Collins Brothers - You Never Get What You're Hoping For (1978), Hold On To Me (1981)

This pair of singles is from brothers Pat and Ken Collins, a duo with one sibling on keyboards and the other on drums. The second single features a pair of mid-tempo ballads, but the first single delivers the goods with a lounge-y medley of Klaatu's "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" and the Star Wars theme. Actually, all of these songs are pretty lounge-y, which makes sense since that's where the brothers were playing.

Get 'em here.

Judy Reimer - A Promise Is A Prison (1977), Where Did It Go (1976); Reimer Sisters - Fly Over The Rockies,

We found another single on the Doug Wong-associated Mootown label a couple of weeks ago, so we might as well let loose with a few Judy Reimer and Reimer Sisters (featuring Judy and sister Arlene) singles. We thought we had posted the Reimer Sisters' Christmas single last year, but looks like we missed it somehow. So we're taking care of that now, with the added bonus of a promo sleeve for Reimer's solo single on Westmount - featuring the standard photo of the artist touching her face. 

Get the Reimer singles here.

Mega - Running Blind/Make It (1980)

We imagine the members of Mega weren't thinking about the future of the internet and the ability to search for their name when they decided on their band name... but we wish it had been a consideration. We've been able to confirm that Mega played around town in the early 80's. These two songs are harder rocking and fun - they lack the theatrics of Aurora labelmates Mantra and are certainly more straight-ahead fare.

Get it here.

S.Q. - Alone At Night/One Love (1989)

We've got one last DWM-numbered release for now... this one from S.Q., the vehicle for songwriter Terry Siquera (who is still active as a music educator). The A side of this single is peppy and upbeat - but it's Side One (yes, one side is Side A, the other is Side One - cheeky, right?) that's the winner for us. "One Love" has a darker edge to it, and just enough Corey Hart-ish swagger.

Get it here.

Agatha - Called It Off/Meet You On The Other Side (1983)

We wish we could tell you more about Agatha beyond the names we've pulled from this single's label... but we're coming up blank. We're not being wise-assed this time - we really do wish we had more info on this band, because this single is pretty great. The A side is a great hard rocker, while the B side sounds kinda like Rush. AND their lead vocals are handled by Rik Anthony of heavy metal legends Breaker.  

This one is a highly recommended download.

Atrid Voll - Would You Love Me (1979), Kathy Miller - Make The World Go Away (1981), Ivan Daines - A Rodeo Is A Rodeo (1982)

 

Ever since we got our hands on the Doug Wong Archives, we've been trying to close all the gaps in the collection, trolling the furthest reaches of the internet in the name of completionism. Today, we bring you three Doug Wong Music-manufactured country singles we've found recently.

We haven't been able dig up anything concrete on Astrid Voll (especially anything that might give a hint as to why we had to source a copy of this from Germany), nor Kathy Miller. And Ivan Daines we've already spent lots of time talking about.

So we'll just send you to the download.

Voyeur's Market - Demo (2022)

HUGE thanks to Hairnet's Ashley Pridham for passing us a copy of this Voyeur's Market tape - basically a solo project that sees her stepping out from behind the drum kit to delivery a set of super fun songs in the tradition of cuddlecore vets cub and early 90's K Records. They're poppy and catchy... and short. Too short? Probably not, but with the four songs hovering around the two-minute mark, they definitely leave you wanting more. 

We swear we bought the download for this off bandcamp at some point, but it's not there anymore. Maybe we misremembered? For now, it looks like the youtube video above is your best chance to get a glimpse into Voyeur's Market.

Cold Water - Instead, I Am A Golden Oriole (2023)

We've proclaimed our love for Kevin Stebner's various projects over the years, so it shouldn't surprise you that we're really excited by this new Cold Water release. Making it all the more tantalizing are the exceptional rhythm section that's now powering this band (featuring the drums of Andrew Hume and bass of Connor HD) AND the fact that it was recorded by Lorrie Matheson. The result is a fantastic set of tunes that finds the band hitting the sweet spot of Stebner's full-stack folk vision.

Stebner's gruff voice balances the sweetness of guitarist John Hadley's soaring pedal guitar soars through the first three tracks, with the band opening up for the excellent "Wide-Eyed" before settling into the 10-minute psych-folk rock epic "Cosmic Offering." And towards the end of the album, "Lumber Dog" conjures up the power and ferocity of Stebner's punk outings with Prepared/Fulfilment. Is this our favourite Stebner release so far? Yes, yes it is.

Get it from the Cold Water bandcamp.

Stardells - The 400 Club, The Stardells (Black Album), The Stardells (Blue Album), The Stardells (1974), Encore

  

 

 

We had intended to post these last year after our Buckshow Show post, but clearly we got distracted by some other random thing. So, without further ado...  five albums from the legendary Stardells, a long-running group made up of bassist Chuck Faas, guitarist Norm Faas, drummer Ray Faas, guitarist John Klein... and keyboardist Ron Barge. Four of these albums (on the band's own Staroyd label) are without a year of release, but the last one on Westmount was put out in 1974. 

The band was active through the 60's and 70's, playing the many lounges in the city - developing a vocally supportive fanbase during that time.

These five albums (yes, that one with the blue cover is held together with duct tape - the CCPS takes records in the shape we find them) cover a range of country, rock and pop standards. Listening to these is easy and it's easy to see why the band had such a long run. The songs are well-played and thoroughly enjoyable. We really like the 400 Club LP with its between-song applause and banter - even though it was recorded in Ernie Klump's Mayland Heights studio. (For those of us who don't remember the 400 club - don't worry, we weren't allowed in there).

If you're planning a romantic night in, we highly recommend putting a Stardells record on. For best results, why not queue up all five?

In Memoriam: Jim Lewis

We were very sad to hear of the passing of Jim Lewis at age 77 over the weekend. Lewis had previously cleared a long battle with cancer, only for it to return over the past few months.

Lewis was truly an icon in the Calgary music scene, and meant different things to each generation of our city. As a part of the city's later 60's/early 70's rock scene, he was known by many for his work playing with Barry Allen and in the Cheyenne Winter, and later in Cannonball, Black and White Affair, and Crackerjack, with his distinctive Ampeg Scroll bass guitar solidly holding down the low end.

In the late 70's and early 80's, Lewis ran Handlebar productions, a mobile recording facility that helped record the live bands for CJAY-92/CFCN's Home Cookin'. He was also engineer for LPs by lounge pop act the Stardells (featuring future Buckshot Show collaborator Ron Barge), pianist Doug Warren, and country singer Ron Paxton, and was the pre-production engineer Fosterchild's first LP.

For a lot of people my age, he was known as the voice of Benny the Bear on the long-running Buckshot Show, working alongside Ron Barge to bring delight to many of us (as well introducing us to "13 Chickens and a Tambourine"). When it came time to put out a record for the duo, Lewis capably held the reigns as engineer.

To say Lewis was an admired and loved part of our city's scene is an understatement. My thoughts go out to Casey and the rest of Jim's family and former bandmates.

- Arif

Poltergeist - Hallucinations in the Catacombs (2022)

This tape from Poltergeist's Kalen Baker is a reissue of their first outing, backed with the tape that introduced them to the CCPS a year and a bit ago. Which means we've again been tricked into buying a tape we basically already have. But as always, we're happy to go all in - Poltergeist are a great addition to the goth-y bands circulating around town right now, with a more guitar-focused sound than most. There's an element of hair metal that Baker's guitar heroics bring to this tape (and their live show) that is instantly likeable. Sometimes you just want to hear from great shredding on top of all those synths.

Get the download from the Poltergeist bandcamp.

Cheer - Time and Space (2018)

We're late to the party with Cheer, and we're kind of sad that it took us so long to get clued in. Fronted by Rus Rendell (also of Brain Bent), Cheer mine a pretty great nugget of rock that melds equal parts psychedelia and prog that we quite like. Time and Space is a four part journey that kicks off with the anthemic Part I, heads into Jeff Buckley-ish territory for Part II, gets sludgy for Part III, and emerges with a blistering rocket for Part IV. It's a great ride throughout.

Get it via the Cheer bandcamp.

Dri Hiev - Drip (201

Thanks to Shed Rekkids for passing us this, the one Dri Hiev tape we were somehow missing in the collection. We're pretty sure this was the band as a trio, recorded by Jon Reynolds prior to him joining the band. It's more of their industrial-leaning electronica that sees them stretching closer to the excellent sound on their full length LP from 2019.

We're not sure what the status of Dri Hiev is these days - Kyle is being kept busy with Sunglaciers, while Jon and Dan have struck off with the very, very good Stucco. 

Grab the download from the Dri Hiev bandcamp.

Feist - Pleasure (2017)

 

We could probably get lost in debate about whether or not to include this latter-era Feist cassingle in the CCPS collection - but after witnessing the hero's welcome she received for the Calgary shows for Pleasure's release, we've decided to just let it rest and enjoy these two excellent tracks from her last (at the time of writing) LP. 

We stumbled on this tape at Turn It Up - we're not sure where else you can get a physical copy, but suggest you visit Feist's webstore as a starting point.