The CanCon Catalogue

I'm a bit behind on my live reviews, so I'm condensing them into one post here.

First, the Tranzmitors at Lucky Bar last Friday. I was relieved to see that Lucky, which I'm going to be seeing more than a few more shows at, is a good and honest rock bar, well set up for drinking, dancing, or just watching. The Tranzmitors make the kind of music for doing the first two, and the audience obliged. They clearly learned from the past, taking to the stage with skinny suits and vintage gear, including an Ace Tone keyboard, which is probably the only kind of keyboard that should be allowed in bands like that from now on.

Between the jagged guitar, vocal harmonies, and ska-influenced keyboard, I couldn't help but feel like  I was seeing the logical next step in a lineup that starts with Buddy Holly, moves over to the Beatles pre-Please, Please Me, and was picked up by the Clash of 1977, the Specials, and Elvis Costello. If you ever wished you could have been packed into the sweaty early shows of those groups, the Tranzmitors are a must-see.

****

On to Hawksely Workman, who also draws on rock history, only a lot more of it comes from the 80's and the alt-rock movement. Opening act Geoff Berner was... interesting... as a one-man accordion band who writes songs about World War II and government programs that are cut while the Olympics continue to get funding. There were laughs, yes, but awkward, awkward laughs, too.



As for Workman-- well, he can sing and he can play the guitar, no question, but it would be nice if he spent a little more time doing it and less time telling long, rambling stories that go nowhere, are unrelated to the song, and are full of pauses as he tries to think of words that I don't think once came to him. Banter is one thing, but this was more listening to a less humorous Grandpa Simpson.

As much as I might be rattling old-school Workman fans here (if there are any), this is an act who could benefit a lot more from focusing on his newest albums and ditching his back catalogue save for a few songs. Between the Beautifuls is easily his strongest album and he only deemed to play one song from it, "The City is A Drag," completely foregoing "Piano Blink," one of the single best songs of the last three years, and one that he actually has placed on CD THREE times over the last year. Why would you not play it?



Instead, he chose to focus on his Eurocentric dance-rock stuff, resulting in extended jam-ups that were only interesting half the time. Basically it was song (3 minutes) jam (4 minutes) awkward talk (3 minutes), which drains a lot of the momentum. The only place it really picked up was when "I'm Jealous of Your Cigarette" went into a medley of the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again," and then, INSTEAD OF AWKWARD BANTER, they went right into "Striptease." He also spent some time with ballads, such as the opening song "Almost a Full Moon," which musically has the gravitas of U2, but whose feeling is undermined by shopping list lyrics ("Pumpkin and parsnip, carrots and turkey bones/Bay leaf and pepper, potato and garlic cloves," ending with multiple repeats of "Let's make some soup"). Again, given the strength of the lyrics on his later work, it just seemed odd he would spend time with this.


In the interest of full-disclosure, he did get a standing ovation and an encore, but in my opininon people are WAY too generous with both of those things these days, and the encore was just an attempt to get him to play the songs that people came to hear (he did do "Smoke Baby," but, as I said, no "Piano Blink"), and if it weren't for the fact that we were blocked in, we probably would have taken the opportunity to leave early. If you're an old-school fan, yeah, you'll like the show, but otherwise I wouldn't go over a $20 ticket price.