Musical Memory Box: River Cats Edition

Monday’s Musical Memory Box solution: That Song, Big Wreck, In Loving Memory Of…, 1997. Predictably, Big Wreck fanatic Rémi Savard was the first to guess all elements correctly.

I have no emotional attachment to Big Wreck. They came to prominence amongst a wave of CanCon that I didn’t pay much attention to, like Matthew Good Band and Finger Eleven. I was aware of their existence, enjoyed a few of their songs, but never really embarked on their journeys.

Rémi Savard, however, was smitten with Big Wreck:

“Un de mes groups préférés. Je ne me suis pas encore remis du deuil de leur séparation (ça, et j’ai manqué le show de Ian Thornley réuni à Brian Dougherty avant les Fêtes).

Premier album solide, très solide, mélodique au possible (Under the Lighthouse, holy bejeezus…). The Oaf, That Song, Blown Wide Open ont pollué les ondes, avec raison (à mon sens). Trois chansons très fortes, guitare lourde à souhait, la voix de Thornley puissante au possible…

Leur deuxième album est moins constant, mais plus pesant en termes de guitare et plus varié intrumentalement parlant. Du banjo (Ladylike), du clavier (No Fault), du bonbon! Menoum pour les oreilles.

Et sans contredit ma « album closure song » préférée : Defined By What We Steal, avec une guitare superbe, une espèce de lamentation électrique qui vient me titiller le gros nerf musical…

Dang, faut je m’écoute l’album au retour à la maison!

Dans un autre ordre d’idées, même si les projets subséquents de Thornley étaient de bons efforts, ça n’a jamais eu le même « wow » que Big Wreck, la même maestra musicale… Oh, well…”

And Jérôme:

“Soirée mémorable au Capitol de Québec où on était sortit pour voir Big Wreck.  J’ai acheté l’album tout de suite après.  A partir de ce moment là, toute les grosses soirées de boisson étaient appellées des Big Wreck!!”

Reading the above impassioned posts, I came to realized that Big Wreck and Matthew Good Band had the same effect on some people as Moist and I Mother Earth had on me and my friends. And as if to confirm this feeling, Stéphane Dubord wrote the following:

“Ian Thornley has never gotten the credit he deserves. Big Wreck just had bad timing to come after the big wave of Moist/IME/OLP, so they didn’t get as big. Still, great band, especially as an opening act.”

Denis Gagnon disagrees. Kinda. He writes:

“This was a great song about enjoying great songs but wasn’t a great song in its own right. I much preferred The Oaf. There sound was new and fun at the time and got plenty of Much Music coverage. Thornely’s later work was “meh” (in the words of Serge). I want to say this is good CanCon but I was never sure how they actually labeled themselves since they were mixed Canadian – American band.”

So the audience is conflicted about Big Wreck. This was an interesting MMB!

Here are your lyrics for today:

“Windmill, Windmill for the land.
Turn forever hand in hand
Take it all there on your stride
It is tinking, falling down
Love forever love is free
Let’s turn forever you and me
Windmill, windmill for the land
Is everybody in?

Laughing gas these hazmats, fast cats,
Lining them up-a like ass cracks,
Lay these ponies at the track
Its my chocolate attack.
Shit, I’m stepping in the heart of this here
Care bear bumping in the heart of this here
Watch me as I gravitate
Hahahahahahaaaaaa.”