Adventures In Paradise - It's Just A Matter Of Time (1985)

We're closing out 2021 with a tape from Adventures in Paradise for two reasons: first, it just sort of ended up that way. But really, it's to say thanks to both Rob Bartlett and Doug Wong for sharing their rich collections and bodies of work with us. It's been amazing to have access to these archives and be able to in turn share them with you, Dear Readers. It's also give us at the CCPS a greater appreciation for the wide breadth of recordings our city has put out.

Including this one! We've featured four singles from this electro pop outfit, so it just feels right to have the full-length that spawned them. Plus, it's a nice tie-in to the Qwest tape we posted yesterday; looks like both releases were part of Quality's big push into their 35th year of operations:

That clipping from RPM magazine (via the amazing 3345.ca) is a pretty good window into our country's music industry in the mid-80's. 

As is this tape!

Qwest - Dream Zone (1984)

While we're in AOR mode, we might as well hop over to this tape, which was the second full-length from local rockers Qwest. On Quality Records! The Big Time! The good folks at CanadianBands.com have the scoop on these guys; their first record was supposed to be produced by Dan Lowe, but they ended up going with Mel Shaw (who put out their first record on his Music World Creations label). The went back to Lowe for this record, though. Listening to it, we ended up falling into a wormhole of 80's hard rock CanCon - this sits nicely alongside bands like Haywire and the like.

Start your Qwest here!  

Worrall Brothers Project - The Worrall Brothers Project (1989)

We've featured released by Steve Worrall and Rick Worrall on their own, and now we have a tape that brings the brothers together - in a delicious blend of late-80's AOR. If you've been following their releases, this tape is far more in the vein of the Steve Worrall tape that was put out on Doug Wong Music, following the path cleared by Loverboy and other CanCon greats. The brothers Worrall clearly had their eyes on the prize with this release and their work leading up to it:

This tape led to a record deal a couple of years later with an A&M Records imprint, under the name Worrall. And a video for "In The Heat Of The Night," which is also on this tape!

Phew! That's a lot of hair. Get the Worrall Brothers Project tape here.

Oscar Lopez - Hola (1989)

If we had bothered to check wikipedia about a year ago when we posted Oscar Lopez' Sueños tape, we would have saved ourselves the gaffe of referring to its as his debut release. Today's tape, Hola, was the Chilean-born guitarist and singer's first - and it's one of those releases that shows how incredibly talented he was from the get-go. Sure, his collaborations with James Keelaghan and others helped to stretch his sound and palette. but we enjoy the purity of this tape's latin sounds.

Get it here!

Alien Rebels - Strange Feelings (1996)

It's been a long time since we heard from roots rockers the Alien Rebels, so we were super exciting to find this tape in the boxes from Doug Wong. This is a really fun listen - this band never took themselves too seriously, but they played seriously well. 

We went digging for more info on the band and almost missed the article below because, well, we got distracted by all the skate rock in the headline:

This second tape includes a few songs from their first, but if you like songs about falling in love at the laundromat, houndstooth jackets, and fillings that receive alien transmissions, this is the thing for you.

Miss Molly - Miss Molly & Ho! Ho! Ho! (1988), Penny Candy (1995)

 

As you and yours get settled in this Christmas Eve, we at the CCPS have a double dose of Miss Molly for you - and one of them is a Christmas tape! Such joy! A true holiday miracle! What's even more miraculous is that today's Christmas tape has a completely different set of tracks from the one we posted earlier this year (when it was nowhere near Christmas, we might add). We suspect that our copy of the tape was a re-press, since the j-card references the two tapes that came after it. Either that, or Miss Molly has also mastered time travel. Which, if she has, we would like to talk to her to go back in time to undo some regretful decisions (and potentially create massive issues with the fabric of space and time).

Anyways, we're posting her first Christmas tape along with what we would assume is her fourth, Penny Candy. The highlight of that tape, for us, is her cover of the Calgary classic, "Sixteen Chickens and a Tambourine."

Get Miss Molly's Christmas and/or Penny Candy.

Monika With A "K" - Monika With A "K"s Best (1993)

We're headed back into all the tapes we got from Doug Wong, many of which were produced at Canada Cassette. Today's is the second tape we've seen from Monika Vetter (the first was from Rob Bartlett's collection, almost a year ago). This tape - whose artwork isn't as fancy the first's - basically repeats the first tape's track listing, but appends three covers. And it's the last, her version of "Silent Night," which is why we're posting it today. We figure we should try to post seasonal material at the right time of year at least part of the time. 

Right?

Smokin' Joes - Smokin' Joes (1993)

Thanks to Eddie at Melodiya for keeping an eye out for weird stuff for us... this is a tape he pulled out of Hot Wax a few weeks ago, and we didn't have high hopes for it - until we noticed it's on Metanoia Records! The home of the Anxious Poets and Agony Pipe! I Care! Ramada Gods! And... Smokin' Joes???

Okay, this a band that we can't quite reconcile with the rest of the Metanoia roster. Instead of the usual alt.rock fare that label specialized in, Smokin' Joes are middle-of-the-road bar-circuit rock. Sure, it's well-executed, but it's, well, bar-circuit rock. And we can't find anything about the band to help fill in the gaps.

But the download is here.

Fear Of Flight - Fear Of Flight (1990)

Okay, we're pretty excited about today's tape - for purely nostalgic reasons. We probably could have asked more directly and found a copy years ago, but we stumbled across a copy at the flea market yesterday and squealed with all the teenage excitement that our old man bodies could muster. 

If you've been following us for a while, you might remember a post from 12 years ago, featuring the Soft Tips.  We were huge fans of that band, even before we realized that the band was related to Fear of Flight - who we clearly remember from back in our teen years at Western Canada High School. Fear of Flight played a battle of the bands thing on afternoon, with a set of tight late-80's college rock (and maybe a cover of the Cult's "She Sells Sanctuary"? That's where the memory gets fuzzy).

So, we've finally got the tape, and it's pretty reasonable - but we're comparing it to the Soft Tips, and that's a lofty bar. There are a handful of covers tacked on at the end of the tape, and it's their last, 54-40's "I Go Blind" that's probably the best hint to their sound (definitely more so that their slightly anemic cover of the Clash's "Should I Stay Or Should I Go").

Relive our high school days here!

Poltergiest - Yesterday Fades (2020)

Another great thing about live music being back is that we get to discover new things; we spotted Poltergeist's name on the poster for the annual Alpha House fundraiser at the Palomino, and decided to check out their tape in advance. We're glad we did - this tape is a one-person show featuring Kalen Baker's forays into dark wave, traditional metal, and shoegaze. It's a pretty compelling mix that gets us in all the right places - dark, sweeping pads and chiming Jazzmasters give way to heavy riffage at just the right time. We're really looking forward to seeing the band live next weekend.

It looks like the tape is sold out, but you can grab the download from the Poltergeist bandcamp.