CCPS Miscellany: Pal Joey - Last Chance for Food and Drink (1994)

Okay, one last Edmonton tape, and then back to Calgary. We're going to go with something we actually can pretend we know something about. Kind of.

Pal Joey were a super-talented bunch of folks; their CD, Tennessee Angels, is one of the few Edmonton CDs in the CCPS archives (along with the Slow Fresh Oil and Twin Fangs discs). And we're always happy to have another tape in the collection - so thanks to Natalie from Depeche Ode for passing us this tape. More of the great roots rock we expect from the band on here.

Actually, this post officially makes Pal Joey the Edmonton band with the most coverage on the CCPS. Go figure.

Various - Oh Canaduh! 2 (1998)

The next in our line of compilations is one which is pretty special for a whole bunch of reasons. Lance Rock Records put out a bunch of swell records and CDs (including singles from the Mants and Chixdiggit - what a combination!), and this is perhaps the swellest.

The concept is pretty straight-forward: get a bunch of bands to cover Canadian punk rock classics. Where it gets good is the combinations on this second volume and the execution. The Von Zippers are on here with a track we didn't really realize was a cover (you have to admit, it's a common problem), Da Slyme's "Truck Stop Nun." The Puritans take on Nomeansno's "Try Not to Stutter." Those are both good tracks.

But what's gooder is the Mants doing the Sturgeons' "Punk Rock Virgins" and Forbidden Dimension doing Personality Crisis' "Vampire's Dream." We really, really like the historical tie-in implied by both of those tracks (and, can we say, the thematic synchronicity in the case of Forbidden Dimension's choice).

But what's gooderer still is how Huevos Rancheros tackles the Young Canadians' "Hawaii." Not only do the instrumentalists bring in a guest vocalist (we're pretty sure that's Chixdiggits' KJ Jansen), but they also manage to turn down the language a notch, providing junior high school students every where with a more suitable version for their school dances. Until the final chorus, that is. But they make up for it by segueing into a bit of the Hawaii 5-0 theme.

That alone is worth the price of admission.

Huevos Rancheros - Live at the Night Gallery (2000)

We're going to zip forward almost 20 years in the Brent Cooper story to this video, which we've, er, borrowed from Rock Is Dead. 

It looks like this is video from the Huevos Rancheros (RIP) 10th Anniversary show at the Night Gallery (RIP). The video is great - a bit wobbly and kind of distorted, just like our favourite memories of Huevos shows. We weren't at this (sadly), but wish we had been - about three quarters of the way through the set, Graham Evans re-joins the band... on second guitar! Also, the Dino Martinis' Pat McGannon is on keys. We're not sure who shot the video, but clearly someone from the scene. 

Here's great little clip, that ends with Coop giving the proto-douchebags in the audience a lesson in how to behave at a rock show:

Rock is Dead has the links to download the full video - all links were working at the time we posted this. It's a big download, but well worth the bandwidth.

Well, the link was working when we wrote this, at least. Since then, the American Government has decided that file sharing is bad. So you can watch Part One, Part Two and Part Three of this on Youtube. Until the American Government shuts down Youtube.