Digging for Vinyl - Listen to the City – Interview with Gordon Deppe of The Spoons

    So Tuesday I made my way down to Alleycats Music & Art here in Orillia as I do most weeks to dig through the bins of vinyl and see what catches my eye, and see which one (or two) I might want to add to the collection. As I was unearthing a few pieces of choice vinyl here and there that I had not come across before (I like that) I then notice a milk crate on the floor filled with black gold, as I begin flipping through the crate the usual suspects start rearing their heads, you got your Boston's, your Kim Mitchells (did you ever go for that soda?) but then a few PRINCE records jump out and slap me right back into consciousness, they've got a copy of 'Around the World in a Day' right now that's in near mint shape (you better snap it up before I do). 

    As I resumed digging I notice a copy of 'Arias & Symphonies' the second album from The Spoons, I was a little shocked to see it there (how could anyone part with this record? I thought) but then just behind it their 1983 album 'Talkback' makes its debut, again I'm stunned to see more Spoons…but then I notice it, the record I've been combing the bins year after year for; the soundtrack to the 1984 Ron Mann film 'Listen to the City'. Now I don't know if this is really that hard to find in the vinyl circles (for all I know someone might have 5 copies in their collection) but to me this was one of those records that has had a spot waiting for it these many years. Of course 'Listen to the City' came home with me, and after I had placed it on the old reliable Technics I got to finally hear it like it was meant to be heard. As I was relishing my latest (greatest?) find I started putting together in my head the post that would be wrapped around this record, I wanted it to be something a bit different, then it struck me; I'll interview Gordon Deppe (lead vocals and guitar) of The Spoons about 'Listen to the City'….So I did, read the complete interview below.

The following is an interview with Gord Deppe talking about 'Listen to the City'

SMM-Hi Gord, thanks' for agreeing to talk Sonic More Music about Listen to the City, the 1984 soundtrack to the film of the same name. How did this project get its start? 

GD: We were approached by Ron Mann to do the soundtrack for his new film. I'd always thought our music lent itself to cinema, especially the dramatic instrumentals like Trade Winds and Unexpected Guest At A Cancelled Party. He also approached Sandy about acting in the movie. We were between albums, so it was a good time for a different kind of project.

SMM: How long did it take for you to complete it?

GD: The new instrumental tracks for the soundtrack were written and recorded over a two month period, as I recall. Romantic Traffic and Tell No Lies had already been released on an extended play dance record. It was decided later to add them to the movie, since they hadn't appeared on a proper full length album yet.

SMM: As far as direction went with Listen to the City, how much influence did Director Ron Mann have? Or did he just give you free rein?

GD: Ron Mann gave me free reign. I would receive scenes every week and pretty well compose spontaneously to the footage. I decided to stay primarily with keyboards, not my first instrument, as well as a lot of ambient sounds.

SMM: Were you working on Listen to the City during the recording of the Talkback album?

GD: The TalkBack album had already been out some time when I commenced with writing the Listen to the City soundtrack.

SMM: During the film Sandy is shown singing the track "Take Me Walking", was the music recorded before or after filming?

GD: The song Sandy performs in the movie is "Sundown". It was written before the movie was filmed.

SMM: Other than the two Nile Rogers produced tracks (Romantic Traffic and Tell No Lies) and Rob Preuss and Sandy Horne playing and singing on Sundown and Take Me Walking Listen to the City is pretty much regarded as a Gordon Deppe record, at the time of its release do you think it confused Spoons fans ?

GD: I don't think Listen to the City confused many people. It was pretty clear that it was a soundtrack to a movie with a couple of Spoons singles in it. It also filled the gap between changing record companies and the release of the next proper Spoons album. That would be Bridges Over Borders. It would also be with two new band members on board.

   Just want to say a big thank you to Gord Deppe for taking the time to answer a few questions regarding 'Listen to the City', hope that gives a bit of insight into a record that in my opinion never got the recognition it deserved.

See you next Wednesday in the Vinyl Bins

Joe Cornelisse-SMM

 You can find Alleycats Music & Art on Facebook

Some other unique finds that I came across this week 

at Alleycats were:

 

The Doughboys -  'Happy accidents' on purple vinyl

Tom Waits - 'Swordfishtrombones'

Sex Pistols - 'Better Live Than Dead'

Pete Shelley - 'Homosapien'

Jimi Hendrix - 'Good Times' 

Gordon Lightfoot - 'Best of Vol 3' (I added this in because for as long as I can remember all I have ever seen is either 'Gord's Gold' or the 'Best of Vol 1' )

  

Alleycats Music & Art

95 Mississauga St. E, Orillia, Ontario

Hours   

Tue - Sat: 11:00 - 5:00 PM

Sun: 12:00 - 4:00 PM

CFNY: 30 Years Ago

     This New Year's Eve was turning out to be the usual for me, the usual being staying in, rockin' the M&M's Oriental Party Pack and watching the ball drop online....but there was more this year.

   A week before or so I had been poking around this great website called 'The CFNY Spirit Of Radio Fan Page'; they have everything you want to know about the heyday of Toronto's CFNY (when it was the Spirit of Radio). I got looking at the old year-end chart lists, some of them very good; in 1984 the Psychedelic Furs - Mirror Moves record was #1 …and some really bad, the years '89 & '90 saw both New Kids on the Block and Vanilla Ice make appearances on the charts. So I thought it would be fun to pick a list and post videos to go along with all of the artists. I decided on the 1982 list "CFNY's The Best Damn Music of '82"...a list of the top 82 records from 1982 that was tabulated from votes cast by CFNY listeners. It turned out to be more work than I had expected but I love doing things like this and I have gotten some really positive feedback for it. 

So here's the link to the complete list on YouTube and here is the actual list so you can follow along (just click on the pic so you can read it)

Look for the 1983 YouTube Chart List coming soon.

Joe Cornelisse-SMM

Follow Self Serve Gas Station on Facebook

Hey Everyone!

    Just wanted to let you know that I also have a SELF SERVE GAS STATION FACEBOOK PAGE set up for you to check out, I’ll be using it for more up to date music news as it happens from day to day or maybe even minute to minute, depends when I’m online.

So just sign in to your Facebook account and in the search bar at the top of the page enter Self Serve GasStation, then when you get to it just “Like” it and enjoy.

Joe Cornelisse-SSGS

What's On My Turntable? Blondie's Parallel Lines

          So What’s On My Turntable Today?  Today it’s 1978’s Parallel Lines by Blondie. The album artwork of Parallel Lines pretty much says it all, Debbie Harry takes control of this record from the beginning right to the end. This was Blondie’s third record, and you can feel the maturity in the lyrics and the music. This was still a pretty much a straight ahead “New Wave” record, even though with the track “Heart of Glass” they were blurring the lines of what was “disco” and what was New Wave. They got a lot of slack for “Heart of Glass” from fellow musicians and critics alike for “selling out”…but at the time there really wasn’t a big distinction between the two styles. 

     I hate to sound like a “broken record” (I know lame), but this is one of those records that you can put on and just listen to from beginning to end and not have a thought of skipping through it.

Joe Cornelisse-SSGS