CD Reviews for 08/16/06 – The Sadies
Compact Capsules for 08/16/06
by Dan Ferguson
by Dan Ferguson
A quickie Compact Capsules this week with a look at the new two-CD set from Canadian monsters of the instrumental set, The Sadies. Recent years have seen The Sadies spin off a parallel career as an in-demand back-up band, most prominently as songstress Neko Case’s touring band.
The Sadies
The Sadies: In Concert Volume One
Yep Roc YEP-2122
When they first began making records for Chicago-based Bloodshot Records, Canadian band The Sadies stuck almost entirely to fleet-fingered instrumental barnburners of the rock, surf, garage, psych and even bluegrass variety. That was around 1998 or so. Those high-powered musician chops did not go unnoticed and slowly but surely acts like Jon Langford (Mekons, Waco Brothers), Neko Case, Gary Louris (Jayhawks, Golden Smog), Kelly Hogan, Jon Spencer and others began tapping the talents of the Sadies to back them on everything from studio recordings to full-fledged touring. Since that ’98 debut, there’s been about a few more albums from the band who eventually moved to Yep Roc Records. The new release called In Concert Volume One is two-fold in that it offers a look at the solo side of The Sadies presenting nuggets from its growing catalogue to go with a collection of tracks featuring cameos from each of the aforementioned artists along with such folks as Garth Hudson (The Band) and North of the Border compadres Blue Rodeo. Cramming some 41 tracks onto two discs, label disc two some well-earned payback to this talented foursome led by the brothers Good (Dallas and Travis) along with a rock solid rhythm section consisting of Mike Belitsky on drums and Sean Dean on bass. (Yep Roc Records, PO Box 4821, Chapel Hill, NC 27515-4821, or www.yeproc.com.)
(Dan Ferguson is a free-lance music writer and host of The Boudin Barndance, broadcast Thursday nights from 6 – 9 pm on WRIU-FM 90.3. He lives in Peace Dale and can be reached at [email protected].)