Reviews:: Songs For The Gang - Thrush Hermit Tribute

Tribute albums are fun. Well, I should clarify that: Tribute albums done by artists who have a genuine affection for the artist or band being paid tribute to are usually a lot of fun. That was certainly the case on Gooseberry Records tribute to the Inbreds, an album I enjoyed a great deal. This makes sense, because when someone is involved with an album like this for the right reasons (and not, say, because the artist being honoured is huge or their label forced them to) they generally take the time to pick a song that means something to them, and they put some thought into the arrangement of that song so you don't just end up with a flat cover tune. All of this is essentially to say I was pretty excited to hear Gooseberry's latest tribute album: Songs For The Gang - which is a tribute to Halifax indie rock heroes Thrush Hermit.

If you know our history here at the hill, you know we are old curmudgeons who went to High School here in Halifax with the members of the Hermit: Ian McGettigan, Rob Benvie, Joel Plaskett, and original drummer Alex Grace (from when they were called The Hoods). Because of that, we're usually interested in most things hermit related - so we try and keep up with all things Plaskett, have covered Rob & Ian's doings as Camouflage Nights, and I talked to Alex a couple years ago at the grocery store. So when you weigh that against the stellar lineup of artists from Halifax, Toronto, and beyond, expectations were raised quite high for this one.

Thankfully, the album delivers. Unlike some of their peers at the height of Halifax's first music scene uprising in the 90's, Thrush Hermit was always influenced by big, 70's style chunky riffs, and their sound reflected that. So, I was curious to see how some of the acts listed with a lighter sound would interpret the hermit's songs, and my curiosity was sated by the first track, Rebekah Higgs cheery take on Clayton Park's From The Back Of The Film. It doesn't have the riffs or rock cockiness of the Plaskett-helmed original, but it oozes with charm and has horns! A great song. French Inhale from the band's Murderecords debut Smart Bomb is another of their more anthemic songs, and Laura Borealis' stripped down take on the song couldn't be more different from the original, but it's really quite haunting.

Toronto's Meligrove Band adds some piano to their version of Sorry If Your Heart Has No More Room from the Hermit's Elektra release Sweet Homewrecker, and the results are pretty impressive. Fine work is also done by another Toronto band, with Galore's spacious version of We Are Being Reduced being an album standout. Galore also just happens to be fronted by a member of another iconic Halifax band, as frontman Barry Walsh was a member of Cool Blue Halo. The non-Maritime Canadian content on Songs For The Gang extends out to Saskatoon, as Junior Pantherz contribute an up-tempo, organ-filled version of Hated It, which was featured on the Mallrats soundtrack.

But this is a Thrush Hermit tribute after all, so you might guess that there is plenty of participation by Halifax bands. And you guess correct. Ruth Minnikin & Her Bandwagon contribute a great version of Oh My Soul!, it has an almost old school soul feel to it, I enjoy it. Jon McKiel doesn't try to match Plaskett's falsetto on Violent Dreams, but otherwise his version is pretty faithful to the original. Heavy-indie (did I just make that up? Perhaps) outfit The Establishment attack Clayton Park favorite The Day We Hit The Coast with gusto, and the results are as likely to make you want to move as much or more than the original. Thomas/Richard does a rather vulnerable version of Smart Bomb's All Dressed Up which is not the kind of sound one thinks of when the hermit is concerned, but I think it works quite well.

In fact this whole album works very, very well. If you're a long time Thrush Hermit fan, I can't imagine you won't find plenty to like on this album, and if you are new to the band it's simply a great collection of songs. 18 songs at that, with only a few missteps to be found, so I have to says congrats to Scott at Gooseberry for doing a fine job compiling these songs. So buy a copy of this one when it drops on June 24th and encourage him to go ahead and put out the Eric's Trip and Super Friendz compilations he has in the works.