donna Marie (Daisy) DeBolt, not the original singer, Lynn Ward.

Not a stellar review of The Allen-Ward Trio, but it goes on to gush about the follow up act - Joni Mitchell on her only Canadian appearance until August that year: “Every one of her songs last night was followed by a sighing silence before the burst of applause.“

Here’s The Allen-Ward Trio’s cover of Gordon Lightfoot’s “Dear Brothers and Sisters and Friends”:

A picture of the trio with Lynn Ward, date unknown:

Craig Allen
Lynn Ward
Robin Ward

Photos courtesy of Toronto Public Library.

Xanadu

Rush in 1981 - yowza.

Rock Bach To Me

In the early 70’s a number of musicians were bitten by the “let’s rock up classical music” bug and Moe Koffman was one of them, releasing “Moe Koffman Plays Bach” in 1971. In all regions, the album cover displayed a weirdly coloured bust of J.S. but for some reason in the UK only, the album title was changed to “Rock Bach To Me” and given a rather striking cover:

Here’s the lead off track:

Moe Koffman: 1928-12-28 to 2001-03-28

Dusting Off Mythology

This album is something else - an education package LP prepared by the Ontario Education Communications Authority in 1971 (and re-issued in 1973) which accompanies a television series of the same name which was aired on TVOntario (owned by the OECA).

The album gathers up some local music talent - Perth County Conspiracy, Edward Bear, Dinah Christie, Shoppe (Victor Garber!), and Pepper & Salt who provided tracks related to themes of mythology. The Teacher’s Notes (in Blue below) contain intro material and then divides into 4 mythological themes: The Quest, The Hero, War and finally Creation, each of which has related tracks from the LP and who knows what from the TV show.

The Program Insert which contains the lyrics:

The program gives the last theme (“Creation”) over to the Perth County Conspiracy with “Live To Die”, “Stories of Old” and, linked below, “Angel’s Anthem”.

“Captain”, by good ol’ Edward Bear:

And the somewhat ridiculous “Hercules” by Pepper & Salt:

I contacted TVOntario, and they replied confirming that the video is currently not available, but were able to provide their description of the series broadcast - there were 4 episodes in all:

Series Description: Providing an innovative approach to studies in mythology for Intermediate and Senior students, modern Greek troubadours not only sing of the Greek myths, but also use modern songs to illustrate how we are still following the essential patterns of the Greek stories. Students are invited to draw their own conclusions about our 20th century Western mythology, as well as the place and purpose of mythology in all societies.

Episode 1: The Quest - Using the story of the Golden Fleece as the basic example of the quest in mythology, this program defines the quest and examines illustrations of it in history and literature.

Episode 2: The Hero - Presents the stories of two famous Greek heroes, Hercules and Theseus, considers the hero in history, literature and current society, and asks the question: are all heroes mythical?

Episode 3: War - Tells the story of the Trojan War and draws ironic parallels between it and other wars.

Episode 4: Creation - Considers various mythical versions of the creation of the world, of man and of the seasons.

The Supremes

When the Supremes landed at Toronto, 1966

tspa_0102569f.jpg

RIP Mary Wilson: 1944-03-06 to 2021-02-08

Photo by Boris Spremo, courtesy of Toronto Public LIbrary

Upon Velveatur

“Listen To These Chords I Play” is the lead-off track from Roger Rodier’s 1972 LP “Upon Velveatur” and this one sounds a bit like what Mojave 3 or the Lilac Time were doing in the 90’s. The album has been given a re-issue on both vinyl and digital along with some bonus tracks - it’s an exceptional album.

Here is “Have You?” which is one of the bonus tracks released when the LP was re-issued.

Innovation

The cover of this LP is way better than any of the tracks.

Concert In High Park

That’s a lot of people in High Park.

The High Park Free Festival in 1974 drew a crowd of about 40,000 to see John Mills-Cockell, John Allan Cameron, Cathy Young with Finderwood, Shingoose, Good Brothers and Dave Nicol.

Photo courtesy of Toronto Public Library

Night Music

Here is the entire episode of TVO’s NightMusic featuring FM (Cameron Hawkins and a pre-bandaged Nash The Slash). TVO was a hotbed of some great programming in the seventies (eg. Magic Shadows); NightMusic was the brainchild of DJ Reiner Schwarz and was part talk show, part lecture, part performance art, part concert – all very loosely structured. Enjoy 30 minutes of electronic music greatness.

Jeff Plewman: 1948-03-26 to 2014-05-10

Mary Ellen Carter

Here’s a rousing version of Stan Roger’s Mary Ellen Carter with John Allan Cameron, the Rankin Family, Natalie MacMaster, Dave McIsaac, Scott Macmillan and Bruce Phillips - filmed aboard The Scotia Prince which was docked in Boston Harbor. Rise Again!

Cabin Fever

Cabin Fever is a solo abum by Bob Burchill which features a number of members of the Perth County Conspiracy (Does Not Exist). The band was based out of Stratford ON and was a center of the Canadian counter-culture folk music scene. They put out a string of excellent albums from 1970 through 1975 and they were active to about 1977. Here’s “To Be One With You” which is a simply sweet and beautiful song:

Didn't You Hear?

Another one of the recent Mort Garson reissues on Sacred Bones records is his 1970 soundtrack to the movie “Didn’t You Hear” (starring Gary Busey!) which is one of the first all-electronic music scores. The LP was originally only available from the lobby of the theatres when it was screened in Seattle and it went out of print shortly afterwards. Here’s the trailer:

The theme song from the movie is pure Mort loveliness:

The tracks on the LP are named according to scenes in the movie - here’s “Jeep Ride”:

The LP cover:

Music From Patch Cord Productions

Need more Mort! Sacred Bones records has remastered a couple Mort Garson LPs for your electronic convenience and enjoyment. Music From Patch Cord Productions is a collection of rare and unreleased tracks from the Canadian synthesizer pioneer. Pressed on havy vinyl with extensive liner notes, it’s a nice package. Toss the cans on your ears and listen to Dragonfly - just click there below. Zing!

Athenians Of Toronto

Athenians of Toronto was a Greek-Canadian band formed in Ontario in the late 60s who put out one album (Σαν Σκοτεινιάζε) in 1971 which now fetches big bux in collector circles. The LP contains mostly covers of songs (eg “Light My Fire”, “Colour My World, “25 or 6 to 4”, “Proud Mary”) all sung in Greek (except "Light My Fire” which is half English) with a couple originals. Below is their cover of Lighthouse’s One Fine Morning which is super-plus good:

Costas Philippeos (piano)
Nikos Philippeos (drums)
Vangelis Bethanis (vocals)
Denny Fernando (guitar, vocals)
Paul Imo (bass)

The horn section: Pete Schofield, Heather Banks, John Satcho, Al Stanmwyck and Terry Anton.

Track mp3 courtesy of Museum of Canadian Music which is well worth checkin’ out.

Teenage Beer Drinking Party

Quick shout out to those of a certain age - TVO put together a documentary on Teenage Head. Nab some brewskies and enjoy.

A teenage beer drinkin' party
Beer drinkin' party, beer drinkin' party
A teenage beer drinkin' party
They never should have left us alone

Fraser & DeBolt

I ♥ this album cover.

Allan Fraser & Daisy DeBolt met in the summer of 1968 at a Mariposa folk workshop and began writing and working together - in 1969 they became Fraser & DeBolt and started touring the coffee house circuit in Canada and the US. After opening for Tom Paxton at Fillmore East in 1970 they were signed to Columbia Records - their first album (with Ian Guenther) was released in 1971 and their second (with members of band SImon Caine) entitled “With Pleasure” was released in 1973. Recently, a 2-LP set called “This Song Was Borne” was released; a collection of previously unreleased demos, studio outtakes, radio sessions and live recordings spanning their entire career.

Donna Marie "Daisy" DeBolt: 1945-07-19 to 2011-10-04