No Threat - The Tragically Hip

Pretty much unheard of over here in the UK, The Tragically Hip might just well be one of Canada's best kept musical secrets. Think a rockier REM and you'll be on the right lines. If this floats your boat you've got 30+ years worth of tracks to get stuck into. Sadly lead Hipster Gord died in 2017 at 53 years old. 

Zabadak - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich

Picked up a 'Best of' by this lot over the weekend. I'll have whatever they were smoking when they came up with this track. 

Here's another one that's slightly less bonkers...only slightly mind you...a number 2 hit in 1966 as well. 

Matter of Taste - Tyler Ballgame

Imagine if Roy Orbison and Joe Cocker had got it on in Laurel Canyon in the 70s...I reckon Tyler Ballgame's could well have been their lovechild. 

Whatever his origin, his stuff's really floating my musical boat at the moment. Here's another one, just ripe for a festival field this summer...

Walk Between Raindrops - Donald Fagen

Picked up some more great CDs over the weekend, including a copy of Donald Fagen's classic The Nightfly. Given the relentless rain so far this year and the equally miserable long-range weather forecast this jazzy little number seems appropriate.

The Mole From The Ministry - The Dukes of Stratosphear

I heard this track by XTC offshoot The Dukes of Stratosphear the other day and had to buy a copy of the compilation album Chips from the Chocolate Fireball for an obscene (well, it was obscene to me, but then I'm a tight arse) amount of money off eBay. If you're a fan of the whole psych pop/Sgt Pepper's era of music you'll love it. 

Simon Says Don't Stop - The Q Orchestra

Another gem from the recent Exeter Record Fair, plucked out of a box of bargain CDs tucked under one of the trader's tables (thankfully my knees can still make it up and down without the aid of any heavy lifting equipment). This is the opening track but the whole album's every bit as good and you can pick up a copy on eBay for less than a fiver at the moment.  

  

Sly Dunbar RIP

Of course Sly Dunbar did much more than just this track but for children of the 80s Boops Here To Go will probably always be the first thing we associate him with. Almost 40 years later it still sounds as fresh, unique and...let's face it...nuts as it did back in '87. 

For dub heads here's a little Zion In Dub from 1980... 

...and we've got to have a Grace Jones track (Sly played on this and numerous other Jones classics)...

and apparently this is the first track he played on, not a bad way to kick off your career eh?