from queen street w/ love

I'm just on my way out the door to buy blank CDs for the Irie! Irie! crowd and then settle into the lounge at the Sylvia Hotel for an afternoon devoted entirely to reading Lynn Coady's much-heralded novel, Saints of Big Harbour (I'm stoked).

Occasionally I will pause to survey soggy English Bay on this rosy and grey day. And of course, I'll nurse a few pints of Guinness along the way. Click on the link below and download the sentimental scene/score rolling in my head... ; - )

Woxo

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Rosy and Grey
The Lowest of the Low
Shakespeare My Butt (1993)

I want to take a streetcar downtown
Read Henry Miller and wander around
And drink some Guinness from a tin
'Cause my U.I. cheque has just come in
Ah, where you been... because

Everything is coming up rosy and grey
Ah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow warms me today
And your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away, 'cause
Everything is rosy and grey

You've been under my skin for more than eight years
It's been eight years of laughter and eight years of tears
And I don't know what the future can hold, or will do, for me and you
But I'm a much better man for having known you
Yeah, you know that's true, because...

Well, I've been told that there's a sucker born every day
Well, I wonder who, yeah, I wonder who
Maybe the one who doesn't realize there's a thousand shades of grey
'Cause I know that's true, yes I do, I know that's true
How about you?

Well, they're picking up trash and they're putting down roads
And they're brokering stocks, the class-struggle explodes
And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can
Well, maybe I'm not and maybe I am
Who gives a damn?

Well, I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain
And I've kissed you in places I'd better not name
And I've seen the sun go down on Sacre Coeur
But I like it much better going down on you
Ah, you know that's true

--

Shakespeare My Butt
The Lowest of the Low
Release Date: 1993

Produced and Engineered by Andy Koyama

Musicians

David Alexander - Drums
John Arnott - Bass
Stephen Stanley - Guitar, Vocals
Ron Hawkins - Guitar, Vocals

Guest Musicians

Jonathan Bojarzin - Mandolin
Dug Claxton - Accordian
Rachel Gorman - Bodhran
Lawrence Nichols - Harmonica

All songs written by Ron Hawkins except 'Bloodline' (Stephen Stanley). Recorded at Metalworks and Filmhouse studios (fall 1991). Mixed at Filmhouse (fall '91) in TORONTO, BABY!

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LOTL strike again with 'Sordid Fiction'

Vue Weekly
by Lisa Gregoire
2004-10-27

Album: Sordid Fiction
Artist: The Lowest of the Low
Label: Maple Music (2004)

The first marauding power chords of Sordid Fiction’s opener "Concave" seem designed to bury the band’s mournful implosion in the early ’90s and let fans know they haven’t gone soft.

Lowest of the Low became indie rock heroes 10 years ago, after releasing back-to-back cult classics Shakespeare My Butt and Hallucigenia to a rabid college fanbase weaned on the Clash and R.E.M.

Their bitter breakup in 1994 only boosted their cachet and led to a successful reunion tour and live CD in 2002. Now, Ron Hawkins has put aside a heralded solo career with the Rusty Nails to rejoin fellow frontman Stephen Stanley, drummer David Alexander and newcomers Lawrence Nichols and Dylan Parker to release Sordid Fiction, a 12-song manifesto lovingly rendered by Toronto producer Ian Blurton (Change of Heart, C'mon).

Cage-rattlers like "The Last Recidivist" and "...And Then the Riot" conjure up the old LOTL restlessness, but the real juice and poetry mix in songs like "Everywhere and Nowhere," "Winter Sleepers" and "A Casual Overdose," a coming-of-age journey told in three chapters that’s one of the disc’s strongest tracks.

Unabashed self-reflection, social criticism, infectious pop melodies and all the smart songwriting we’ve come to expect. I’ll admit I was dubious, but I’m sold again.

Rating: SSSS