Ultra Gash - Live Off The Floor (2018)

Thanks to Ryan Von Hagen for passing us a copy of this Ultra Gash tape - this live tape is kinda what we need after over a year of not being able to take in live music the way we used to. We've featured a couple of Ultra Gash tapes before, and this one is more of the same frantic, no-frills punk. This reminds us what it feels like at Tubby Dog on a Friday night - if we were smart, we would have ordered a bunch of Tubby Rings and a Sumo to chow down on while giving this a listen. Ah! Maybe that's our plan for this weekend.

You can grab the download of this - and maybe a copy of the physical tape? - via the Ultra Gash bandcamp.

Substance - Infectious (1993)

Huge thanks to Jody Alexander for getting in touch with us to (a) give us a better quality version of the Discatch tape he played on and (b) pass us this tape from the project that came after that. He also passed along a bit of background on the bands:

As you know, Discatch was different from everything else coming out of Calgary in the early 90s: danceable electronica. The hilarious part to me was that our 1992 album, "Mind the Gap," was recorded and produced by Richard Harrow at Living Room Studios (looking back, we were quite a departure for Richard, whose engineering credits included Gordon Lightfoot, Ry Cooder, and Ian Tyson). 

A year after "Mind the Gap" came out, we added a guitarist to the mix and the band changed its name to Substance. Our first album, "Infectious", came out in 1993. Whie it was a bit heavier than our last one, we managed to do a few shows, and were played at places like The Warehouse and Venom.

Substance was me (Jody Alexander) on vocals and keyboards, Chris Wiebe on drums and programming, and Lock Fulton on guitars. Like the previous album, it was recorded and mixed at Richard Harrow's studio. All of the songs were written and programmed by us, except for "Puppets", which is an old Depeche Mode cover.

AND he also dug up a review of the tape by the infamous James Muretich:

Get it here!

Miss Molly - Every Cowboy Needs A Horse (1990)

Thanks to the good folks at Recordland for giving us a copy of this tape (sans j-card) and extra thanks to Grant Hutchinson for uploading the art to Discogs! It takes a village! With their efforts, we can now present another Miss Molly tape - this one which isn't a non-seasonal post. Children's performer Molly Hamilton is back with another fun-filled batch of songs - mostly cowboy-themed! The highlight for us is "Stampede Song," because we're suckers for songs celebrating the Calgary Stampede - and this one is pretty great. 

Yee haw!

Bootleg - Queen of Hearts (1979)

 

Well, friends. This is the end of the Sundae Sound stack of singles, and we're ending at the opposite end of where we started. Wait, does that make sense? Anyways, we came in with Rob Bartlett, and that's who we're leaving with. 

Bootleg was Bartlett's band, formed in Winnipeg in 1973 and relocated to Calgary in 1976. Bartlett has a brief history of Bootleg on his site, which features some great photos. We think this one appropriately sums up the feel of this record:

There are two versions of "Queen of Hearts" on this single, a shorter version and a more full version. Bartlett notes that trying to cram over 5 minutes of music onto a 7" is kind of disastrous for the audio quality, so he's also passed along a nice, remastered version. 

That was a lot of singles, huh? Well, we've got more coming. But we're going to take a break and focus on tapes for a bit.

In the meantime, make sure you grab all three versions of the this tune.

Wendall Donovan and the Eastcoast Rider Band - Love Comes Easy (1986)

 

Well, this Sundae Sound single sent us on an interesting chase. We can find listings of Wendall Donovan and his Eastcoast Rider Band playing in Calgary fairly regularly in the 90's and early 2000's, but they have an entry in Victoria's Royal City Music Project site - but then, so does Bryan Adams, so we really don't know what that means. Is Wendall Donovan from Victoria? Calgary? Or, since this is on Axe Records, maybe somewhere else in central Canada?

So many questions that aren't answered by either the country or country rock mix of this track. Get it here!

Tom Pearson - Talk To Your Daddy

 

  

 

Well, we're nearing the end of the stack of Sundae Sound singles, and this one is pretty special. We couldn't find anything out about Tom Pearson - but check out this package! An EARS-branded folder, glossy photos, bio, business cards? AMAZING. And the single itself is one of those amazing ones with a b-side of radio-ready generic promo spots and one-sided interview. IF we had more time, we'd record our own side of the interview with Pearson. 

Aren't you glad we don't have that much time on our hands?

Tom Cole & Cole Cole Heart - Rhythm Of The Rain, Dangerous Lips/Mama Tried (1990), Dance Once Again (For Me Linda)/Dangerous Lips (1991)

 

  

By now, you're probably not expecting much from these Sundae Sound single posts. Well! We've got content galore today! First, three singles of remarkably upbeat and, well, almost sunshiney country music featuring Tom Cole. But! We've also found a great interview with Cole from 1990, in which he comes off as an immensely likeable character:

And not just that - he's still active, with his own Youtube channel which features a live-ish performance of "Dangerous Lips":

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It's pretty great stuff, and you can get it here. 

Tim Welter - Dancing Too Close To The Flames

Here's another Starbright single from the Sundae Sound stack, but this one was recorded at the studio! Very exciting! We had a tape from Welter a few months ago - amazingly, this uptempo two-stepper isn't on that tape, so you get a fresh track!

In fact, you can get it right here!

Rock 'N' Horse - Every Single Night (1990)

Here's another from the Sundae Sound box of 45's that doesn't seem to have a connection to Sundae Sound. We're guessing this is in there becuase it's on the same label as Rob Bartlett's two solo singles. Maybe? Anyways, for once, we actually have some content about this band, with an interview with frontman Duane Bjorklund from 1991:

Saddle up!

Restless - Your Memory (Keeps Me Up All Night Long) (1987)

We really can't explain how this record, which was recorded in Richard Harrow's Living Room Studios was also in the Sundae Sound singles box from Rob Bartlett. We also cannot find out anything about this band, despite our usual half-assed searching. In fact, we got to see this message from our Google overlords for the first time:

Which means we're going to send you straight to the download.

Randy Poirier - I Can't See Through The Window (For The Pain) (1989)

Today's Sundae Sound single comes with both an artist bio on the sleeve AND a good pun in the song title. So huge thanks to Randy Poirier for giving us two things we always appreciate - and this single is a pretty good two-steppin' bit of fun.

Get it here.

Randy Owen Bishop - The Old Ring (1989), Oregon Sunsets (1991)

We got completely stymied by this next pair of Sundae Sound singles from Randy Owen Bishop. All searches for more information came up negative. What's more puzzling is that the second single is on Arizona-based Comstock Records. Although we note that this one isn't even listed on the Comstock wikipedia page.

How's that for niche?

Myrol & Myrol - Burned By An Old Flame (1990), Running Shoes (1990)

Just like yesterday's post, these next Sundae Sound singles are also ones which were on a tape we posted previously. And we pretty much exhausted what we could tell you about sister-brother due Myrol & Myrol at that time, so we'll point you straight to the download.
 

Monika With A "K" - Fantasy (1986), Until Tonight, I Forgot To Tell My Heart/Jack Daniels

 

 

You might remember Monika With A "K" from a Sundae Sound cassette post a few months ago. She's back again, with three slices of vinyl! All of which are tracks which appear on that tape. We managed to rustle up the sleeves for two of these from the Recordland 45 cave/safety hazard (thanks to Eraz and co for their, uh, hospitality). We highly recommend reading the notes from the back of said sleeves, if for no reason other than to justify the number of cuts and slivers we got digging for these.

Or maybe it was just a fantasy?

Moment - My Woman/Gonna Get Me A Girl (1985)

Our next Sundae Sound single is slice of 80s pop from The Moment (which, judging by the fact that his name appears three times on each side of the label, we suspect was the brainchild of one Paul Miles). Side one is a slower ballad, but side two totally suckered us with an arpeggio intro that sounds remarkably like Madonna's "Lucky Star." 

If you're feeling lucky, you can grab it here.

Michael Paul - Just Friends/I've Got A Feeling (1987)

Whoops! We feel asleep after the long weekend, and forgot to keep up with our posting. Back into the Sundae Sound singles with this one from Michael Paul, who thankfully has given us a bio on the back of this sleeve. 

Get it here!

Men Without Saddles - Men Without Saddles (1985)

Alright! Let's get back into some substance! This next Sundae Sound single (also on a Doug Wong Music sublabel) is from Stew Tarrant and his Men Without Saddles. Rob Bartlett tells us that Tarrant's father was a former big wig in the Calgary Police Service, which makes this off-colour ode to the Stampede all the better. At some point in the coming year, we're going to do a feature on songs of the Stampede - honestly, they're not usually as entertaining as this one. Don't believe us? Here's what the great James Muretich had to say about it:

Oh, and Tarrant was also manager of the great Kelly's Electronic World. We'll maybe forgive him for singing the CD's praises in this article:

Yahoo!

Loren David - Unfinished Dreams/If Love Is Real (1988)

We're coming up pretty much empty with this single as well. We don't know if Loren David is the name of the band or the name of the singer; all we can really tell you is that this is some pretty slick late 80's pop balladry, thanks in part to the handiwork of keyboardist Jerry Proppe.

Get it here.