That song, "Christmas in Heaven", is playing on my TV as "the Meaning of Life" draws to its finale. There's a strange greenish gray vacuum in the air as our household comes to grip with inconceivable tragedy in Southeast Asia. Monty Python films are one place to go. Better than the bible. Its hard for anyone right now . . .but I'm am so terribly aware that its easier to be me than it is to be most other people. Thanksgiving is the holiday that makes the most sense. Christmas has long ago divorced itself from any importance other than state sanctioned family time. Global scale disaster in its wake really underscores this feeling. I hope we sort this out on a human level. Right now. No light from the sky is going to wash our pain away.
At least this tremendous loss was not precipitated by murderous fools dead set on the idea that God was backing them up in their quest to make everyone behave the way they think all people should behave. This is a variation on the news of the day. The earth is to blame. The most concrete entity. The media can only conjure arguments about who is helping most and who is helping in the right way. Body counts and extreme weather footage surpass ratings into an area where there is finally just too much to take in. Too many waves. Too many floating cars. Too many children with thousand-yard stares.
Sure…the abstract notion of prayer can be applied to make people feel they have contributed in a positive way. Helplessness breeds bizarre behaviour. If the earth is to blame do you pray for the earth to become something else? Do you ride the exercise bike and eat right or do you pray that an anti-aging cream is invented soon? Somewhere the Rapturists are tsk tsking and printing up new pamphlets full of "I told you so's". Fuck them. Fuck the second coming. If Jesus is coming back to kill us all and take us with him to a better place he certainly keeps botching the job. Stop with the reminders and “signposts” already. This bearded bastard is micromanaging the shit out of us and I happen to like it right here. I think this is a good cruel world and I refuse to believe there has to be a reason for everything bad. Doesn’t the idea of infinity provide more hope rather than less? We’ll find a way. “Its Christmas in Heaven every day”.
Sorry for the delay in postings but...I was making another record for you...well...yes...its for me too. As mentioned previosly, I've been working on a project with my friend Rob Baker from "the Tragically Hip". We holed up in their "Bathouse Studio" for the last two weeks and made a record. Soon it will have a name and a life of its own. I hesitate when I say "soon" because it is not mixed and presented to "the man" yet. I know it is a vital and vibrant organism waiting to consume you.
More exciting news. Jesse Valenzuela and I will be playing our songs for the good peopleof Hamilton, Ottawa & Toronto in a couple of weeks. PLEASE come out and see us because this is a truly rare bird to spot.The dates are listed here.
We'd love to see you and talk to you because ...we need an audience or its just no fun.
I really want to thank all of you for your support over 2004 and I know that this year will bring more music, surprises and darkly funny things.
all the best
Craig
I like this review. I think he understands our intentions.
http://umbrellamusic.com/cdreview.php?id=802
Northey Valenzuela · Northey Valenzuela
(Universal - 2004)
This is some fine blue-eyed soul!
Vancouver-based rock/pop outfit the Odds benefited from a couple sharp songwriters, one being Craig Northey. Word had it a few years back that Northey was writing down in La-La-Land with former Gin Blossoms front man Jesse Valenzuela. This album is the result of that collaboration.
You’ll note quite early on, if you’re a fan of Corner Gas on CTV, that the show’s theme song is delivered by Northey Valenzuela. “Not a Lot Goin’ On” is Odds-era pop. For that reason, it stands out as a bit of a plant, a stab at an easy single.
The really good stuff here is the handful of tunes with varying degrees of soul accents on them; not surprising considering Northey spent part of the time between the breakup of the Odds and this record playing in Sharkskin, a Booker T & the MGs-styled band.
For example, Valenzuela’s “See Through Heart” has some great electric piano on it that could sound as at home on the aforementioned Booker T & the MGs or a Meters album. “Let it Go” and “Halfway to Happy” – both good examples of soulful tunes of love and heartache – stand out on the record too.
Former Odds drummer Pat Steward plays on this record, adding some muscle to it. But there’s plenty of gutsy guitar work too, just like in real soul and R&B (not the current variety) music, such as on the opener “Talk to Yourself.” Northey, Valenzuela and company know and appreciate how underappreciated R&B musicians are from the sounds of this record. So in that sense it sounds like a tribute to that era.
Some people are going to find this record too adult-contemporary, too MuchMoreMusic, but they are the ones who equate blue-eyed soul to Hall and Oates. This ain’t that. This is a whole hell of a lot better.
Rating: 8
- Sean Flinn
I guess I have my memories. Those aren't as valuable on ebay. Kevin Gandel sent this link to the "Truth Untold" newsgroup.
I remember we got the good review in Billboard. Pearl Jam were nice guys on their first local gig for their upcoming record called "Ten". Pete Droge was in "Ramadillo".
Click here for Toronto's NOW magazinereview of the NV record.
It’s pretty good and the gentleman compliments us highly at times. I've found it really interesting to be reading these reviews and pasting them into my site without editing. When you are the one who actually makes the record you have to be really careful in reading these short blasts that claim to sum up your work. Some musicians can't even read them. Others get all worked up and snipe back at the scribes. I wanted to make a few of my quiet observations of the process. My modus operandi stands within the cliché of the Canadian way.
Qualifier: I put this up on the site and then read it. That's how I work. I thought I was treading on some thin ice trying to explain musical criticism from this side of the fence. One always comes off sounding like a whiner. I also thought I should mention that it is not a jab at music critics. Hell...I'm an armchair quarterback in that department. It should be taken as a sympathetic yet practical view. That said...
Here's the overall critical picture. The critics seem to really like the record but can't give it all the stars because it is not "innovative" enough – they throw that one in near the end because the negative elements will better be remembered that way. I understand. That's a critic’s job. They have to appear to know a little more than the reader. They have to state that they understand the artist's true underlying intentions. Just like your college peotry prof they have tapped into the hidden agenda. This is the angle that helps them keep their jobs. Short critiques are often like that conversational technique called, “its really great …but”. It’s rare to read one that says out front, “despite these two minor flaws I found the record to be a fabulous listen. Here’s why”. Anyway..."All good" reviews always seem like they were bought by someone or are part of some crazy Christian message. We don't want those.
In a lot of cases critics do know quite a lot about music. Every musician knows who those people are. Still they are all obliged to hit you with the same sound bites in the quick story. I am flattered by the high praise for our song craft. Comparisons to artists I admire are also fun to read. Keep in mind that a lot of critics might listen to most of an album once through (but maybe not even that much). Its entertaining to know when they are just cutting out bits of the one page bio that was sent to them. Sometimes they cleverly paraphrase it. Sometimes they just print what is there. People are sometimes just too busy to go deep. Karl Rove has a field day with this notion. You can see how George Bush can win an election.
One reviewer states that the album may be lacking in innovation and profundity. He's probably right. Compared to what is deemed innovative and profound in the popular music world ... we don't come close. Do we want to? A classic sounding song is a classic sounding song because the words seem to flow over you like something you’ve heard before. Within those phrases and couplets are things that make the song resonate for years to come. Songwriters spend hours and hours labouring to make the words flow out effortlessly. They are trying to make each word singable. No word should derail the voice as it heads straight up from the soul. That is the definition of “soul music”. So called “plain speech”, upon repetition takes on added meaning. You don’t hear too many ersatz and obviously arty words in soul music. It just wouldn’t seem right. It is music that can achieve a feeling without seeming to work so hard. There are people I love who make very obviously "arty" records. They can often make music that is strange for strange’s sake. Sometimes there is something truly new in it and other times it’s a kind of studied eccentricity that makes me laugh. “Artists” aim to challenge the listener but at the worst times they just wish to showcase their winning alternative attitudes. It’s a bit like the emperor’s new clothes. I know there are unlistenable records that get great reviews. I know that Lou Reed’s “Metal Machine Music” must have got a few great reviews in its day (a double album of white noise). He's Lou Reed for christsakes! That's enough to prove the point. I know that the Rolling Stones “Exile on Main Street” was panned when it came out. The Stones just weren’t pushing the envelope. “Popular bad boys lost in a druggy haze wrapped around an unflattering and imitative infatuation with American R&B” – I just made that up. I wonder which one people would put on now when a party was starting at their house.
It’s the sing-along and bonding rituals I want to be a part of. I want to be heard after the mom finds weed in her son's sock drawer. I want to be heard by people alone in their cars driving snowy roads or by couples rubbing up against each other. Real life. I’d truly love to be on one of those albums that people keep coming back to for some sense of comfort, indulgence or fun. I love it best when someone says, “Now I get what you meant by that. That’s really funny. I was too busy ignoring the words and just listening to the music”. The profound is never forced [sic]. It should just happen on its own. It has more chance to be true that way. Profound things happen when a singer and a song combine in the right context. The audience is a big part of that context. Keep listening and the aphorisms show themselves. I am sometimes embarrassed by the times I tried to shoot a flaming arrow out of a song with a clever turn or obtuse chord. How was I to know? How was a 70's music critic to know that "Try a Little Tenderness" was still a thousand times heavier than all of the first three "Yes" albums? Its a long learning curve.
It has been noted that our new record is a bunch of unadorned first take recordings by good musicians playing together in a studio. Is that not innovative in this day and age? Ashlee? Back me up on this. Not even a click track to ensure easier editing in post-production? Is that not balls to the wall, double daring, and completely outside?
Shave a couple of stars off the top and keep the qualified kind words coming. Like “Vanilla Ice” I just want them to spell our names right. Give me that "Vanilla Sanchez". Its got a good beat and I can dance to it. I give it a 73.
Dave Reimer finally has a nice little site that features his guitars. There is a little gallery with pictures of me. I'm not sure this is a wise marketing move. I would have photoshopped a few pics of Keith Richards, the guy from Linkin Park or Cameron Diaz playing the guitars. That's just me though.