Friday, June 14, 2019

The Western Union (Bill and Sue-On Hillman)

Let me preface this band by telling you how I ended up reviewing them. It all started when I was somewhere around 5 years old. My dad frequented the thrift store and would generally allow me to buy something as long as it wasn't too expensive. I have no clue what he was buying at the time, but I remember picking through the sleeveless albums at the thrift store. The only reason why I picked through the sleeveless ones is because I could see the color and logos on the record label because I didn't yet know how to read.

I ended up pulling out this record with an orange label and saw what was probably the coolest looking logo I had ever seen:



That was the album that would come home with me, and it was the first album by a band called The Western Union. The only thing musically appealing about this album (to my five year old ears) was the first three songs which were instrumentals. I didn't care much for country music when my musical interests mainly consisted of The Ventures, Elvis Presley, and The Care Bears. Since I was into The Ventures, the instrumental tracks were right up my alley, and these were the only three songs I had ever listened to on the album.

Now that I'm an adult and have a vast music collection, I think it's only fair to venture back to this album along with some of the band's discography and listen to it with my adult ears.

So here's why this band fits in with the rest of the content of this blog... The band is mainly from Brandon, Manitoba with the two main elements Bill and Sue-On Hillman sharing vocal duties. They apparently had their own TV show, and I'm guessing none of the episodes have been archived. They recorded their first album on a Ukrainian record label, and their first album was (from the band's opinion) a major fucking botch job.

So let's review this shit!

No.1



Every single song on this album is a cover song. The album starts out with a song called "Down On The Bayou". It's a cover, but it sounds absolutely nothing like the original song who's artist I care not to remember. But just listen to it! That big fucking thumping kick drum! It's awesome! You never hear anything like that in country music, especially country music recorded in the late 60s / early 70s. I loved the hell out of it when I was five years old, and would often stomp my feet along with the kick drum. So yeah, the first track gets a big thumbs up from me. But then there's the tape dropouts. The fact that's prominent on the recording right from the mastering plant means they used shitty tape stock, they recorded on used tapes, or both.

Track two is called "The Eight of January" (the "th" sound in the English language hadn't been invented yet). The monsterous kick drum is pulled back a bit, but it's still there, and this song has that awesome violin and electric guitar in it. Fantastic song!

Track three called "Twilight Waltz" is slower and kinda lame. It's okay, but I skip it when I'm not in the mood to cry or sleep.

The next three songs are somewhat forgettable with "Branded Man" being the best of them, but it's just okay. What makes these songs more interesting is the extreme presence of delay echo on absolutely everything! It's record mastering at it's worst, but you can't tell me that it's not interesting! I haven't listened to anything else in Galaxy's catalog (yet) to see if they give their other artists the same treatment, but I'm willing to bet they do.

When Sue-On takes over lead at the beginning of side two, we get a bit of a treat. The delay echo says it's here to stay, so you'd better get used to it! I absolutely adore the "Mom and Dad Waltz" and think Sue-On's voice really makes this one shine. It remains awesome with "Silver Threads and Golden Needles" although some asshole forgot to turn up the rest of the band, and decides to finally do it sixteen seconds into the song. What a dipshit. "Tiny Bubbles" is and always was a lame song, and there's nothing that great about it here.

On the last three songs, we have Bill showing off his guitar work. The delay echo has taken a coffee break for "Steel Guitar Rag" (which does absolutely nothing for me) but returns (albeit a little less prominent) for the next two songs. "Hideaway Louie" doesn't really do much for me even though it's a medley of popular songs. The star of Bill's three songs is "Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy" (although it's nothing to scream for ice cream over) and is the last track. You can really tell it's the last track because of all the tape dropouts in it. I'm guessing the guys at Galaxy Records only had one magnetic tape to record on, and simply recorded on it again and again each time they did a recording session.

The buzzing at the start and end of each track can't be the sound of crappy recording equipment. I'm convinced that there were insects buzzing around in the recording studio, although the band insists it was the recording equipment. C'mon! These are professionals! They wouldn't let that shit fly! Or would they?

This is the only album I'm doing a lengthy review on, simply because it's such a glorious mess. The band hated it and still pretty much trashes it to this day to the point where they barely want to acknowledge they recorded it, but it's obviously their best selling album of their entire discography because it's the most prominent one in the thrift stores. I think this album deserves some credit, because it kept them going for a very long time. And "Down On The Bayou" kicks some major ass.

Listen to Down On The Bayou
Listen to Silver Threads and Golden Needles
Download the whole album


No.2



Bill and Sue-On told Galaxy records to go fuck themselves for the shitty job they did on the first album, and they decided to start their own record label. Just like the first album the second album consists of nothing but covers. Personally, I think this is the weakest of the ones I'm reviewing, but it does have some bright spots.

Mississippi Line is a decent enough song to start the album off, but it's only kinda good. Following that, we have a lackluster 1950s rock & roll medley that I could do without. Kentuckian Song is some Hawaiian piece of crap that would put a dead man to sleep. Irish Scotch sounds exactly like what you'd expect from the title, and does absolutely nothing for me. After that, we have Raggedy Ann which will put the dead man's wife to sleep. Fiddle Duddle is missing the booming kick drum that would make it enjoyable.

Starting off Side B is You Were On My Mind which is decent enough with both Bill and Sue-On singing together, and it sounds pretty good. I Remember You has nothing over it's original counterpart. Maiden Prayer is another sleeper, but played on the fiddle and again with no booming kick drum. Put Your Hand In the Hand is an upbeat cover and it's just OK. The cover of Apache is actually really good and sounds very true to the original. To end off the album, we're putting the dead couple's dead children to sleep with the joined Sweet Dreams & Born To Lose

All in all, this is a pretty underwhelming album. I honestly would have like to see what the moron at Galaxy Records would have done to make it more "creative".

Listen to Muddy Mississippi Line
Listen to Apache
Download the whole album

No.3



Hey! What do we have here? Are they changing the name of the band to "Bill and Sue-On Hillman"? We also have some original material! And the originals for the most part are actually really good! Why in hell are they recording cover songs when they could be writing more kick ass tunes! Personally, I think this is their best album so far, so let's go over it...

The album starts off with a Bill Hillman original called "Blue Shallow River". Holy crap is this ever good! Sue-On leads the vocal and the decent production work on this one really makes it shine. Next is a cover of "Let It Be Me" and even though it's slow, the vocals shared by Bill and Sue-On are excellent. Next we have the Merle Haggard cover "Mama Tried" which is upbeat, fun, and the vocals are again shared by Bill and Sue-On. We slow it back down with Sue-On Singing "Help Me Make It Through The Night" which isn't extraordinary, but it's a decent enough song that doesn't suck. I honestly don't like the arrangement of their version of "Down In The Boondocks" and it's probably the worst one on this album. The side ends off with a slow but fantastic Bill Hillman original called "In Sadness" sung by Sue-On.

Side B starts off by punching you in your face because you're not up dancing yet even though the music has only begun. We have a catchy as hell Bill Hillman original called "Blues Round My Door" which is a damn fine piece of music. I originally thought the cover of "Green Green Grass of Home" was kinda lame until Bill comes in with an Elvis-like spoken part in it which suits the song very well. "Somewhere My Love" is a decent enough slow song, but I always thought it was a bad idea to follow one slow song with another slow song, so you might find yourself dozing off during this part of the album. The cover of "24 Hours from Tulsa" thankfully wakes you back up and you're greeted by Bill and Sue-On finally singing together again. We head into another Bill Hillman original called "2 Lovin' Arms" which is probably his weakest contribution to the album. The album ends off with "The French Song" which I know I've heard before. It's decent, but it kinda ends the album on a bit of a down side. Oh well, just flip it over and play "Blue Shallow River" again because it's worth hearing again.

Listen to Blue Shallow River
Listen to In Sadness
Download this really good album!

No.4



So what's the most logical thing to do after you put out your best album where your originals are the highlights? Put out a compilation album consisting of songs from albums 2 and 3! The album cover fools the buyer into thinking it's a live album by putting the phrase "On Stage" on the cover. For me, this is just a piss off. Apparently, the 5th album came out first and contains all originals (which I don't have yet), and even that one borrows the originals from the third album. I don't know why they did any of this. I generally don't like compilations unless it's rare shit or the band's career is pretty much done and over. However, if you want select songs from the last two albums that play just a little bit slower, this is the compilation for you and not me.

Download the whole album


Sue-On



I covered a bit of this compilation back during the Junq Tour from last year, but it's not a bad thing for me to touch on it again now that I'm more familiar with their work. It appears that this is a compilation of songs sung by Sue-On from albums 2,3, and 5. Compilations, compilations, compilations. Why make any entirely new albums when you can just make new compilations by recycling all your old stuff? From what I can tell, an album of entirely new material doesn't happen until the album called "The Hillman Express Track 15" which is documented as the 6th album. However, this compilation doesn't show up on their website and would logically be the 6th album considering the material included here.

Download the Sue-On Album


What I've noticed with these albums is the newer they are, the harder they are to find. Once (and if) I come across a few more, I'll be sure to cover them in detail once again. But for now, just download the 3rd one and enjoy the shit out of it, because that one's worth the bandwidth.

For the Junq tour this year, I'll be stopping over in Brandon and hopefully visiting the Chinese restaurant that Bill and Sue-On own (or owned - they're retired now) which should be an interesting journey!

Visit Bill & Sue-On's messy Geocities-esque website!

We shall see you in the next entry.

Thursday, June 6, 2019

Junq Tour 2018: Riverton

We have arrived at the final location of the Junq Tour (at least for 2019). Let's see if we go out with a bang, or a puddle of diarrhoea....

Mary Linski - He Restoreth My Soul



There's something really wrong with this chick's voice. I'm convinced she had a couple of drinks before hitting the record button. You know what it feels like when you have a broken vase sliding down your bare back? Well, that would feel better than having to listen to this woman sing for the entirety of this cassette. Yet again, we have yet more Christian music that we can't seem to avoid this round.

Listen to I Surrender All


Richard S. Unruh - "Enjoy" Harmonicas Vol. 1




Do you enjoy harmonicas? Do you enjoy them when there is no other music playing along with it? Do you enjoy them when they have a shit ton of echo on them? Honestly, this tape makes me want to "Hate" harmonicas, or possibly even "Despise" harmonicas.

I only bothered with the first song on side 2 because I can't tell what any of these songs sound like because they all sound the fucking same.

Listen to Count Your Blessings


Just Go To Bed / Record Your Own Story




You never know what you're going to find on these cassettes. About 60% of the time, the "record your own story" side is blank. The other 40% of the time, you'll get a little treat. This one isn't very long, but I'm happy to say I didn't flush all of my hard-earned 25 cents down the toilet. I was going to attach this to the very end of the Junq Tour video, but completely forgot while I was editing. Oops.

Listen!


Hwy 6 - Dance Time Vol 2



We finally have a volume 2 in this batch! These old farts can play well enough. It's all instrumental versions of your favourite old songs. By default, we have to include the Elvis song, because I'm hoping someday he'll actually spin his way to the surface and we can see how much he avoided decomposition from the constant spinning he's done throughout the years of shitty Elvis covers.

Listen to A Fool Such as I


Gail Gavan - For The Love of the Valley Vol. 1




There exist some extremely easy ways to record your own album. One of them is to buy a couple of karaoke CDs featuring songs you know how to sing, and then record yourself singing along to them. The only reason I know this lady used a karaoke recording is because Youtube flagged it when I uploaded the Junq Tour video. So if you were expecting an all-original recording done by Gail, I'm sorry to say that she scammed you out of your money.

What's ironic is that I've been able to wrap up the first two Junq Tour videos with the song "Grandpa". We shall aim for a third in 2019!

Listen to Grandpa


And we wrap up another Junq Tour. My sincerest apologies in my delay getting this one out. It's been a bumpy winter and my brain seemed to have ceased functioning sometime when the weather turned to minus 50 degrees Celsius.

Junq Tour 2019 has been planned out, and we've got a couple of new destinations on the map for this year! Hopefully I will find some un-tapped crap in those locations. Also, I shall try to both the video and the entries out a bit quicker this year. All I can do is try.

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Junq Tour 2018: Ashern

Much to my surprise, they cleaned up the inside of the Ashern thrift store. It used to be mostly a pile of unorganized junk. The finds weren't as good this round...

Kevin Tjaden - The Awakening



Have you ever had the desire to prance through the forest and eat Eucalyptus? Me neither, but I never had the desire to listen to music that makes me want to do that shit. This album make me want to leave this cassette under a rock for the worms to eat. On second thought, that would be cruel to the worms. These songs go on forever, and they're just as boring as watching shit dry.

I'll be honest... I bought this cassette simply because of his moustache. That thing is so big and fluffy that I can't help but wonder if it's fake. I'm pretty sure if it was real, I'd hear it brushing against the microphone while he's singing his boring lyrics.

Listen to Disillusioned


Camp Arnes Favorites



Featuring a chorus of 29 campers! Big fucking whoop! On the plus side, not all of them are tone deaf. I honestly can't sit here and listen to this annoying, shitty tape.

First of all, look at the cover. It doesn't even have the name of the tape on it. All it wants you to do is celebrate wanna-be kiddie porn. No thanks.

Most of these songs are Christian songs, and would probably do well with someone better singing them. I doubt God wants to be praised like this.

Listen to There Is a Redeemer


The Sphere Clown Band - Sharing



Shopper's Drug Mart is known for giving you prescription drugs with fantastic service. How the hell they got into selling shitty Children's albums is beyond me.

First of all, everybody hates clowns. Second, everybody hates shitty children's songs. Contrary to what I just told you, the back of the tape says that "Their records are children's favourites". I have a feeling that is an outright lie. No children would like this garbage. One of the reviews on the back simply states, "Very Clever". He probably didn't even listen to this piece of crap and just wrote something generic.

Listen to Clownercize


Homer Noodleman - This is Homer Noodleman



This tape was still sealed, because nobody wants to own a cassette by a guy who's name implies that he plays with himself.

I wasn't expecting a comedy tape by some Englishman. At least I think he's English. He's not exactly funny either. I'd rather listen to Pee Wee Herman make fart noises with his dick. However, there is one song on here, and I had to include it. He can't sing worth a damn (nor play the violin), but I generally don't expect a comedian to be able to sing. I expect him to be funny. This guy can't do any of the above.

Listen to Love Me With All Your Heart.


Ron Nelson - Honestly



The back of the disc says "Simply. Beautiful. Music." None of those are sentences, so I have no clue why each word ends with a period. Also, it's a lie. Most of these songs sound the same: BORING. It wouldn't hurt if this guy would rock out instead of plinking his strings while singing as if he's scared his creepy uncle is hiding around the corner playing with his wee wee.

Listen to Please Set Me Free


Mr. Mark - Sing-a-ma-Jiggin'



It is beyond me how a grown ass man can sing the worst fucking music I've ever heard in my life. This is worse than the Clownercize and the Camp Arnes albums put together. You get farting noises, burping noises, tubas, and the sound of a guy who needs a fucking baseball bat to the face. If you want a glimpse of how terrible the lyrics are, have a look:



Seriously, I wouldn't want my own kid to listen to this horse shit. I'm ashamed to admit I'm from the same country as this guy.

Listen to Out The Window


The Fates - 'Til We Have Faces



Hey! What the fuck is going on??? I kinda like this! I wasn't expecting that from a CD where the back was mistakenly used as the back of the booklet, the back of the booklet was used as the cover, and the cover used as the back. Whoever had the job of laying out the CD needs to be fired.

Despite all the mistakes in the printing of the cover, this CD is actually pretty good! Give it a shot if you enjoy country-bordering-on-rock music without the shitty country singer with a wad of cow cud in his mouth.

Listen to Let It Go


Next is our final destination... Riverton!

Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Junq Tour 2018: Dauphin

Before we ventured out into the thrift stores, we stopped at this neat little store called Dauphin's Nerdiest Art so I could buy a plush perogy. I'm not kidding...



If you would like your own plush perogy, or a Bort license plate, or a needle-point asking you to not do coke in the bathroom, then you can get one from their amazing Etsy store!






Hodge Podge

The Hodge Podge has changed since I was there last. Sadly, they have become more of a retro/antique/hipster store than a thrift store. All their 8-tracks and CDs have been thrown away, but the records still remain. I only found three that are worth mentioning...

Anna Kraichy - Kozachok



I've been searching for this album for years now. Anna played the fiddle on all of Roy Mykytyshyn's albums, and it's the last piece of the puzzle for the discography I did on Roy. It will be making an appearance there when I get a bit of time to add it. Oh yeah, and it's a good album!

Download the album


The Dauphin Collegiate Dowlerettes



You know what? For a female choir, they're decent. I only bought it because I desperately needed another strange cover of Bridge Over Troubled Water. This addiction of mine is more unexplainable than crystal meth.

Listen to Bridge Over Troubled Water
Download the whole bloody thing


The Family Tree - Branching Out



The inbreeding is evident on this one! Take a boring singer and play some terrible covers of popular songs, and then go fuck your uncle in his fart vent and PRESTO! You have an album!

We've got covers of The Eagles, Glen Campbell, and BLUE EYES CRYING IN THE RAIN!!! YOUR FAVOURITE SONG!!!

Listen to Rhinestone Cowboy
Listen to Lyin' Eyes
Download all of it for your family group sex gatherings!


Thrift Store

The thrift store gave a better yield, but the combined pile of junk from the two lone stores in Dauphin made it not worth any future endeavours for the Junq Tour. It's a bit too far out of the way for my liking, so enjoy basking in the Dauphin shitfest one last time...

Country Bonanza Vol. 30



There's 29 other volumes of this goddam thing. My life will never be complete.

This is one very long 8-track tape. I initially started transferring the whole thing but got bored. There's too many shitty versions of shitty country songs on here, so I plucked just a couple for you to hear.

The version of Margaritaville on here isn't too awful, but the Glen Campbell cover is terrible enough to give him Alzheimers.

Listen to Margaritaville
Listen to Southern Nights


10 Stone



It's time to rock, and I don't mean smash your head with one because this CD is awful. It's surprisingly not too bad! The mix is a bit rough and amateurish, but I actually enjoyed this album.

The songs are diverse and even a bit memorable. So it get a pass from me for being decent enough to feature it here. However, I'm also lazy, so I'm only posting the first track. If you've heard the first track, you have an idea of what the rest of it sounds like. Believe it or not, these guys are still together.

Listen to Time Heals Everything


Jeff Staflund - Trust, Believe & Follow



This album was inspired by dead & dying people. I shit you not. This Jeff guy volunteered at a Hospice & Palliative Care center, and was so inspired by what he saw that he wrote and recorded this shiny circle of crap. The smell of shit, pee, and sadness must be really inspiring to him.

But wait! This album can't be bad! The cover was done by a woman who has a BFA with honors, whatever the fuck a BFA is. Big fucking attitude? Blowing fart ass? The ass must have been where the picture came out of, so let's go with that one.

This is nothing more than funeral music played on the piano. We have such uplifting songs such as "Loss", "Fall", "Waiting", and "Not How Long The Road Is". Allow me to slit my throat with the shiny circle of crap.

Listen to Fall


Roger Day's Rock 'n' Roll Rodeo



After hearing the first song, I assumed that I was just going to pass over this album. But then I played the second track and said, "HEY! This rotten motherfucker ripped off a song by The Doors!" You see, after Jim Morrisson died, The Doors continued on without him and recorded a couple more albums, just because fuck Jim for going and dying. One of the songs off the first non-Jim album is called "The Mosquito", and I swear that it's identical to this Mosquito song, except Roger changed some of the lyrics. So fuck this guy for ripping off The Doors, and fuck Jim Morrisson for dying and inspiring this guy's musical career by not being there to prevent the original mosquito song from being written.

On another topic, the songs are in the wrong order. It should be "I got hands", "Can you point your finger?", "Jump Up & Turn Around", and then "Here comes Mr. Snake"

By the way, the rest of the album is boring and it sucks.

Listen to Mosquito Burrito


Trent Bruner - Piano By Request




Okay, this guy can play. I'll happily admit that. However, the arrangements by Trent Bruner and Calvin Vollrath completely suck ass. Might as well give criticism where criticism is due!

Listen to how they fucked up Music Box Dancer, one of my favorite songs.


Forever Love Greeting Card & CD



Do you love somebody? Then you'll want to avoid giving them this shitty excuse for capitalizing on your emotions. The back of the CD says "Gentle Melodies of Acoustic Guitar Blended with Nature Sounds". Yeah, because I wanna fuck the love of my life in a jungle with Don Flamenco playing the soundtrack for my pumping action. The nature sounds are mostly just someone sucking on a bong, hoping to emulate the sound of the ocean or some bullshit like that. There's also a typo on one song. "She's Like the Swallow" should be called "She Likes to Swallow".



There's eight boring fucking songs on this thing! Why not just make her a mix 8-track of your favourite songs and mail that instead?

Listen to Seeds of Love (this is your sperm on drugs)



Denise R'ockell - Life is a Game



Denise needs to change her last name because she doesn't rock. She should call herself Denise C'rappy'non'rock'pop'garbage.



The funniest part of this album is the entire paragraph on the back explaining the Monopoly board on the cover and how every single part of it belongs to Parker Brothers. They should sue her out of her music career because nobody needs this CD (and there was three copies on the CD shelf in the store). However, there is no disclaimer when it comes to that moustached mascot (whatever his name is). C'mon Parker Brothers, I dare you to sue! Take all her crappy albums and melt them down!

Listen to He Would Have Cried


Franky Choptain & Doris Choptain



This one is friggin neat! It's the first time I've come across an home-recorded 8-track tape of people recording themselves singing and playing. For some reason, most people didn't utilize the 8-track tape format for this. All I've found is mix tapes and the occasional recordings off the radio. But this? It's damn cool to find such an original piece of work!

This was likely recorded around 1970 or so. I tried seeking out the titles of the songs, but I was pretty unsuccessful with many of them (a little help would be appreciated if you can). The ones that I can recognize are a cover of Mickey & Bunny's "This Land is Your Land", Elvis Presley's "Little Sister", and BLUE EYES CRYING IN THE FUCKING RAIN!!!!!!! We needed to throw that one in there too or else shit wouldn't be complete.

The cover of Little Sister is fucking terrible, but the others aren't so bad.

Listen to This Land Is Your Land
Listen to Little Sister
Download the whole thing!


Sue-On



I keep mentioning the band "The Western Union" and I picked up their second album on last year's Junq Tour. Well, Sue-On is one of the members of The Western Union, and this is a compilation 8-track of the songs she performed vocally. This album isn't even mentioned on her website, so it looks like I have a pretty unique specimen here! The performances are decent, but I can't help but wonder why it was necessary to put out an album consisting only of Sue-On's songs. Anyway, here it is if you're interested:

Download Sue-On


Video: Let's Dance



If you ever wondered what the 1970s would look like in the early 1990s, then you need a copy of this video. Mullets aplenty, and disco music! I'm not really sure what the reason was for this video being released. I thought it was an instructional video, but after the first song, they say "fuck teaching these people" and just dance around to some terrible disco covers. I feel sorry for the guy who originally spent money on this thing.



When I bought it, I had to fix the damn thing before sticking it into my VCR. It was probably 20 years since I repaired my last video tape. I was extremely clumsy at it, but fixing video tapes is much like riding a bicycle. I eventually succeeded, stuck my penis in the VCR, and let the ecstasy of the 70s take over.

If you want to see a clip from it, I included one in the Junq Tour video from day two.

Our next stop will be the beloved Ashern thrift store!

Monday, June 3, 2019

Junq Tour 2018: Neepawa

Thanks to a loyal reader, I learned that I had neglected to finish posting the rest of 2018's Junq Tour. I called him a liar and told him that I had indeed completed the entries. I wasn't wrong, but neither was he. Indeed, I had digitized and written all the entries, but I neglected to finish posting them. I owe this faithful reader a Kevin Harcourt album for his dedication and his insistence on putting my stupid ass on the grill. My shit now comes out medium-rare.

Without further hesitation, let's complete the 2018 Junq Tour...


Every time I go to the Neepawa thrift store, I walk out with a big mitt of crappy-ass music. This time was no different. However, there's a few gems this time around that I didn't really expect to find...


Elan Emerson



We've got Elan Emerson's big debut EP! When I bought this thing, I had no clue this person was somewhere around six years old.

This 4-track record has Elan singing her tiny little ass off. The songs she picked are 30000 years old. I recognized Coat of Many Colours, and The Fox went out on a date one night, and he fucked and he sucked and he fucked and he sucked, and it must be a mighty fine town-o!

The organ player on this one is my idol. I want a whole album called "Elan Emerson's Organ Player Plays the Hits!" With my luck finding stupid crap, I'll probably come across it.

Listen to Coat of Many Colours
Listen to Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream
Listen to The Fox
Listen to The Gypsy Rover


Join the Gilmar Record Club



You know you're in for a good time when they jam 8 entire songs onto a 7" record. In order to achieve this amount of compression, they have to record the songs really quietly, turn the bass down, and let all the crackles and pops to the talking!

The performances are pure garbage, and scream "I'm a fake-breasted prostitute who's going to rip you off and not even give you an ounce of pleasure". All the songs are from the late 1950s which means this is probably the oldest cheap imitation record I own.

The poor groove walls are so tiny and fragile that the fucking thing started skipping during Running Bear and Peggy Sue, so you're going to get extended versions that you can dance to for the entire night.

Listen to the shittiest version of Peggy Sue you've ever heard in your life
Download the entire piece of crap


Laurisa



Remember how great the 1980s were? Remember when you got a perm and recorded your big debut single? Well, Laurisa does! Too bad the debut single was so over-80s-ified that it was a whiny synthy piece of garbage. Oh yeah, and it's a Christian song too, so failure was imminent.

Listen to Love You Forever
Listen to In Your Presence


Learning As We Play



First of all, let's look at the cover... someone took a red pen and scribbled all over the album cover and accidentally made an image of three hairy children. Also, this album is for EXCEPTIONAL children which means no mentally challenged, autistic, nor comatose children are allowed to participate in the activities on this record.

Second, this album must not have seen much, if any use because the damn thing is in mint shape.

Third, this was obviously recorded in the 1950s. Back then, they used shoestrings made out of leather to record albums on instead of ferric oxide coated paper. The recording quality isn't very good.

Fourth, most of these children are probably dead by now.

Fifth, the song "See The Indians" goes to prove that Indians were at one time an endanger species, because nobody in their right mind would write such a song if Indians were commonplace.

Listen to See The Indians
Download the whole thing


Metro - Metro on Broadway



I covered one of Metro's previous albums (12 Days from Christmas) on here at least once. Here is one of his follow up albums (I have at least one other). It's your typical Canadian-Ukrainian comedy album, but with more kazoo. The album is fun, witty, and quirky. The second half of the album is a live show, and he's just as good at stand-up as he is with his comedy songs.

The sound quality of this 8-track is surprisingly fantastic! Better than that piece of shit Gilmar record club thingy.

Listen to On The Street Where You Dig
Download the whole album


The Neepawa Variatones



Now I know what you guys have been asking... "Where the fuck is my cover of Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain?" It's on this album, so you can just shut the hell up and be happy.

Unfortunately, Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain is NOT the highlight of this album. There are three songs that have vocals, and the guy is terrible. The band is one you would hire to play at a live funeral. The music is miserable and makes me want to cry until the keys don't work anymore on this crappy HP laptop.

Listen to Birth of the Blues
Download the whole record


Philip Nevile



Here is Philip Nevile's big debut single! The vinyl it's pressed on is filing a lawsuit against Philip for forcing such shitty songs onto it. First of all, the song "My World of Make Believe" sounds like a broken music box. Philip is singing in an echo chamber, and his twin brother is singing backup vocals.

The B-side (Bring Her Home) isn't as terrible, but it's still not great. There's too much vocal, and too many assholes trying to be fancy on the guitar at once. Listening to this is like looking at a pleasantly-colored pile of dog puke.

Listen to My World of Make Believe
Listen to Bring Her Home


Pop Jewels



The album should have been called "Poop Nuggets". Madacy brings us some classic instrumental tracks that aren't the originals. I'm pretty sure I've heard some of these recordings before, and I'm pretty sure that poopy version of popcorn is featured elsewhere on this blog.

I don't know why the album cover is photocopied. The cassette came straight from the factory. Perhaps Madacy finally paid their musicians (or the wankers they bought these recordings from) and couldn't afford card stock for the cassette inlay. Anyway, if you think you'll enjoy an unenthusiastic version of Green Onions or some Zamfir-wannabe play El Condor Pasa on the pan flute, this will be a great album to share with all your buddies. If you don't like any of that shit, then this is a great cassette to bat dog turds with.

Listen to El Condor Pasa
Download the whole poopy collection


Shayne Lewis - Soul Survivor



This is probably one of the greatest finds from the entire Junq tour. Look at this guy. He seems to have mastered the art of taking a shit while playing his guitar. There is absolutely no other reason to squat like that with a guitar strapped to you.

This photo was taken right by the Bridge Drive In ice cream shop in Winnipeg. I would have been happier if he was strumming that guitar with a waffle cone.

The songs??? Bwahahahahahaha!!!!

Okay, I'll try to describe this... Ever have a sore throat from trying to take a shit on a bridge? Well, that's exactly what poor Shayne had while he recorded his vocal tracks. The songs themselves are lousy. The worst song on here by far is Pina. Speaking of pina, I have to feel sorry for Shane's pina being squashed against the back of that guitar. I hope there's a recovery center for guitars who have been raped on bridges against their will.

Listen to Pina
Download this piece of garbage


The Surfsiders Sing The Beach Boys Songbook



Ever go surfing only to end up doing a faceplant on the concrete? If you haven't, I'm sure The Surfsiders can tell you plenty of stories about it because that's essentially what you have here. These fucking losers never waxed a surf board in their lives, and never got wet from it.

The harmonies on this album just sound like a bunch of drunken Californians ready to fall onto the floor and pass out for the night. These are so far from the originals that they could almost be considered originals themselves.

If you want to ruin your summer, you'll love this album.

Listen to Little Deuce Coup
Download the whole thing


Audiodisc of Some Guy Playing the Bagpipes





Now, I love bagpipes as much as the next guy, but I can't understand why anybody would waste a blank Audiodisc on this shit. I mean, there's probably a difference between a wicked bagpipe player and a shit bagpipe player, but it all sounds like three ducks caught half way in a meat grinder.

The death of the music at the end of side one is completely worth listening to though. Take the three ducks stuck halfway in a meat grinder, and throw the whole meat grinder into a car crusher, and you have the ending.

Listen to Side 1 and 2


Voice-O-Graphs (the second installment)







Last year, I found one Voice-O-Graph record at the Neepawa thrift store. This year, I found three more which obviously came from the same batch as the previous one. We have two records here featuring two guys named Boris & Mike, and each has a record of themselves singing. The third record is simply titled "This Is Stupid". In other words, it was a waste of a record, but I'm presenting it here because these people are most likely dead now.

Listen to Boris Singing
Listen to Mike Singing
Listen to This Is Stupid


So there's my lengthy Neepawa entry. Hang on tight, because we're headed for a visit to Dauphin!