Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

Toronto City Council votes to preserve historic music venue The Silver Dollar is one of Toronto’s most historically significant music venues. Along with its important role as a blues bar for 16 years (1994-2010), it provided a regular showcase room for rock, jazz and bluegrass music.  The earliest known band to play there was Tommy Danton & the Echoes, a gold-lame-suited group fronted by a Sinatra-style crooner that performed a popular mix of jazz and rhythm 'n' blues. Danton and the Echoes (pictured below at right) had a long residency at the club, after it opened in 1958. In the ’70s, when the Dollar was a strip club, the house band included notable jazz players John T. Davis (B3 ...

Rare is the band that survives the challenges of constant touring, recording and inevitable membership changes. Rarer still is the group that keeps improving, consistently honing its craft and polishing its sound. The Sattalites have achieved that remarkable feat over the course of 30 years, establishing themselves along the way as one of the world's premier reggae acts. Built on the foundational talents of Jo Jo Bennett and Fergus Hambleton, the Sattalites have forged a fresh, vital sound that blends stirring roots reggae with thrilling harmonic pop. This collection represents all sides of the Sattalite sound, from the bubbling joy of "Wild" to the horn-driven ride of "Sunroof." Two can mak...

From the exotically primitive portrait on the album’s jacket to the untamed sounds inside, Whomanfoursays is a daring album. The recording, Toronto-born Lisa Dabello’s first in three years, signals a dramatic departure from the singer’s carefree pop style. Part of the credit must go to her musical partnership with guitarist-producer Mick Ronson (David Bowie, The Payola$). But Dabello, as she now calls herself, has obviously undergone a profound personal metamorphosis as well. Insipid love songs have given way to complex, unsettling pieces about passion, domination and doubt. On the lusty “Gonna Get Close to You” she sings about stalking her romantic prey “like a hungry criminal,” while on “A...

Canada’s reggae veterans have “reggae-fied” everything from the Beatles’ “She Loves You” to Cat Stevens’ “The First Cut is the Deepest.” Here, they add the one-drop rhythm to the Rascals’ “Groovin’.” But catchy covers are only part of the Sattalites’ oeuvre. Led by Jo Jo Bennett and Fergus Hambleton, the band—now happily celebrating its 20th anniversary—also delivers polished originals like Hambleton’s “The Key” and Bruce “Preacher” Robinson’s spirited dancehall rap “God Bless.” Joyful, unpretentious stuff.

Mittoo was a founding member of The Skatalites and a legendary Studio One keyboardist who backed Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff and others. His music played a crucial role in reggae’s foundation and he left a rich recorded legacy of his work in both Jamaica and Canada, where he lived through the 1970s and ’80s. This reissue of a rare album, recorded in Toronto in 1971, captures Mittoo at his best on gems like the majestic instrumental “Grand Funk” and the soaring, gospel-tinged reggae workout “Soul Bird.”