Canadian Rock; Other Than Rush

     You all know I love Rush, but they're not the only great Canadian rock band. For me, the Golden Age of Canadian Rock was from the late 70's to the mid-80's. You may be saying to yourself "Wait, what about Neil Young, Buffalo Springfield, The Guess Who, BTO and Gordon Lightfoot". The Buffalo Springfield were co-opted by hippies in San Francisco. Everyone thinks Neil Young is an America. The Guess Who's biggest hit was "American Woman". BTO is the Canadian equivalent of Grand Funk Railroad and Gordon Lightfoot does not rock. I'm talkin' April Wine, Triumph, Red Rider, Aldo Nova, Saga, Men Without Hats, Honymoon Suite, Chilliwack and Loverboy. See how I completely ignored the existence of Bryan Adams? Back in the day, I had all this stuff in my collection. Unfortunately, much of it was on cassette and has not survived. I'll admit up front my daughters will probably have no interest in my old April Wine records, but maybe my son will. So, here are my recommendations for what's left of my Canadian Rock collection (minus Rush who I've already posted about several times).
     If you like Rush, then you'll love Triumph who spent their entire career being called Rush Jr. They weren't as proggy as Rush, but they were a power trio from Canada so there ya go. The strength of Triumph was Rik Emmett's pyrotechnic guitar playing. It's a shame no one knows who he is because he is easily one of the top guitarists of all-time. The first Triumph record I bought was Allied Forces. It's still my favorite and features the songs "Magic Power" and "Fight The Good Fight". I also like Never Surrender which included the tracks "A World Of Fantasy" and my favorite Triumph song "When The Lights Go Down". If they like those albums, they can dig through my cassettes for the rest of their albums.
     I think the first album I bought from this genre was April Wine's First Glance, which featured "Roller" and "Get Ready For Love". April Wine weren't cerebral like Rush, they just came up with great rock hooks. My favorite, and their most popular album was Nature Of The Beast. You couldn't listen to a rock station back then without hearing "Sign Of The Gypsy Queen" or "Just Between You And Me". I also have Harder...Faster with the fantastic cover of "21st Century Schizoid Man" and my favorite April Wine song "I Like To Rock". I recommend all of these. They also had a song called "If You See Kay". Say that out loud a few times fast and see what you come up with:)

     I also recommend Red Rider's Neruda (fav song Napoleon Sheds His Skin), Aldo Nova's self-titled which features "Fantasy" and Men Without Hats' Rhythm Of Youth. Rhythm Of Youth has the ever popular "Safety Dance", as well as a great song called "I Like".
     There have obviously been many more fantastic Canadian bands since the mid-80's and many are in my collection. I may post about some of them in the future, but they include: The Pursuit Of Happiness, Sloan, Arcade Fire, Treble Charger, Hot Hot Heat and The Weakerthans. Notice how I denied the existence of Nickelback and Barenaked Ladies? No country is perfect. Peace.