BEAUTIFUL JOE
Cover Up
Indelible Music
BILLY COWSILL
Billy Cowsill Live at The Palliser Hotel
Indelible Music
· Neil MacGonigill, the man who brought you The Co-Dependent’s live album recorded at the deceased Mecca, mines Calgary’s rich musical history to pull two live diamonds out from the coal.
Nearly 20 years ago, Billy Cowsill appeared around town backed by a hot band sparked up by a young guitar player named Colin Munn. Later, that lad would change his last name to James. The pair teamed up with a band to play songs that had flamed Cowsill’s musical passions as a youth, the same passions that created a string of hit singles with his family band, The Cowsills, in the late ‘60s. Songs such as "Teddy Bear," "Only You" and The Yardbirds’ "Heart Full of Soul" were performed nightly by Cowsill, James and their band.
When the group took to the stage at Calgary’s Palliser Hotel on July 5, 1985, the tape was rolling. The fact that it took nearly 20 years for this recording to see daylight might be because while the performances are solid, they don’t make like a digger and move the earth. Cowsill is in characteristic fine voice, but fans of the Co-Dependents and their 2001 live album will realize that his voice has continued to improve with age, meaning that if he recorded these same songs now, they’d be superior to the Palliser tapes. And while the performances are tight and up to Cowsill’s stringent standards, the recording itself lacks the punch of the aforementioned Co-D’s CD, a punch partly toned up on the Co-D’s recording by Miles Wilkinson’s production. Still, there’s certainly nothing wrong with this album, and people who are in Co-D’s withdrawal will enjoy hearing Billy sing his beloved standards again.
Beautiful Joe’s live album packs the punch that the live Cowsill album lacks, partly because it was recorded in December of 1997 using updated technology and partly because when this special set of musicians get together, magic happens. The diversity of vocalists adds texture, as Steve Pineo, Tim Leacock, and Jr. Gone Wild’s Jane Hawley seamlessly trade off as lead singers. I’ve always been a sucker for Leacock’s vocals, especially when he’s singing his beloved Keith Richards-Rolling Stones tracks. Here, blessedly, a Leacock-sung version of "Hang Fire" finally made it to disc.
Other highlights include Hawley seducing "Sweet Dreams" and "Saskatoon," Pineo smarming and charming his way through "Time Bomb" and Leacock attacking two Dylan tunes, "License to Kill" and the more obscure "Sylvio." There’s even a tongue-in-cheeky version of The Ramones "I Wanna Be Sedated."
Producer Brian Ahern, who helmed more than a dozen of his ex-wife Emmylou Harris’ albums, has nailed down the band’s tight musical performance without sacrificing their joyous energy.
COWSILL 3/5
BEAUTIFUL JOE 4/5
MARY-LYNN WARDLE
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