sweet corn at the farmers market

i've mentioned before that i spent many a summer picking sweet corn during my younger years.  every time i see fresh sweet corn - whether it be at the grocery store, the farmers market, or kitchen table - i always check it out to see if it is up to my standards.  the corn was looking pretty good at saturday's farmers market, and i almost got some (but buckled at the $7/doz price).

a little song from my sweet corn days...
 
corn, sweet corn, no body picks it better,
no matter what the time, no matter what the weather.
the only reason that i've been born,
is to pick another load of that corn, sweet corn.

cd sunday: blue rodeo's five days in july

yesterday's album review was the first on my list that makes me think back to my days working on the sweet corn farm.  if cake's comfort eagle can be considered a cornpicking album, then five days in july would be like a greatest hits.

early in my years at rouge river farms (image above is of a corn field at sunset, btw), someone found a cassette tape of this album buried under a pile of tim hortons coffee cups in one of the field trucks.  fortunately it still worked, and even more surprising, so did the tape deck in the truck.  it wasn't long before many of us on the crew had purchased this album for our own collections and even learned how to play a few of the songs on our guitars.


this album speaks to me on many levels.  of course it reminds me of hard work and summer fun.  but i also connect to it because blue rodeo is a classic canadian band (a perfect fit for independence day, right?).  the musical style ranges from country, to blues, to folk, to rock - always with clean vocals, deep harmonies, and wonderfully poetic lyrics.  the album even features a young sara mclachlan appearing on guest vocals on a few tracks.

from the opening notes that the harmonica plays on the first track (the somewhat strangely titled "five days in may"), i find myself singing along and remembering great times with friends - whether we were hard at work, or lounging by the lake at the cottage.  by far one of my favorite albums of all time.  to see my friend mike's much more thorough review of this album, click here.

1. u2 - the joshua tree
2. dave matthews band - crash
3. cake - comfort eagle

cd saturday: cake's comfort eagle

this weekend, we continue the rundown of my favorite 20 albums of all time.  today and tomorrow features albums that almost instantly make me think of my summers picking sweet corn with rouge river farms (hence today's picture).

i'm not sure who introduced me to the band cake, or why i became such a fan.  their music is odd, but in a good way.  their music is weird, but in a good way.  odd, weird, but good.

right from the get-go, this album transports me to a different time.  a time where one of my fellow corn pickers would pop this in to my crappy discman (which was connected to the car stereo through a cassette addapter) and we'd all sing, clap, and harmonize along with john mcrae and the rest of the band.  loudly.  and as often as we could.  we'd listen to it in the morning on the way to the corn field.  we'd listen to it on the way to lunch or dinner, and then we'd listen to it in the car on the way home.

we had no idea what the lyrics meant (and still don't?), but that wasn't the point.  the music was fun - and completely different than anything playing on the radio.  oh sure, the big hit from this album, "short skirt/long jacket", got plenty of airplay, but nothing else really ever made a dent in the mainstream audience.  and we loved it anyway.

for this list of my favorite albums i tried to pick those that i can listen do no matter what mood i'm in.  i don't have to be in any particular mood to put this on, and i rarely get tired of it.  it has peppy upbeat songs like "opera singer" or "pretty pink ribbon", darker songs like the title track "comfort eagle", and to further push the fact that this is an odd album, jay-z sampled the track "arco arena" in his song "guns and roses".  weird.

those of you following along will remember that i started this album countdown because i was inspired by my good friend (and fellow corn picker) mike's current album review blog.  apparently the next album he will be reviewing is this very one.

1. u2 - the joshua tree
2. dave matthews band - crash