cinnamon toast now have a p.o. box.
their new address is po box 2665
halifax central, halifax ns b3j 3p7
sorry for any confusion.
(what follows is a verbose, extemporaneous
review of the new cinnamon toast compilation.
there's a general introduction, which may be
all you want or need to read, and then there's
a pedantic track-by-track analysis, which
you might want to skip. to order this c.d.,
send $15 + s/h to the above address, cassette
is $8 + s/h; americans please send u.s. funds.)
viva vinyl. i don't know how it's sticking
around, but it is, pearl jam or no pearl jam.
for financial and aesthetic reasons, the
lowly seven-inch vinyl single has asserted
itself as the cornerstone medium of indie
rock. of course, sub pop's single of the
month club and simple machines' working
holiday series haven't hurt it either.
in canada, the three labels that come
most easily to mind when speaking of 7"
singles are vancouver's mint, montreal's
derivative, and halifax's cinnamon toast
records. since their first release,
bubaiskull _insex_ october 92, they've
released 11 seven-inchers, one-and-a-
quarter flexis (seriously), and now this
brand spanking new c.d. and cassette.
(i hear there will be a 12" vinyl version
available later.)
_trim crusts if desired_ contains one
track from each cinnamon toast release.
that's one track from each of ten 7"
singles, two tracks from the plumtree/
strawberry split single (one by each
band), one track from the skreech 10"
flexidisc, and the hardship post track
that was contributed to a 4-song 4-label
flexidisc included in a issue of the
magazine _national chart_ in feburary.
there's also a previously unreleased
demo track. that's 15 tracks. got it?
:-)
i must admit right now that i must have
very similar taste to the cinnamon toast
people, because with a couple of exceptions
all of my favorite tracks from these
singles are here. i know a lot of people
don't have turntables anymore, and they
are going to be surprised when they find
out what they've been missing. this is
a great bunch of songs!
on the front of the cd there's a picture
of one of those old-fashioned toast racks
that can hold eight slices at a time,
side by side. the list of band members
inside is decorated with an illustrated
history of toast! tres whimsical. and
the label side of the disc has a big
red-on-white cinnamon toast logo on it.
great packaging. i can't wait to see
what the liner notes of the vinyl version
look like.
1. hardship post "won't you come home"
this is the secret seventh track that was
recorded with rick white at stereo mountain
for the _hack_ e.p., but wasn't included.
maybe it was too poppy for the band at the
time. since that is no longer the case,
this song is a timely release. it was
previously released on the _national chart_
flexi in february 1994.
2. quahogs "them"
the quahogs no longer exist. since poppy
post-hardcore is this big trend now, maybe
people will give the _glaze_ single a second
listen. members of quahogs are currently to
be found in a band called trike. this song
sounds great on the digital disc.
3. bubaiskull "eel monkey"
some still say that bubaiskull were the
best halifax band ever. members of bubaiskull
are now to be found in rebecca west and coyote.
"eel monkey" gives you some idea of what coyote
sound like, because it's closer to their sound
than most other bubaiskull songs. _insex_ was
the first cinnamon toast release.
4. skreech "theme song"
the instrumental track from the three-song 10"
flexi by the side project band that featured
members of jale, superfriendz, and bubaiskull.
should be the theme song to some seventies tv
show or something. one of my favorite songs
on this disc.
5. jale "brother"
the best song on jale's best single, _sort of
gray_, a co-release with derivative. a good
choice because the flip side was a early
version of "emma," which is already available
to people on the _dreamcake_ lp (the early
version is better though). the 7" was, of
course, pressed on foolish virgin white vinyl.
one of jale's best songs ever, right up there
with "lung."
6. leonard conan "frightened of..."
from the cleverly titled _pub slop_ 4-song ep.
half the world seems to think this is the best
track, but i like "anybody's guess" and
"engine" better. oh well. this is perhaps
the one track on this compilation that i would
have chosen differently.
7. rebecca west "sick"
this is the previously unreleased demo track.
the driving force of this band is allison outhit,
ex of bubaiskull. this track was recorded with
her brother stephen on bass -- the new lineup
has lucas pearse (les gluetones, horseshoes and
handgrenades) instead. look for an l.p. on
cinnamon toast, their first (except for this
compilation) in the spring. a hard-edged sound,
for cinnamon toast that is.
8. thrush hermit "pink is the colour"
you've heard this song on the _smart bomb_ ep.
now hear the early, good, better, correct
version (featuring bugaboo catano on drums)
of the hermit's best song ever. rock! :-)
9. plum tree "dog gone crazy"
before they ever plugged in a distortion pedal,
plum tree recorded two clever and whimsical
tracks for a split single with strawberry.
plumtree's side of the single is called "green
mittens." trust me, this song will stick in
your head forever. you've been warned.
10. eric's trip "laying blame"
their cover of sloan, from the split single
where they cover each other. my favorite side.
you can find the other side, sloan's cover of
"stove"+"smother", on the geffen compilation
c.d. called _dgc rareties_.
11. cheticamp "coincidence"
from new york but recorded when they had
halifax's dave marsh on drums. he's drumming
for superfriendz now. cheticamp are signed
to island. i don't know what that means.
cheticamp have neither a distinctive sound
nor a distinctive presence (last i saw).
but based on this track, i can say they at
least have one good song. the seven-inch
comes out soon. maybe i'll post a more
detailed review of it later.
12. les gluetones "reincarnated"
put them alongside bubaiskull and horseshoes
in the category of bands that have had the
"best in halifax" buzz. the two front members,
meg & paul hogan, moved to ottawa. now they
have some other band but i don't know what it's
called. one of the best songs cinnamon toast
ever released. weird hushed vocals over
hooky folk pop. seriously.
13. jale "twisted"
they've recorded it three times, you've heard
it a million times, but more people are going
to have a copy of _trim crusts if desired_
than _cod can't hear_, so once again "twisted"
gets anthologized. i was hoping for "sweetness",
since it's the only track from _aunt betty_
that hasn't been on a c.d. yet, and it's a cool
song. but "twisted" has this advantage: there's
a video for the song already. maybe muchmusic
will play the video and make people aware of
this disc. don't blink or you'll miss me
dancing. :-)
14. strawberry "buried treasure"
strawberry are rocking a lot harder than when
they recorded this track. it kind of sounds
like margo timmins doing jangle pop. it maybe
has one verse too many. but i like it. kind
of a boppy souvenir of a bygone strawberry era.
15. hardship post "rock is my life"
the infamous randy bachman cover. now this
is truly obnoxious. they've mastered it from
the single. this raises the question, do we
really need to hear the sound of a needle
dropping and scratching on a c.d. again? how
many times has this been done? i was really
looking forward to getting a freshly mastered
version of this song -- i'm not completely
satisfied with the way the vinyl version sounds.
oh well -- the only real disappointment on this
disc. it sounds pretty good anyway. and people
who haven't had a chance to hear this track
before will love it.
james
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
_James R. Covey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>_ sloan net is a discussion of the
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