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The Something Awful Forums > Main > BYOB: BYOB BYOB BOYB BBOY YOBB YBOB BBYO?? > The best of Canadian alternative rock is Good
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Sally


Don't post Small Dash!
 The follow-up to Underdogs is also probably the Matthew Good Band's single most iconic... it is a true titan of 90s Canadian alt-rock... not just in Vancouver, British Columbia, but across the country. BYOB, lemme introduce you to Beautiful Midnight:



Wikipedia posted:

Beautiful Midnight is the third album released by the Matthew Good Band. It is the band's most commercially successful album. The album won the award for "Best Rock Album" at the 2000 Juno Awards.[4]

The album produced four successful singles ("Hello Time Bomb", "Load Me Up", "Strange Days", and "The Future is X-Rated"). Each single was accompanied by a music video, all which received frequent airplay on Much Music. The success of Beautiful Midnight propelled Good to a celebrity status in Canada he eventually grew to loathe, and his interactions with the media throughout the promotional cycle for the record were often strained and unpleasant.

Beautiful Midnight debuted at #1 on the Canadian Albums Chart,[5] selling approximately 25,000 copies in its first week.[6] It would go on to become the band's best-selling album, being certified Double Platinum in Canada on September 7, 2000.[7] By March 2003, the album had sold 270,000 units in Canada.[8] Good's new record label, Warner Music Canada, stated in 2016 that the album has sold over 300,000 copies,[9] achieving Triple Platinum status. Between 1996 and 2016, Beautiful Midnight was among the top 20 best-selling albums by Canadian bands in Canada.[10]

The album did not achieve the kind of success in United States as it did in Canada partially due to Good being uncooperative in playing along with the media and music industry in the country.

In a 2016 interview with The Canadian Press, Good recounted one interview with Seventeen magazine at its Manhattan office where two female writers ("...who looked like the Stepford Wives") asked the singer to recall his first kiss.[11] Annoyed by the question, he recounted a story where as a teenager where he engaged in a drunken session that became sexual. The writers, Good says, were so taken back by his explicit story that they walked out of the interview.[11]

The band was also reluctant to commit to extensively touring the United States.

As you can see from the Wikiblurb, this is also the album where Good's trademark curmudgeonly rear end in a top hat of Canadian rock attitude really started to come out. He started his career as a musician writing angry politically charged folk music and never quite lost that aspect of himself. He was also living with undiagnosed bipolar disorder at the time and was constantly going in and out of manic states... Good hardly ate. He didn't drink, but he chainsmoked like crazy and rarely slept.

It's around this time that the band started printed and selling the iconic "I hear Matt Good is a real rear end in a top hat" shirts:



Anyways, track listing below... Beautiful Midnight is technically a concept album in that each song is supposed to represent a particular time of night. I've added the "times" in parentheses for each track:


for non-Canada goons, I will find alternate video links in another post... hold tight!

also gotta run but i have more fun facts about this album i will post shortly...

putting on my playlist, woooo

* # ? Feb 19, 2021 17:53
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# ? May 4, 2024 15:42
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Manifisto


 just getting to this thread now. it's good! thanks op and other contributors.

I must admit, however, this:

Sally posted:

the 25th best-selling Canadian artist between 1996-2016

made me chuckle

it's not that it's unimpressive, but it comes across as such faint praise

also thank you luvcow for posting the community bit, and I'm glad the weakerthans stuff has been posted, I feel like I've heard a couple of their tracks in passing but never really paid attention to them (whereas so far I don't recognize anything at all from the mgb)


ty nesamdoom!

* # ? Feb 19, 2021 19:47
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Sally


Don't post Small Dash!
 haha, i know, but it's still impressive when considered against more well-known Canadian artists like Celine Dion and Leonard Cohen. I mean, Matthew Good/MGB have outsold Rush, Drake, The Guess Who, and BTO according to the Canada 150: https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7849410/canada-150-celine-dion-shania-twain-nielsen-charts

* # ? Feb 20, 2021 05:49
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Sally


Don't post Small Dash!
 More fun facts about Beautiful Midnight... an article from 2001 detailing its release in the USA, some background on Good's status as an rear end in a top hat, his refusal to support industry award ceremonies, and the decision to cut a bunch of tracks from Beautiful Midnight to instead put on singles from Underdogs:

quote:


https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/78762/mgbs-midnight-gets-us-release

Given the status of Matthew Good Band (MGB) as a hit act for the past three years in its native Canada, and the fact that the group is led by (arguably) Canada's most skilled rocker since Neil Young, it is little wonder that its U.S. debut album, "Beautiful Midnight," seems poised for success. The album is slated for stateside release Jan. 30 on Atlantic Records.

"We've got a real good shot," says Val Azzoli., co-chairman/co-CEO of the Atlantic Group. "This is good music and the type of music Atlantic does well with. What I like is that Matt [Good] is his own person. He doesn't want to be like anybody else."

Adds Ron Shapiro, executive VP/GM of Atlantic Records, "There are so few artists today like Matthew Good who are as creatively brilliant and as involved in their careers as he is -- or as passionate and driven by their art."

Released in Canada on Universal Records in September 1999, "Beautiful Midnight" debuted at No. 1 on the Canadian SoundScan chart. Boosted by album rock radio airplay of its tracks "Hello Time Bomb," "Load Me Up," "Strange Days," and "The Future Is X-Rated," the album has scanned 241,000 units to date in Canada, according to SoundScan.

"Matthew Good is a smart rebel with a very bright future," predicts Randy Lennox, president/CEO of Universal Music Canada. "His music contains edge and visual interpretations, which separates him from other artists."

While Good is front man, guitarist, and songwriter, the Vancouver-based group is a fully realized unit that includes Rich Priske (bass), Ian Browne (drums), and Dave Genn (guitar/keyboards). The U.S. version of the album contains three tracks remixed by Chris Lord-Alge -- "Everything Is Automatic," "Deep Six," and "Apparitions" -- from MGB's sophomore album, "Underdogs," released in Canada 1997 on Darktown Records/A&M.

"Out of anything I've done, this is the album that should be released in the U.S. first," says 29-year-old Good. Of the reconstructed album, he says, "Of course, I miss the songs we took off. I looked hard and long when asked to [make a change]. But you can't dispute the validity of a song like 'Apparitions.' I would love to see that video on MTV."

MGB's first U.S. single, "Hello Time Bomb," was serviced in December to alternative and rock formats. The track re-entered Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart at No. 39 this week.

To kick off the U.S. launch of the album, Good and Genn will do media interviews and the band is set to do shows in February in the Northeast U.S.

"We are now looking for a support spot on a U.S. tour for March and April," says Steve Hoffman of Toronto-based S.R.O. Management, which also handles Rush, Queensryche, and the Tea Party.

MGB's Canadian breakthrough came with "Underdogs," which, according to SoundScan, has sold 182,000 units to date in Canada. It was originally intended to be the band's first U.S. release via Mercury Records in 1998 but was shelved due to MGB changing its management, as well as changes at Mercury U.S. following Universal's purchase of PolyGram.

"Beautiful Midnight" was recorded at Greenhouse Studios in Burnaby, British Columbia, and produced by Warne Livesey (Midnight Oil, Julian Cope, Talk Talk). The album is anchored in memories of Good's teenage years and struggles with the complexities and pressures of contemporary life. It is highlighted by such poignant tracks as "Hello Time Bomb" and "Apparitions," as well as such personalized songs as "Suburbia," and "Jenni's Song."

"I'm an observationist," says Good. "I have problems with lyricists who are too literal about their lyrics. If you can't add some dimension to what you do, that's unfortunate. My lyrics are a smattering of everything."

While MGB is a newcomer band in the U.S., the band has hit status in Canada with massive rock radio airplay and intensive support at MuchMusic, and has played more than 80 shows nationally in the past year.

Due to his acerbic and witty interviews and put-downs of other bands, Good himself is often vilified by industry figures there. "Can you believe that some people consider me to be the bad boy of Canadian rock? That's unbelievable!" he exclaims. "Bring the [detractors] on. There's a lot of lovely rock bands out there."

Good's bad-boy rep greatly increased last March when, instead of attending the Juno Awards in Toronto, he went to Los Angeles on personal business. While Browne and Genn accepted two unexpected trophies, Good was at a backyard barbecue in Los Angeles. His bandmates called to tell him the group had won, beating out such heavy contenders as Our Lady Peace, Moist, the Tea Party, and Quebec's La Chicane for top group. The band also won for top rock album for "Beautiful Midnight."

Today, Good has no regrets over his Juno no-show. He also has no plans to attend this year. "I have a problem with getting little trophies for art and going and having people kiss my rear end," he says. "You can't subjectify art. Why do I need a trophy?"

Launching "Beautiful Midnight" in the U.S., concedes Good, might result in a delay in releasing MGB's next album in Canada. Tracks for a new album were recorded with Livesey in October and November of last year at the Armoury Studio in Vancouver.

"The album is done except for the mixing," he says. "I'd like it to come out in the fall, but we'll see what happens in the U.S. first.

The US tracklist for Beautiful Midnight is as follows:

  • Giant
  • Hello Time Bomb
  • Strange Days
  • Deep 6ix -- Replaces I Miss New Wave... and spelt with a 6, what the gently caress Atlantic Records?!
  • Load Me Up
  • Failing the Rorschach Test
  • Suburbia
  • Apparitions -- Replaces Let's Get It On
  • Jenni's Song
  • Boy and His ------- --- (This is not a spelling error but actually how the track appears on the album. It was censored in light of the Columbine Shootings and especially in light of the song's lyrics)
  • The Future Is X-Rated
  • Everything Is Automatic -- Replaces Going All The Way
  • Born to ----
  • Running for Home (Same deal as A Boy And His Machine Gun)

Also, "Hello Time Bomb", "Strange Days", "Deep 6ix", "Load Me Up", and "Everything Is Automatic" were all remixed by this dude named Chris Lord-Alge.


Also also, that plastic soldier website comes through as a repository for Matthew Good videos...

Hello Time Bomb video: http://mattgood.plastic-soldier.com/video-hellotimebomb.php
Load Me Up: http://mattgood.plastic-soldier.com/video-loadmeup.php, though unfortunately it doesn't have the video with just the music... that said, it has the videos with commentary. One voice is Matthew Good but I have no idea who the other is--the director I guess? Interesting fun facts, though. The kids in the video came from Dave Genn's former school. Interestingly, I didn't know Much Music sometimes cut-off the horror knife shot at the end of the vid. Huh.
The Future Is X-Rated: http://mattgood.plastic-soldier.com/video-thefutureisxrated.php


Also also also... Geoff Lloyd left the band at this point. Not sure why... I'll have to dig around. Rich Priske joined as the new bassist and I am also a big fan of his work.

* # ? Feb 20, 2021 06:06
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El Generico

Nobody outrules the Marquise de Cat!
I really liked Matthew Good Band around when Hello Time Bomb was being played on Muchmusic a lot and they're a great band and I think they hold up

Thanks

* # ? Feb 20, 2021 09:25
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nut

 I've posted about him before but here is an effortpost about an extremely slept on Canadian artist named Gregory Pepper from the very unassuming city of Guelph, Ontario.



I first learned about Gregory Pepper because he was in a group with hip hop producer Factor Chandelier from Saskatoon, SK. Their group was called Common Grackle. I don't know if it's true, but I've heard that the band name was inspired from a sentence in an Audubon field guide.

Audubon posted:

Common Grackles often nest in small colonies, and several males may perch in adjacent treetops to sing their creaking, grating songs.

The pairing of indie rock and hip hop production meant that they were originally trying for something Postal Service inspired, but I think they came up with something incredibly different. In 2010, they released The Great Depression on Fake Four and I think most people wouldn't immediately think hip hop upon listening, but its really well buried in the whole structure of percussion and cadence of each song. I think Pepper's lyricism is deeply cynical and trite and gross in a very likeable way.

Here is a link to the whole bandcamp album: https://fakefour.bandcamp.com/album/the-great-depression



But more specifically, here are some of my favourites from the Great Depression:

Down With the Ship - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0OU-luyTYM
The Great Depression (ft. Ceschi) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQfviud1GYk
Thank God It's Monday (ft. Kool Keith) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBuNaEtk44I
and incredibly BYOB song
At the Grindcore Show - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4Hh7Benoo8

On tour, Common Grackle traveled with a full tour band (without Factor) and became notorious for playing songs from the Great Depression in wholly new arrangements, usually stylized into some completely different genre.

For example, here's the Great Depression (above) played live in a cowboy/surf western rock style before album actually dropped.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZEed_X-s2s

After supporting touring for the album release, Gregory Pepper re-recorded all of the tracks from the Great Depression following a western style rock with a full band and released it in 2011, as The Great Repression.


https://gregorypepper.bandcamp.com/album/the-great-repression

Accordingly, here are same songs from the first album in their second styles:

Down with the Ship - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv2bBx3p5eg
The Great Depression - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sskzEuy1W_I
Thank God It's Monday - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqEJkwxtpOg
At the Grindcore Show - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ISD6pkm_fo


As far as I can tell, Common Grackle is long gone nowadays. They did release a single teaser song "Return of the Grack" in 2018 that was never followed up that is very fun and cycles through genres wonderfully and has catching lines like "Some changes haven't been saved, would you like to close anyway?".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrqVI_rcwFI


Since Common Grackle, Gregory Pepper did a bunch of podcasting and writing orphaned songs to ultimately start releasing newer solo work as Gregory Pepper and his Problems, a name I think he has admitted to kind of regretting. He has released a ton of EPs and a self-titled full length, but I wanna jump right to his most recent release because I think it is really, really good and completely slept on, I Know Why you Cry, released on Feb. 14, 2020, by Fake Four.


https://gregorypepper.bandcamp.com/album/i-know-now-why-you-cry

Really cleanly produced and catchy tunes featuring some strings over really crude and funny and sad lyrics, it's a wonderful album from front to back. But, here are a personal couple select picks:

Good Call - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qjk_m4ybxM
I've Got a Bottle - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TP8D9CJ1Sc
Art Collector / Bored of the View - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR3QtMWOjgY

and another very yob song
Sublime Sun Tattoo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfeXQ3Unh-o

Pepper is also a really fun and talented visual artist and, in conclusion, is good and cool. Thank u.

* # ? Feb 28, 2021 15:58
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biosterous
something interesting came out of guelph?????



thank you saoshyant for this sig!!!
gallery of sigs


he/him

* # ? Feb 28, 2021 17:06
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nut

 there’s actually two guelph artists I really like but the other is not alt rock and so I will have to save it for a future thread

* # ? Feb 28, 2021 17:53
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snergle

A kind little mouse!
op have you heard of mother mother? i also like billy talent and vincent black shadow but irc they dont make new stuff anymore.

* # ? Mar 1, 2021 06:19
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biosterous
noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo i really really hate mother mother :(

there songs are 1) not something i enjoy, and 2) really really really good at getting stuck in my head

if they were just songs i didn't like i probably wouldn't care! but since they're so good at hooking into my brain and living there i end up dwelling on their songs, and how much i don't like them, and how i can't stop them from playing in my brain



thank you saoshyant for this sig!!!
gallery of sigs


he/him

* # ? Mar 1, 2021 13:28
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snergle

A kind little mouse!

biosterous posted:

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo i really really hate mother mother :(

there songs are 1) not something i enjoy, and 2) really really really good at getting stuck in my head

if they were just songs i didn't like i probably wouldn't care! but since they're so good at hooking into my brain and living there i end up dwelling on their songs, and how much i don't like them, and how i can't stop them from playing in my brain

just give in and love them. Although I do hate when i get their songs stuck in my head.

* # ? Mar 2, 2021 01:08
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nut

 I used to listen to mother mother a bunch but i can't actually remember any of their songs off the top of my head and maybe i should be grateful for that

* # ? Mar 2, 2021 03:58
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Sally


Don't post Small Dash!
 i don't like livin' in a dirty town 'cause a dirty town brings me down!

* # ? Mar 2, 2021 04:03
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snergle

A kind little mouse!

nut posted:

I used to listen to mother mother a bunch but i can't actually remember any of their songs off the top of my head and maybe i should be grateful for that

hayloft, infintesimal, lets fall in love, the stand, verbatim are all some of my favorites i have them in a play list.

i also like emily hanes and the soft skeleton and so of course i like metric . those are bands though and not mother mother songs

snergle fucked around with this message at 05:07 on Mar 2, 2021
* # ? Mar 2, 2021 05:05
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biosterous
yeah metric is real good yo



thank you saoshyant for this sig!!!
gallery of sigs


he/him

* # ? Mar 2, 2021 05:24
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Sally


Don't post Small Dash!
 hey team, so i am not purposely ignoring this thread. abuse allegations have surfaced surrounding Good credible enough that his label dropped him. i'm currently pondering how i want to go forward. i still want to listen to and talk about Canadian alt-rock and was thinking of switching to another band (like The Weakerthans or Mother Mother) after going through MGB's discography, but now I am questioning that. maybe I'll wrap up the MGB stuff and not bother with Good's solo stuff? I dunno. I need a break from MGB, though. I'll post my final verdict on Beautiful Midnight tonight though... maybe Audio of Being... I did start listening to that a lot.

having some complex thoughts about Good
:/

* # ? Mar 6, 2021 20:27
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Finger Prince


 Matthew Bad.
This is probably a highly unpopular opinion, but it is possible, and in a lot of cases necessary, to divorce the human from the music. Everyone loves a cult of personality and sometimes that personality is unbelievably toxic, but the person isn't the music. Tell me Michael Jackson's music suddenly sucked once everyone knew for sure he was a pedo. You don't have to like the person to like the music.

* # ? Mar 6, 2021 20:38
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kaom


 Man, just found this thread and was excited to post... I have so many early B-side recordings (like the casettes), concert trivia, etc. Hadn’t heard about this until now. :(

This thread has been a great read. If you decide to continue with MG, he’s one of the few artists I’ve really followed over decades since I also grew up with the music. I’d feel fine posting about stuff that’s free or that I already own. Totally understand if you want to switch to different groups though, I’m here for Mother Mother and Metric just the same. :canada:

* # ? Mar 9, 2021 05:42
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Sally


Don't post Small Dash!

Finger Prince posted:

Matthew Bad.
This is probably a highly unpopular opinion, but it is possible, and in a lot of cases necessary, to divorce the human from the music. Everyone loves a cult of personality and sometimes that personality is unbelievably toxic, but the person isn't the music. Tell me Michael Jackson's music suddenly sucked once everyone knew for sure he was a pedo. You don't have to like the person to like the music.

I tend to feel the same. I mean, so many famous people are assholes in some shape or form that it's kind of hard to go through life NOT liking something by someone who is vile. Michael Jackson is a prime example, as you stay. I still like the music he made. And beyond that, I still like Kanye West's music and Mel Gibson's films and think the Harry Potter books are pretty neat. Matthew Good is not his music. And Matthew Good Band was more than just Matthew Good.

kaom posted:

Man, just found this thread and was excited to post... I have so many early B-side recordings (like the casettes), concert trivia, etc. Hadn’t heard about this until now. :(

I'm gonna keep goin' and wrap up MGB's discography at the very least.

* # ? Mar 9, 2021 06:21
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Sally


Don't post Small Dash!
 nut, Common Grackle is really good. I've only been listening to The Great Depression so far, but it's a really loving rock solid album. Immediately likeable and catchy! The title track and Big Marquee are my faves so far, but Thank God It's Monday also rules.

this is totally my poo poo

* # ? Mar 9, 2021 06:26
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McGavin

 I think Sam Roberts inherited Matt Good's schtick of underappreciated Canadian rocker with an eponymous band.

* # ? Mar 9, 2021 07:58
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biosterous
matthew good: banned



thank you saoshyant for this sig!!!
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he/him

* # ? Mar 9, 2021 15:11
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take the moon

by sebmojo

hot cocoa on the couch posted:

op just remember when it's getting hard to listen to just push and push and push 'til it hurts
push and push 'til it hurts

this

idk if this counts but any excuse to post hosed up songs im obsessed with such as this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdUSPvbkc7o

all their zodiac songs are sick. year of the snake, rat and dragon especially

----------------
This thread brought to you by a tremendous dickhead!
* # ? Mar 9, 2021 21:25
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nut

Sally posted:

nut, Common Grackle is really good. I've only been listening to The Great Depression so far, but it's a really loving rock solid album. Immediately likeable and catchy! The title track and Big Marquee are my faves so far, but Thank God It's Monday also rules.

this is totally my poo poo

I am so glad!

* # ? Mar 9, 2021 21:40
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Sally


Don't post Small Dash!
 Re-impressions of Beautiful Midnight...

  • Giant - I loving love this song. It's got such a great ebb and flow. The "K-I-C-K-A-S-S, that's the way we spell success!" intro is a great opener for a 90s alt-rock album, but then it ducks immediately into the chill, spacey reverb guitar bit with Ian Browne's drums doing their thing. It immediately hooked me when I first grabbed this album. The chorus is great too... whatever weird melancholy is going on here, it's brilliant. I almost forget this song is just over six minutes long.

    Hearing this track again has hit me with some immediate nostalgia. I originally bought this album around the same time my friend lent me Final Fantasy Tactics, so I have come to associate the opening of this song with that game. I'd spend hours listening to this album on repeat grinding up different job classes. Like, I can actually recall levelling Geomancers in Bariaus Valley to this track.

    crazy.

    Also, I never saw MGB before they broke up, but fortunately Good kept this track in his solo performances. I've seen him live a couple of times--he puts on a good show--and more often than not "Giant" was used as the final encore song.

    Also also, incoming tasteless joke... when news of the abuse allegations hit news, one of my friends texted me "A-B-U-S-I-V-E 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 That's the way we spell Matt G!". It's terrible and I don't want to make light of abuse, but I laughed and it's been stuck in my head since.
  • Hello Time Bomb - This is MGB's big one. This is the single. It's going to be another damning with faint praise thing, but "between 1995 and 2016, "Hello Time Bomb" was the fourth most played song by a Canadian artist on rock radio stations in Canada." Basically, if you've ever lived in Canada, you've probably heard this song more than once.

    This has never been my favourite single though. It's a solid track and I'll listen to it when it comes on the radio, but it's one of two Matthew Good songs I've heard on the radio so many times it's become overplayed for me. Even as a teenager I'd skip this track if I was near the stereo or had my discman handy. I dunno. Listening to it now hasn't done a lot to improve my opinion. Feels less overplayed, but I'm happy to get to the next track.

    "Turning poo poo into solid gold" is a great line though. Oh, and I found this interview snippet on the writing aspect of "Hello Time Bomb" which was interesting:

    quote:

    Sometimes the unexpected happens. Years ago I had a day off during the making of Beautiful Midnight. Two friends had dropped by my place to get me, as we were going out. While sitting there, we somehow got into a discussion about writing quick songs about nothing. So I picked up this crappy old classical guitar that belonged to my ex-girlfriend and proceeded to play do-do-do-do-do…click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click…do-do-do-do-do. And then the words came - 'I found me a reason, so check me tomorrow, we’ll see if I’m leaking, push and push and push till it hurts…'


    In about 45 minutes I had what would basically be Hello Time Bomb, which later that night I quickly recorded onto a cassette and we tracked the very next day.
    Sometimes the unexpected happens.
    Of course, never in my wildest dreams did I think that that song would go on to become one of my biggest singles. I mean let’s face it, I wrote it on a dust covered classical guitar that had been sitting unused behind a large plant for years. But, in the end, that’s how it happened.

    — Matthew Good
    Oh, also, this track was nominated for Best Single at the Junos in 2000.
  • Strange Days - Aaaand one of the reasons I liked to skip Hello Time Bomb was because I'd get to Strange Days. This song is damned brilliant. It's been a dog's age since I've listened to Beautiful Midnight... except for this track which I sometimes just pull up on YouTube. This was one of the first MGB songs I learned to play. As far as MGB's acoustic rock ballads go, this one beats out Apparitions in my book. The moment I hear those opening strums I'm ready to sing along... and I say that as someone who generally doesn't pay much attention to lyrics in songs and has trouble following the words, ha! But this is one of my all time faves, so I took the time to learn it.

    Playing it again, it's still one of my all time faves. In particular, Dave Genn's keyboard and piano in the chorus suck me right in--reminiscent of the organ stuff played on earlier albums... and Ian Browne's marching snare beat at the bridge ("the cars on the freeway are moving backwards into a wall of fire")...

    It's all so good!

    This track also has one of MGB's best videos. The whole weird Matthew Good is an embodiment of death watching the small tragedies unfold in Vancover... it's a moving narrative that I still found myself getting sucked into.

    Sadly, this song only peaked at #6 on the charts. The music video won Best Video, Best Director, and Best Cinematography at the MuchMusic awards in 2000, though, so there's that.
  • I Miss New Wave - Great track here. Of all the tracks nixed from the American release, I think this one is the most sorely missed. It's a slow build and one of the songs that took longer to grow on me, but now it's stuck in my head. Great chorus and the bridge around the 3 minute mark is great--"real intense", if you will.****

    Also I love the lyrics in the verse a lot. The travelling places and gettin' laid... Not that it's relatable, as I am far from some beautiful Casanova frequent sex-haver, but having grown up one suburb over from Coquitlam, hearing places I knew intimately in a song I liked ruled. Also, as much as I like loving around on golf courses while drunk, I am not a big fan and like teasing my obsessed golf fans about it not being a real sport, so that verse landed for me in multiple ways.

    No real change in hearing now from ages ago. Lots of nostalgia. Good track.
  • Load Me Up - This was one of my early MGB fav singles. It's high energy punchy and has a lot of great pithy Matthew Good lyrics. "Your sleeping on a plane and something's ticking in the overhead" and "if Heaven's for clean people, it's vacant." Also, the chatty bodies in the water all being comedians is a great line.

    I'm having a bit of difficulty gushing too much about it nowadays. Not sure if it's just because I listened to it too much as a kid. It doesn't grab me. I do believe a lot of MGB's poppier stuff is what originally hooked me on their music... it's just not what made me stick around and keep re-listening. Load Me Up is still a solid track and as far as the radio friendly 90s rock anthems MGB did, it holds up better than Rico or Hello Time Bomb, imo. Buuuut I'm kind of over it.

    (Though that said, there was a live performance for Edge radio where Good reunited with Ian Browne on drums and, well, it's a good one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksWprw1tM3k)
  • Failing The Rorschach Test - But this song? This one's still my jam. Right from the get go, Ian Browne's drumming paired with that chunky guitar sound is just driving this track. This song could've been a single on a different album in a different time. I get why it wasn't made one, not with some of the other tracks here, but man--great energy. Also more great lines here. "Mother told me to be something so I'm afraid" is fantastic, as is the general Alice in Wonderland reference thing going on.

    Still totally dig it. A few years back Matthew Good released an EP of revisions of a handful of Beautiful Midnight songs (incidentally, the EP was called "I Miss New Wave"). As part of the tour for this EP, he went around doing full live performances of Beautiful Midnight which loving ruled. I managed to catch a performance and Failing the Rorschach Test live was great. There's a great live version of it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZQ91D8JppU.
  • Suburbia - Maaaaaaan, Suburbia. loving Suburbia. This song... this loving song. I love this song. The droning reverb? Browne's rock solid drumming? Whatever beautiful melancholy mood is going on here? I am all over it. Aside from Giant, Suburbia is easily my most replayed song on this album. I absolutely adore it. And I know MGB fans almost universally love it. It's great live and I've been to more than one show where audience members have shouted between songs for Good to play it (his response was "uh, no" before moving onto the next track).

    I have played this song on repeat just zone out and chill and to get over break-ups. I have listened to it when I want to revel in moody sadness and when I am pumped and want to feel good. It's 11:00PM as I am writing this sentence to finally get this update out and it's fitting, as Suburbia is the 11:00PM track. drat.
  • Let's Get It On - Another of the tracks dropped for the Stateside version. And honestly, sure. This song is fine. It's not my fave and never has been. Listening to it now with a fresh set of ears I am still having a hard time getting into it. The minute long intro just doesn't justify its length for me. I couldn't help it while going over this album but I found myself skipping it a lot. Listening to the album as a whole, it's fine and fits, but I kinda zone out and "miss" it as it goes by. It always fails to hook my attention...

    ...until the volume winds back down and Browne starts doing that march roll on his snare drum and Good starts singing "sooooo impossible". I absolutely love that bit.

    Oh and the last minute is also quite good. There's just too many hills and valleys. Let's Get It On does not get me pumped up like other tracks, but despite its uneven quality, it all kind of averages out.
  • Jenni's Song - Solid song. Catchy. Weird lyrics. I never thought too much about it as a kid... I always just wondered if this had anything to do with his first wife, Jennifer. Obviously I know nothing about Jennifer Good's life and if this is some weird love song about their relationship (this album dropped in 1999, Good divorced in 05 or 06... the song "She's in it for the money" from his album at that time is more definitively about her, imo...).

    But then I also wondered if this was a different Jenni he knew and loved or whatever... or gently caress it, who knows, maybe it's just a dark short story. Matthew Good did this whole thing in the late 90s/early 2000s where he wrote "manifestos" on his blog that were actually just short stories. They were all fictionalized accounts of his real life and some were more interesting than others. I definitely enjoyed a couple when I read'em as kids, but my eyes glossed over with others. They were collected into the book, At Last There is Nothing Left to Say: https://www.amazon.ca/Last-There-No...15533030&sr=8-1

    OR, you can read them here at this website that conveniently collected them all: http://mattgood.plastic-soldier.com/manifestos.php

    The relevant one for this song is "The Night Opus" which continues and elaborates upon the story told in the song. Unlikely it's a true story, but there seems to be a thread of truth that goes in all of Good's narratives.

    Yeah, I dunno. That's all I god. Beautiful Midnight starts and ends strong but the middle is a little softer. I like Jenni's Song but, like Let's Get It On, it's one of the weaker tracks overall.
  • Going All The Way Let's Get It On, Jenni's Song, and Going All The Way is the middle whole middle slump of this album for me... again, like the other two, this track is generally solid. It's just far from the strongest on the album. It's also the last track that was cut... And with Going All The Way and Let's Get It On, I think it was the right call. Song is fine, but listening to it now hasn't really changed my opinion.
  • A Boy and His Machine Gun - But this track? Yeah, this song has aged better for me. I thought it was too "slow" as a teenager. And sure, it doesn't immediately kick in like Load Me Up, but drat this song does its thing well.

    I suppose I should get the obvious out of the way... there's clearly a thing about school shootings going on in the lyrics, though the is also about someone being locked in a mental institution. Timelinewise, Beautiful Midnight came out just a few months after the Columbine shootings. It's possible this song is in reference to them, though Matt Good has denied it--he claimed the song was written about a friend of his from what I saw. Though that said, the censoring in the American tracklisting strikes me as a response to Columbine (along with Born to Kill being censored).

    Musically, I've come around on the song a lot more. The driving guitar as it builds up to the chorus... and the chorus is excellent too ("Did they stick you in here 'cause you weren't working out?" Lyrically, I appreciate the morbid ponderings of the topic. "You look sane motionless like that" or "It's amazing what velocity can do/when human beings are in season".

    And as usual, I'm a big fan of Browne's drumming. He's a great drummer. The ride hits during the chorus? Good poo poo...

    Though I've gushed about the drums enough that at this point I'm realizing I'm missing Geoff Lloyd's bass on this album. His presence was felt way more on the previous two albums and his replacement, Rich Priske, lacks that presence here. (Though that said, I really like Priske's bass on the next album). Not sure why Lloyd was dropped between Underdogs and Beautiful Midnight, now that I think of it...
  • The Future is X-Rated - I actually don't really like this song. Never did. Don't really like it now. I've always felt like a bit of a snooty rear end in a top hat for disliking a lot of his singles while loving everything on his big albums. I'd talk to people and they'd mention they liked MGB and I'd say "aw hell yah me too" and they'd say things like, "Apparitions rules and I love Hello Time Bomb and The Future is X-Rated!" and I'd just nod and be all like "Yeah, Apparitions is fine, but no Strange Days. The other songs suck though--now let me tell you about his B-side EP releases."

    Their enthusiasm withered...

    I dig the Much Music/MTV 90s angst aesthetic, but this track always felt so drat on the nose. Even at the time. I dunno.
  • Born to Kill - I've had a similar new love with this track that I'm now having with A Boy and His Machine Gun. As a teen, I'd skip this track more often than not to loop back around to Giant... it took too long to build up. But actually the way this track builds up is great. "It's more than the less you say you do/It's more than the shot that gets you through" is a good line for a solid chorus. Also the way it dramatically builds and builds at the end only to flatline at the end is an excellent tongue-in-cheek way to kill the track.
  • Running for Home - The quiet song of the album. It's a good track. Once again, as a teen, I'd skip it to get back to Giant, but when I let it play out, I recognized it was a real pretty song even than. Still good, but it hasn't really moved up or down in terms of how much I like it. When compared to the previous album's final quiet closing track, Underdog's was better. Change of Season was real drat good. Running for Home is just solid.

But drat. This is a really good loving album. Blasting it again has been gratifying.

***Sally Note: I always thought the line went: "when the world is screaming/I miss new wave/and real intense"... but as I double-check the lyrics for this post I am shocked to discover he is actually saying "real intent", so that's something new...

* # ? Mar 12, 2021 08:54
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Sally


Don't post Small Dash!
 this post also took a long tiem to get up because i just kept writing and writing about it and was trying not to gush too much in parts so i kept cutting stuff... ah well, it's out now. whew!

kaom posted:

Man, just found this thread and was excited to post... I have so many early B-side recordings (like the casettes), concert trivia, etc. Hadn’t heard about this until now. :(

also, if you want to post about a lot of the early cassette stuff, I would be super pumped. I actually know very little about it... aside from that it exists, that he once played as The Rodchester Kings and that there's a bootleg collection of it floating around called History Teacher. Aside from that, I never really listened to it. I grabbed a rip of the bootleg once years ago and bounced off it hard because I wanted something more like Beautiful Midnight or Audio of Being and never really have it another chance.

* # ? Mar 12, 2021 08:56
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Sally


Don't post Small Dash!
 catching up... my original love for Beautiful Midnight remains the same. some hills and valleys, but the highs are extremely high and the lows are actually pretty solid. describing it just by how much I'd like it, I'd give the album's tracks a review that goes like this:

Brilliant, Good, Brilliant, Really Good, Really Good, Really Good, Brilliant, Okay, Okay, Okay, Brilliant, Okay, Brilliant, Good.

And that's pretty darn good.

So a full four long exposure photos of cars driving out of for for Beautiful Midnight:
* # ? Mar 20, 2021 09:44
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# ? May 4, 2024 15:42
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Sally


Don't post Small Dash!

Despite Good being outed as being a bigger rear end in a top hat than we all previously thought, I am still pretty stoked to relisten to and talk about this album. As much as I loved Beautiful Midnight, I was a far bigger fan of Audio of Being. It was a far more formative album as far as musical tastes were, and in my opinion, it's the best thing the Matthew Good Band put out.

Wikipedia posted:

The Audio Of Being is the fourth and final album by the Canadian rock group Matthew Good Band, released in 2001. It included two singles: "Carmelina" and "Anti-Pop". The album sold 73,000 units in Canada by March 2003 and was certified Gold the same month.

Recording

Matthew Good has stated that the recording process for the album was a "nightmare".[6] He claims it started during the rehearsals of the songs for the album, due to the process being hampered with band members trying to inject ideas into the songs so they could make a case for publishing credits. In addition to that, Good was very ill during much of the recording sessions.

"Anti-Pop" was not originally recorded for the album. After the recording sessions were finished, the band's label requested that the band record another song that could be released as a single. In response, Good wrote "Anti-Pop", which the band then recorded and was later released as the second single from the album. Two songs that were recorded during the sessions were not included on the album. "All Together", which was featured on the original track listing of the album in July 2001,[7] was later removed from the album. "Pony Boy" was also excluded from the album, but was later included on Good's 2005 compilation album, In a Coma.

Good's Opinions

Good has claimed to not be thrilled with the end result of the album.[8] In a 2003 interview with Billboard, Good stated that the album was "so far away from what I had envisioned."[4] He later said on his blog that he felt there are some good songs on it (specifically noting "Sort of a Protest Song"). He rearranged songs from The Audio of Being for Rooms, the second disc of In a Coma.

Special Editions

Three different packages were released, in black, white and grey. Each included a special booklet with the CD case that had lyrics to all Matthew Good Band songs to date. The words "kept", "in the" or "dark" appeared on the spine of the jewel case depending on the colour, which would line up if all 3 were put together. "Help us get rid of the Matthew Good Band" appears on the hubs of the discs.

As you can guess from the Wiki blurb, this was not a fun album for the band and is indeed the project that ultimately broke them up. As much as Good was annoyed that other band members were trying to add their own suggestions (and having played in bands, I totally get the idea of a vision being hosed with), I think he's dead loving wrong for being so down on this album for much of his career. As much as freeing himself and going solo paid off (I think his first solo album is probably his best work), the album where the best of the band was more involved is also probably their best creative work. So I dunno.

Good was also going through some pretty wild manic phases by this point though. One interview I recall he talked about how he basically didn't eat or sleep during the process, he just smoked and drank coffee until it was done. Also the studio interference sounds annoying as hell, but art from adversity, right?

At least these are all my pre-established opinions going into it. I've listened to this album a metric gently caress ton so I don't suspect my opinions will change too much, but it's beena couple of years since I've listened to it, so I'm fully prepared to get nostalgic:


(as an aside, I own the grey album. It's the one that says "In The" on the spine.)

* # ? Mar 20, 2021 10:13
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