Model Citizen...Zero Discipline

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Dude...Six Months???!!! Where Ya Been???!!!

Sorry, folks. I know I haven't updated The Citizen in half-a-year. Been busy...priorities changed.

But in the interim, much has taken place:

On February 28, 2011 I set aside my antidepressants, in the knowledge that I had completely shed the shackles of a crippling depression which paralyzed me for 15 years.

At 9:42 pm on Saturday May 8, 2011 I had a breakthrough. Now I'm thinking clearer and back to being confident again.

Give me a few more days and I promise to have something up here. I'll have to go through my collection to figure out what's still left to post.

I thank you for your patience and your patronage. I love the fact that you love the music you see here.

Have An Extraordinary Day,

Son of Spam.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

(VA) Punk History Canada Presents: Only In Canada, Eh 77-81; Vol. 1

I wanted to post this for a long time, but seeing as I was a member of the now-seemingly orphaned Punk History Canada.ca website, I was reluctant to do so. A lot of people put a lot of effort in putting out this excellent overview of Punk Rock and New Wave music between the aforementioned years. It's now been 5 years since this was first released; despite my entreaties to the moderators of said site, I received no reply. Therefore I'm taking license to post it here.

In this collection you'll find artists from one end of Canada to the other (even Thunder Bay!). It's been about two months since I posted anything of value, so I'm hoping this will sate your thirsty ears until I get back up and running on a (semi) regular schedule of updating this blog.

Enjoy.

(VA) Punk History Canada Presents: Only In Canada, Eh 77-81; Vol. 1:


1	House Of Commons	Way Down South	2:35
2	Unknowns	Teenage Terrorist	3:11
3	D.O.A.	Royal Police	2:15
4	Da Slyme	Crazy Glue	1:55
5	Warsaw	Do Like The Natives	3:33
6	The Action	TV's On The Blink	1:43
7	Teenage Head	You're Tearin' Me Apart	2:41
8	Bureaucrats	She's An American	2:35
9	Zro4	Gimme Attention	1:43
10	63 Monroe	Media Junkie	3:15
11	Slander	Petticoat Junction	2:18
12	The Negatives	Echos	4:01
13	Lowlife	Thinking Naturally	2:18
14	Sinners	No Brains Required	2:33
15	Chromosomes	Park	1:26
16	Animal Kingdon	Tension	1:47
17	Stark Naked And The Fleshtones	I Broke Her Heart, She Broke My Arm	3:06
18	Extroverts	Living In Poverty	3:31
19	222's	Hold Up	2:14
20	Diefenbakers	Color TV	2:21
21	Gentlemen of Horror	Overhead Projector	2:37
22	Nostrils	I'm Vile	2:19
23	Hot Nasties	Get Away From Me	2:14

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Busted Hard Drive.........

UPDATE....

Good news...I got my new hard drive. Been a crazy week, though. I'll be back uploading as soon as I can.
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Hi Folks.....

Well, it finally had to happen. My computer's internal hard drive is kaput.

The good news is, I've kept all my media files on my external hard drive.

The bad news is, I need my C: drive to access it.

So until I get it fixed (hopefully within a week), I won't be able to re-up anything or fix bad links or post anymore music.

Thanks again for your patience.

Cheers.

Monday, August 23, 2010

(VA) A Touch Of Fringe: The Compilation

As regular visitors to my blog will attest, I try not to be a one-trick pony. That is to say, that while I have posted a helluva lot of Canadian punk rock from the 70s, I try to keep things diverse. As you'll also recognize, I try to post items that are no longer available.

Case in point, this extremely rare release by the now-defunct, Fringe Records ("Fringe Product"):

A Touch Of Fringe brings together some of Canada's finest proponents of aggressive music. You've got yer Dayglo Abortions, your Bunchoffuckingoofs, Razor, Slaughter, Sacrifice and so much more. The genres on this disk run the gamut from Industrial, to Speed/Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Punk, Techno and Crossover.

Fringe Product was the brainchild of one Ben Hoffman, who also used to be the man behind The Record Peddler store and Record Peddler Distribution. From the late 70s to 2000, Fringe was one of Canada's most important punk rock and heavy metal labels, if not THE most.

(If you were of a certain age in 1988, you may remember that Fringe and Record Peddler were brought up on obscenity charges: a police officer from Nepean, Ontario instigated a criminal investigation of the Dayglo Abortions, after his daughter brought home a copy of Here Today, Guano Tomorrow. The cover shows a picture of a hamster eating from a box of chocolates on nice satin sheets, along with a glass of wine. A gun points at the hamster. The back cover, on the other hand, shows a depiction of the resultant carnage. For the record -- if you'll excuse the pun -- a jury cleared the companies of all charges in 1990.)

Anyway, click on the album cover to download a copy of 1993's extremely rare A Touch Of Fringe.

(VA) A Touch Of Fringe - The Compilation (1993):

1	Death and Horror Inc.	Pain and Courage	3:44
2	Sacrifice	Storm In The Silence	4:09
3	Disciples Of Power	Nature's Fury	5:31
4	Dayglo Abortions	Here Today Guano Tomorrow	4:55
5	Razor	Sucker For Punishment	4:03
6	Splatterpunk	Inner Sanctum	3:45
7	Dogs With Jobs	Stone Cold Killer	5:05
8	Bunchofuckingoofs	Coke The Real Thing For Real Assholes	2:26
9	Northern Vultures	Clean Up Verdun	4:19
10	Slaughter	F.O.D.	3:56
11	Mad	Special Olympics	1:44
12	Sacrifice	Re-Animation	3:51
13	Death and Horror Inc.	Climbing	4:43
14	Disciples Of Power	Crisis	3:55
15	Razor	Shotgun Justice	3:16
16	Dogs With Jobs	Dogs With Jobs	2:52
17	Sacrifice	Sacrifice	3:09

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Ishan People: A Little Jamaica By Way Of Toronto

LINKS REMOVED BY REQUEST

The development and acceptance of reggae in Canada followed the same pattern as that in Britain and United States: when Jamaicans settled into this country in the 50s and 60s, they brought the music of their homeland with them. Eventually, they began to promote and record their own releases here.

Pioneers in the 60s included Toronto's first ska and rock-steady groups, The Rivals, The Sheiks, The Cougars, and The Cavaliers. In fact, the city became of hotbed of North American reggae, what with several reggae venues opening up: The West Indian Federation Club, Club Jamaica, Tiger's Den and The Blue Angel. Jackie Mitoo became the first reggae artist to record a disc in Canada. He was soon followed by Stranger Cole, Tony Eden, Audley Williams, the Webber Sisters, Leroy Brown, and Joe Issacs.

The First Record

In 1976, Toronto's Ishan People -- featuring vocalist Errol "Johnny" Osbourne (a.k.a. Bumpy Jones), Larry Silvera on bass, drummer Karl Parris Jr., keyboardist David Jones, Glen Daley on percussion and guitarists Michael Murray and Anthony Campbell -- recorded their first album, Roots, for GRT Records. While Roots was a mélange of Jamaican rhythms, it also reflected the band's Canadian home; in other words, it was nice.

The Followup

But where Roots lacked in production values and ferocity, the followup a year later was an improvement. While, still not as biting as their brethren back home in Jamaica, the production is better on this one. And clubs around Toronto took notice: Ishan People performed on many of the same bills as the city's notorious punks of the era.

By 1979, however, Ishan People went their separate ways. But their influence was immeasurable: the following 15 years would spawn a plethora of Canadian reggae bands such as (in no particular order) Messenjah, Fujahtive, Sattalites, Truths & Rights, 20th Century Rebels, Sonia Colleymore and others.

After the band's demise, Johnny Osbourne returned to Jamaica, where he began a prolific recording careers, where he would record a stunning 18 albums in the space of just 12 years.

Ishan People - Roots (1976):

Ishan People

Tough Tight & Dread