Music journalism, books and more

The digital home of music journalist Nicholas Jennings, author of Lightfoot, the bestselling biography of Gordon Lightfoot. Includes a searchable database of current and archived work, including thousands of record reviews and feature articles.

Ian Tyson's "Four Strong Winds"

For Canada Day, I’m posting this photo of my prized Japanese issued picture sleeve copy of Ian & Sylvia’s classic “Four Strong Winds,” which might well be considered Canada’s unofficial national anthem. The fact that the song travelled all the way to Japan speaks to its power as a brilliant ballad with a universal message. And yet its distinctly Canadian. It’s been covered by many, including The Journeymen, The Seekers, Judy Collins, Chad Mitchell Trio, Marianne Faithfull, The Searchers, John Denver, The Kingston Trio, Trini Lopez, Waylon Jennings, Chad & Jeremy, Blue Rodeo, Joan Baez, Glenn Yarborough, Harry Belafonte, Tony Rice, Johnny Cash, The Carter Family, David Wiffen and Sara...

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  45 Hits

Liner Notes: Various artists - The Trend Record Vol. 1

Trend Records holds a special place in Canadian music. Launched in 1965 by Merv Buchanan, the tiny label welcomed emerging artists at a time when Canada’s big record companies were looking the other way. It served as the launching pad for countless acts and released the first recordings by stars like Roy Kenner, singer with Mandala and Bush, and Triumph’s Mike Levine. Future members of Klaatu, Trooper and even Rush’s manager Ray Danniels all got their start with bands on Buchanan’s upstart label, which also released Bent Wind, whose Sussex album is holy grail for record collectors. This compilation is the first chapter in the amazing story of Trend Records. As disc jockey Tommy Tre...

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  39 Hits

Paul McCartney - Macca Gets Back

England was basking in an unseasonably warm and bright afternoon one play last week. Paul McCartney, however, was spending it enveloped by darkness and fog, as he had done for most of the preceding month. Yet the famous ex-Beatle’s mood could hardly have been sunnier. On Soundstage 6 at the Goldcrest Elstree Studio complex north of London, shrouded by dry ice, McCartney enthusiastically kicked into a performance of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” He was rehearsing for his most significant career move since the breakup of The Beatles in 1970. Buoyed by the critical success of his latest album, Flowers in the Dirt, and excited about the sound of his new band, McCartney is embarki...

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  444 Hits

George Olliver - Blue-Eyed Prince of Soul

In the mid-1960s, Toronto was teeming with pop groups and teenagers inspired by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. One of the city’s most popular bands, however, took its cues not from the British Invasion but from the rhythm-and-blues sound of American artists such as Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett. That band was the Mandala. With a dazzling stage show featuring choreography, strobe lights and sonic effects, the Mandala became a sudden sensation. Dressed like costumed gangsters in striped suits, black shirts and white ties, the five members took their self-styled “soul crusade” across Canada, down to New York and out to Los Angeles, earning rave reviews for fever-pitched concerts that cri...

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  1698 Hits

Macca and rooftops

Paul McCartney performed outside on a rooftop of sorts to the delight of fans below.  It wasn’t the Apple Corps building on London’s Saville Row, made famous by the Beatles fabled appearance there in 1969, but New York’s Ed Sullivan Theater, at 53rd Street and Broadway, where McCartney was appearing on the Dave Letterman show.  It was July 15, 2009 and Sir Paul McCartney was marking the 45th anniversary of the Beatles' triumphant appearance on Ed Sullivan. For the occasion, he and his band played “Get Back” and “Sing the Changes,” taped for the Late Show broadcast, but then thundered through a mini-set that included through “Coming Up,” “Band On the Run,” “Let Me Roll It,” “Helter ...

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  614 Hits