SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-The Horseshoe Tavern Toronto (February 14, 2001).
After I thought I had finished hearing all of the live Rheostatics I ever would, Rheostaticslive posted four nights from 2001 (Don Kerr on drums). This was night 1 of 4 of the Horseshoe Tavern’s 53rd Birthday bash. I often wish I had been daring enough to drive to Toronto back in 2001 to see four nights of a band that I still hope to see rock out this year.
Clark (the band) opened the show.
This show is mostly new material–they played everything from the forthcoming Night of the Shooting Stars except “The Reward” and “Remain Calm” (all new songs are in bold). The setlists would get pretty divergent by the fourth night.
This recording is great because you can hear the audience too.
As they get ready for “P.I.N.” there’s technical difficulties with Martin’s guitar: “It’s the setting up that’s the most exciting part of the show.” The song sounds good, although the acoustic guitar is a little flat.
Even though this is primarily a new songs show, they follow up with the goofy “The Pooby Song.” It’s a fun song with country sounding guitar and then some lunatic soloing from Martin.
Then comes a whole slew of new songs. “Mumbletypeg” is such a happy fun song, a real pop gem with great backing vocals from Tim and wonderful falsetto from Martin. It’s followed by “In It Now,” a poppy fun Tim song with a fantastic riff.
Before moving on to “CCYPA” Dave says “pace yourself.” Martin says, “I don’t need to.” Don chimes in, “What re you, Sting?” To much laughter. The Don notes that “Martin took off his Canadian tartan jacket.” Dave: “They’ll arrest you in Ontario for doing that.” “CCYPA” sounds great although Martin seems a little shaky on the words–or maybe it’s just his delivery. Don is totally smashing the drums.
Opening “Superdifficult” Martin has fun with the voice processor for this song. I love this song. It’s so catchy I can’t believe it’s so short since it feels like there’s a lot of parts to it. I also love “Junction Foil Ball” which is such a weird Martin song. It sounds great here. “Song Of The Garden” was on Harmeldoia but it was so good they wanted it on NOTSS as well. This new recording should have been a huge hit, it’s so catchy. It’s also got some really wild guitar work at the end–electronic/robotic sounding.
They take a break for some banter. The Golden Seals. Mike Bonnell and Dave Merritt from that band helped to write “Garden” and Don says that their then new album Storybook Endings is the best record of the year [a bold statement in February]. They discuss the worst album. DB: The new Love Inc. album is really bad. The first one was good. Then they talk about a cassette tape that Ben Gunning from Local Rabbits made for their road trip. It was so bad, they threw it out the window in Moncton. Ironic that it was given to us by a member of a band who has made one of the best records of the year, The Local Rabbits. Dave also says the Nelly Furtado record is quite deserving of its accolades.
One more new song, “The Fire” is a complex song with multiple parts, It’s got a lovely melody and a gentle opening sing by Martin. After a minute and a half, there’s some heavier guitar and lead vocals from Dave. Then Martin takes over again. When the two of them sing together at the end, it’s really fantastic.
Then it’s back to two songs from Harmelodia, the incredibly poppy “I Fab Thee” and the sweet “It’s Easy To Be With You” (although Martin tries to make some crazy noises during the solo–with some success).
They acknowledge Valentine’s Day–“It’s win a date with Martin, night. Guess what color underwear he’s wearing!” Then they play Martin’s “Valentine Song” called “The Idiot.”
They joke that they won’t play as long tonight: “Fewer songs that aren’t as good, played worse. That’s our new direction for the 2001s.”
A pretty “Loving Arms” is followed by the story of the French woman who thought Don Kerr’s name was “don’t kerr” (Don’t care). She also thought that David Bowie stole Don’s look (seriously). Dave: “Bowie just came off his neck beard 2000 tour.”
The new song “We Went West” is sweet as always and it’s followed by the roaring (and sloppy) “Satan Is The Whistler.” Martin has some fun with that robotic voice at the end.
Our “nightly dose of new wave” comes with “Four Little Songs,” which they jam out for quite a lengthy middle section.
People have been calling out for all kinds of songs, so Dave says that the next song, “Stolen Car,” combines the majesty of “Horses” with the lyricism of “Aliens,” the suspense of “Fish Tailin'” … what was the other one you wanted to hear? The pathos of “Record Body Count.” The solipsism of “Introducing Happiness” ….and (Martin chimes in: “it ameliorates all of them.” It sounds great and the ending is just dynamite.
After the encore break they come back with a really poppy new Dave song, “Here To There To You.” Then they actually do play “Fish Tailin’.”
The tape ends with a cool, moody “Saskatchewan” and then a cut-off “Feed Yourself.” The tape is cut off before they get to the wild middle section, but what is played is pretty great.
[READ: February 13, 2019] “Finissage”
This is a weird post-apocalyptic “story.” I honestly don’t even know if it’s a story.
The part of the story that I “got” and that I liked was:
The betrayed Earth demanded to be returned to Indigenous stewardship. It took the crisis of mass extinction to make it so.
[and]
Males hadn’t been born for decades… but this was okay as it meant the patriarchy was finally over. No more school shootings! No more dick pics….
That’s awesome. But the rest of the story, which is only one page, is less so. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 