New Monday #92
Happy Monday!
Last week, on November 10th, was the 50th anniversary of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald—the ship sank in 1975.
729' long, it was one of the largest ships ever on the Great Lakes, and the largest that ever sank. 13,000 tons empty, with 26,000 tons of cargo, it sank in a gale, taking its twenty-nine member crew with it.
In December of 1975, Gordon Lightfoot was rehearsing with his band at his house before recording his album, Summertime Dream. Towards the end of each rehearsal he'd start strumming something in 6/8 time. The band would try to play along but things never developed any steam. Gordon would cut them off, saying the song was about a shipwreck, and depressing, and wasn't ready. This went on for a week. Bassist Rick Haynes kind of knew the changes. The drummer, Barry Keane, never put a beat to it—he just sat there and listened as guitarist Terry Clements and pedal steel player Pee Wee Charles worked out some rudimentary parts. Keyboardist Gene Martynec noodled a bit, but the song wasn't arranged or rehearsed.
A week later, the band was in Eastern Sound Studios in Toronto for five days, cutting the songs they'd worked on, slamming through them, finishing off four a day. They basically had everything for the album done, but they had a little extra time. The engineer, Ken Friesen, pushed to record at least a take of "the boat song." Lightfoot agreed. He told the band to play whatever parts were worked out. Barry Keane said he didn't have anything worked out. Gordon said he'd give him a nod when to come in.
They did the song in one take. And they nailed it. They took another shot at it the next day, but it didn't have the magic. I don't know if the lead vocal was an overdub. It might be. A kid who was at the studio said Lightfoot cut it in one take as well.
A six minute song with no chorus about guys drowning cut in one take went to #1 in Canada and #2 in the US.
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Apple Music
Tidal
YouTube
It's a wonderful recording. I couldn't find any info on the console—the studio installed a Neve in 1979 and was later torn down. Eastern Sound Studios was a major facility and was the first studio in Canada that had synched 24-track decks for 48 track recording. In December, 1975... this might be a 24-track but it could also be a 16. The guitar hook is perfect. The pedal steel and synths add color and shimmer. Drums are spot on and dramatic, with great sounds and lots of separation and clarity. Sounds like spaced pair overheads to me, individual mics on everything. Hell of a vocal. Give it a listen.
Yearly, on November 10th, Mariner's Church in Detroit holds a service for the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald and rings the church's bell 29 times, once for each crew member. In 2023, they rang it 30 times, adding one for Gordon Lightfoot, who died in May that year.
I could write a whole New Monday on Gordon Lightfoot. He was brilliant.
But enough of this. This is depressing. Time for some fun! Here's a fake commercial from Canada's gift to comedy, Second City Television: "Gordon Lightfoot Sings Every Song Ever Written." The voice is courtesy of Rick Moranis, who totally nails it.
Angine de Poitrine
As long as we're in Canada...
These guys are from Saguenay, Québec. They're AMAZING. I can't find any information about them much beyond that. Musically, they list themselves as Mathrock or Avante Garde Jazz, but to me it's like Sub-Saharan punk or something, but it is AWESOME. I defy you to listen to this and not want to put it on repeat.
Angine de Poitrine translates roughly to Chest Pains. This is a live recording—on the roof of the Ubisoft Games Studio in Montreal. Microtonal guitarist / bassist Khn de Poitrine is using loop pedals. How he's managing to loop things in whatever the time signature this is is beyond me. Actually, it's called frickin' amazing chops. This guy is a monster player. As is drummer Klek de Poitrine, who is as in the pocket as possible. And they do this wearing costumes complete with dick noses. Khn is wearing gloves!
Jazz fusion chops. Middle Eastern/East Asian harmonic conceptions. Punk energy. Dada-ist costumes. What's not to love?
I've been playing this stuff for friends and everyone has the same reaction: MORE! The songs have an almost mantra-like quality. They repeat and repeat but it's never exactly the same thing, and it's insanely catchy. When the song ends, you miss hearing it.
They have two albums on Bandcamp. Monstrous stuff. I love the recordings: clean, punchy, dry and ripping out the speakers. I think it was recorded up in Quebec at a place called CEM—Centre d'expérimentation musicale Chicoutimi-Nord, Québec. CEM is a live performance space that also does recording. True to their name, much of the work they present is on the outside of things. Excellent technical staff. I like these recordings a lot. Kudos to Gabriel Gagné Gaudreault and Dany Lemay. They capture the music without getting in the way.
Here's Angine de Poitrine on Facebook. And Instagram.
I love these guys.
And Now You Must Learn
Picking up from last week, we chatted about capacitors and inductors. This week, we're going further into Voltage and Current. Again, the info is presented in an easy to digest manner. This stuff isn't hard to understand, but you need a metaphor to lead you into the concepts. I think I have a good metaphor for you.
Let me know what you think, and as always, it's a delight to hear from you all.
Warm regards,
Luke