Sunday 17 May 2009

CCPS Miscellany: Pal Joey - Demo



This one gets flagged as a questionable inclusion on this blog. Pal Joey were an Edmonton-based outfit (someone's set up a posthumous myspace that you can -and should - check out).

But a few things about this tape that Dan Izzo passed our way make us want to include it here. First, it likely has our old pal Lorrie Matheson playing on it (we believe - and memories are a bit foggy this morning after a night of Mustache Rock - that Lorrie joined Pal Joey after Fire Engine Red split). Second, Trent Buhler apparently played in Ninth Configuration (we didn't know this - we thought Ben was their bass player?). Third, the tape label (the j-card is MIA - and we're pretty fond of parenthesis this morning) has a contact phone number with a 403 area code, which while not being necessarily a Calgary number, we know one thing - it's not an Edmonton number.

And finally, it's a really good listen.

11 comments:

shaun citrus said...

Lorrie wasn't in Pal Joey at this point. This tape was their first recording, and i believe nothing ever got released with Lorrie playing.
And yes Trent, singer/guitarist /songwriter in Pal Joey played bass in Ninth Configuration (then the Wheat Chiefs). Ben sang in Ninth Configuration, but played bass in Primrods.

marquee room said...

citrus is correct- this was PJ's first recording, waaay before i joined. we did record some stuff while i was in the band, but the only thing that ever saw the light of day was the version of 'sadie hawkins' that appears on 'local band seeks fans', which is under my name, cuz i was kicked out of PJ by then. :)

get the PJ CD, 'tennesee angels', if you can. it's really frickin good.

Arif said...

Thanks to both of you for clearing that up. We at the CCPS highly recommend that you also chase down Lorrie's two National Dust records, the first of which also has Sadie Hawkins.

Duncan said...

x2 for Tennessee Angel!

Also, 403 was the area code for all of Alberta until 1999. According to Wikipedia, 780 was started for Northern Alberta in January of 1999.

Arif said...

You're right. How quickly we forget! Yes, that's likely an Edmonton number on the tape. But we're standing by our decision to post this, mostly b/c of that great, great picture of Lorrie.

The Rapture!

Duncan said...

Absolutely! Thanks for posting it. Fantastic.

Anonymous said...

If that in fact is Pal Joey's 1st tape it would be 'Blind in One Ear' the second tape was 'Repent Sinner' and the 3rd was 'Black Box [limited Edition]' and the 4th was a 'demo' with 3 songs for industry insiders only. The 403 area code for history majors was on these tapes as at the time in the early 90's Edmonton's area code was 403. Lorrie joined Pal Joey after I left the band. Believe me I know what I'm talking about seeing as I'm the founding member of Pal Joey with John Foss, Trent Buhler and Tom Murray. Cheers. Janice Frisch

Anonymous said...

As a followup... the band hired drummer Shaunna Hosegood after I left and the drumming on Tennesee Angels is not me. Nor are the lead guitar and vocals John Foss as he left shortly after me. However, most of the songs were written and arranged when John and I were in the band as an original lineup. Always nice to straighten up the facts. Cheers laddies and ladies!

Arif said...

So, the question that follows is - where can we get ahold of these great recordings? We want more Pal Joey.

Anonymous said...

oooops sorry Gene about seeing your question. Just noticed it now... well i have some Pal Joey tunes posted from when i was in the band at http://www.reverbnation.com/janicefrisch hope that helps and thanks for the interest! Cheers Janice Frisch

Unknown said...

I remember seeing Lorrie with PJ in Edmonton. Best version of the band, IMO.