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Mean Machine - Sugar Ray (1995)

I have a strange relationship with Sugar Ray. In 1997 they released the album “Floored” which contained a song called “Fly” that turned them into instant radio stars. None of the other songs on that album sounded remotely close to “Fly” so there were no other radio hits, but in 1999 they released an album with the cheeky title “14:59” which not only was a clever poke at their 15 minutes of fame not quite being up, it also gave them four more radio hits. Since that time however, they have not had anywhere near the same success and we have mostly only heard about singer Mark McGrath who did a God awful duet with Shania Twain called “Party for Two”,and has become a well known TV guy on shows like Extra and now Don’t Forget the Lyrics (a singer in a band turned TV host-how lame!). Here’s my strange relationship with them; I LOVE their first album Lemonade and Brownies which came out in 1995, and my old band used to cover the song “Mean Machine”. We couldn’t believe we were hearing them all over the radio with “Fly”. L&B is a different Sugar Ray, same guys but not the radio Sugar Ray you might remember, and the song Mean Machine is BADASS! We played the shit out of that song and continued to play it well into the Sugar Ray radio era, it became a set list staple for us and I will never forget the day in St. John’s (pre-Fly) that a record store clerk told me that he had to order a batch of the Lemonade and Brownies album because kids were coming in looking for THAT song. Mean Machine is so good that I stand by Sugar Ray, I stand by them despite their style change to appease the radio success, I stand by them despite the Shania Twain duet and the cover of Abracadabra.

“Elvis had fifty but this one’s mine.”-Mean Machine

Brandi Carlile -Turpentine (2007)

TV has become the new radio. It’s not a new revelation, I’m just sayin’. How many artists can we count in the past five years who have been thrust into mainstream consciousness by TV? Apple commercials alone have changed the lives of Feist, Jet, The Fratellis and the The Ting Tings. As for TV shows we don’t have to look far to see what Glee has managed to do, but before that, Dawson’s Creek was an amazing way for Tom Cruise to find a wife and for hungry music fans to find out about new bands. More recently Grey’s Anatomy has become a hit making machine. First Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol was unleashed by Dr. Mcdreamy and back in 2007 Brandi Carlile’s song “The Story” was featured on the show and it BLEW UP, and because of that attention her sales got a push, she made her way to Canada, was interviewed by yours truly and I haven’t stopped listening to her since. When Brandi’s album “The Story” was sent to me in preparation for the interview, I liked it so much I walked out of the office and over to HMV to find her first album. Music is a matter of opinion; it touches us in different ways for different reasons, but there is something about her album “The Story” that is abnormally good. Produced by T-Bone Brunette, this album feels right and sounds right; it’s not just the fact that the songs are good but there is something about the vibe they captured in the studio that does it for me, easily a top 3 album for me in the past 10 years. Start with Turpentine and stop digging if you can.

Ma and Pa - Fishbone (1989)

Ask any artist with a hit record what they want the most and usually it’s respect from their peers.Ask any artist who has earned that respect from their peers what they want…is a hit record. Fishbone had the respect but always remained a cult band and never reached the level of success that they should have. They were and still are a legendary and epic live show that I was fortunate enough to experience in Halifax at the Marquee Club in 2004 (or maybe 2003). In the early days they toured with the Beastie Boys and the Chili Peppers and played the main stage of Lollapalooza in 1993 along with Rage Against the Machine, Alice in Chains and a side stage Tool, but never reached the heights of those other bands. Maybe it was because they were too different than everything else and nobody knew how to market them but as the “Alternative” music scene in the early 90’s exploded Fishbone remained the favorite band of all the other bands who were selling out arenas. John Cusack seems to wear a Fishbone t-shirt in every film he makes. You’ve seen the logo before and I’m sure now it’s time to listen. The album is Truth and Soul, the track is Ma and Pa. You’re welcome.

Wake up Everybody – John Legend and the Roots featuring Common and Melanie Fiona (2010)

In the mid 90’s a young student at the University of Pennsylvania by the name of John Stephans started listening to the Roots and this year he released an album with them. You might recognize his stage name; John Legend. But let’s go back a little further……

In the early 70’s there was a musical movement known as The Philadelphia Sound. It was soul music, it was funk, it had strings and it was effing brilliant. The legacy is strong and for better or worse it laid the groundwork for disco, but don’t let that stop you from exploring. Jackie Wilson, The Delfonics, The O’Jays and Patti LaBelle are just a few of the artists who were associated with The Philly Sound, but perhaps one of the most popular was Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes who at their peak were fronted by Teddy Pendergrass (who I first heard about when I was 10 years old thanks to Eddie Murphy’s impersonation of him-yes I saw Delirious when I was 10.) The Blue Notes have been name dropped and sampled by everyone from Snoop to Kanye and Jay Z and covered countless times, most recently by John Legend and the Roots on their new collaboration together called “Wake Up”. The album is mostly a collection of classic socially charged R&B songs from the 60’s and 70’s, including the track “Wake up Everybody” by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. What I love about this album is that not only does it sound great and stand on it’s own as a new take on some classic songs, but it acts as a porthole back to the music that inspired what we listen to today.

Sick of You – Cake (2010)

If for some reason you need convincing to listen to Cake, allow me: since the mid 90’s they have somehow managed to find a place on radio with a unique kind of sound that, let’s be honest, radio is rarely open to. No matter what the trend in music, no matter what has been appealing or murder to our ears via the airways since 1994, Cake have been there to make sure we never get too bored. You know this band. “The Distance”, “Never There” and “Short Skirt/Long Jacket”, which also brought the excellent video of random people listening to the song and commenting on it; “not bad not bad, I like this stuff, how much is it? I’ll but two”. Music aside, check this out; they have built a studio in their hometown of Sacramento where they recorded their new album using 100% Solar Energy and currently make more energy than then use. We will have to wait until 2011 for that new album, but the first new Cake single in 6 years is Sick of You.