Now I remember why I try to get show reviews done as soon as possible – my memory’s not what it used to be. I remember Sunday night, I was at the Phoenix. There were some bands. They played. People applauded. Some danced in place.

More specifically. First up was Baltimoran Benjy Ferree (not to be confused with Baltimora), whose Leaving The Nest I gave thoughts on a little while back – generally positive, but not much of an impression left. His live show did better, starting off in an orchestral-folk vibe but rapidly ramping up to a rollicking rock crescendo in the span of barely 25 minutes.

The Delgados always had a loyal following in Toronto so it’s a bit unfortunate that Emma Pollock would make her solo debut opening up for another act rather than in front of her own audience. But on the strength of the songs from Watch The Fireworks, I’d like to think she made more than a few new fans. As I mentioned after seeing her at SxSW, it was good to see that she hadn’t gone the folky, singer-songwriter route in going it alone. She’s still very much writing rock songs though they did lack much of the quirks and idiosyncrasies that made Delgados records so unique. With a few exceptions, set closer “The Optimist” in particular, her new stuff is considerably more straightforward and while it’s all quite enjoyable – she hasn’t lost her distinct melodic sensibilities – it does make me miss The Delgados even more.

Though they’d already played Toronto twice this year, this was The New Pornographers’ first visit since the release of their latest album Challengers and the first to feature the full band, including Neko Case and Dan Bejar. Now having seen the Pornos both with and without these two, it goes without saying that they bring a lot to the band. Though perfectly capable with the core six members, Dan’s songs only really sound right with Dan singing them and as good as Kathryn Calder has been, there’s only one Neko.

Even with the whole gang along for the ride, the New Pornographers have never been what you’d call an outstanding live act – their strength is their amazing songs, not their showmanship and this performance was no exception. The band seemed curiously detached for the first half hour or so and certainly far less excited about being there than the audience. Even Case, normally so gregarious on her own, was unusually demure. At one point, while Bejar was trying to get a guitar strapped on, there was an extended silence that not one of the seven other members onstage saw fit to try and fill, opting instead to stand there and avoid making eye contact with 1000 people. Very odd. It was as if they hoped that the big flashing “New Pornographers” marquee backdropping the stage would compensate.

But to be fair, the band was there to play, not chat, and eventually they did warm things up both in terms of stage presence and song selection in back-loading the set with the older, peppier material. And as much fun as it is to hear “Electric Version” and “Sing Me Spanish Techno”, as well as see a progressively drunker Dan Bejar stagger up to the mic for his numbers, the highlight for me was one of the slower numbers from Challengers. The harmonies between Carl Newman, Case and Calder on “Adventures In Solitude” were stunning but even more impressive was Calder’s solo performance on the bridges. Since she joined the band she’s been regarded largely as a Neko pinch-hitter but seeing her step up the mic and, for my money, provide the most memorable moment of the show. What I said earlier about there only being one Neko? Still true, but Calder’s proven that she’s not standing in her shadow anymore.

The show finished relatively strongly with “Letter From An Occupant” closing out the second encore, though it wasn’t quite enough to overcome the lethargic start and it evened out to a decent though not great show. Points, however, to whomever decided to bring up the house lights to the sounds of Olivia Newton-John’s “Xanadu”. I never get tired of hearing that. Seriously. The Pornos already have the big flashing sign, maybe next time they should bring roller skates.

eye, JAM and Chart also have reviews of the show while JAM, The Ottawa Citizen and Tonawonda News have conversations with Carl Newman. The Montreal Gazette and On Milwaukee have features on Emma Pollock.

Photos: The New Pornographers, Emma Pollock, Benjy Ferree @ The Phoenix – October 21, 2007
MP3: The New Pornographers – “My Rights Versus Yours”
MP3: The New Pornographers – “Myriad Harbour”
MP3: Emma Pollock – “Adrenaline”
MP3: Emma Pollock – “Limbs”
MP3: Benjy Ferree – “In The Countryside”
Video: The New Pornographers – “Challengers” (YouTube)
Video: Emma Pollock – “Adrenaline” (YouTube)
Video: Emma Pollock – “Acid Test” (YouTube)
Video: Benjy Ferree – “In The Countryside”
MySpace: The New Pornographers
MySpace: Emma Pollock
MySpace: Benjy Ferree

Soundscapes, Canada.com and Beat Route have interviews with The Besnard Lakes, whose debut Volume 1 was re-released in the US recently (yesterday?). The MP3 is not from that album. The video is.

MP3: The Besnard Lakes – “For Agent 13”
Video: The Besnard Lakes – “The Spy Turned Musician” (MySpace)

Wireless Bollinger and UberDrivel interview Stars, whose three-night stand at the Phoenix from November 26 to 28 was just expanded to four with the addition of a show on the 29th, on sale tomorrow. Miracle Fortress is slated to open on the show on the 27th and I Heart Music has got their recent Halifax Pop Explosion performance MP3-ified for your enjoyment, via the CBC Radio 3 recording.

USA Today introduces its readers to Feist.

Rolf Klausener recounts the story of The Acorn to Beat Route. They’ll be at the Horseshoe on November 24.

The Good brothers talk to Harp about the process of making The Sadies’ latest album New Seasons. They also talk to Vue Weekly, The Tandem and The San Francisco Bay Guardian about the record. They’ve got a mini Toronto club crawl scheduled for the first weekend of November, playing Lee’s Palace on the 2nd and the Horseshoe on the 3rd.

Filter gets to know Tokyo Police Club.

Eulogies are a three piece from Los Angeles. Eulogies have just released their debut album, also called Eulogies. Some of the album kind of plods but there are some gems on there, including the leadoff track “One Man”. Worth digging through the chaff for the wheat, as they say. Eulogies are coming to town on Monday, October 29 with Film School and Land Of Talk and courtesy of Filter, I’ve got a pair of passes to the show and a copy of the CD to give away.

To enter, leave me a comment saying who you’d want to deliver your eulogy at your wake/funeral/execution. Include your correct email – spam-proofed if you wish – and have it in before midnight, October 24 (Wednesday night). Obviously I can’t make whomever you pick actually deliver your eulogy whenever your time comes but it’s good to think about these things in advance. And for the record, I pick Morgan Freeman. Cliche, sure, but you can’t deny it’d be classy.

MP3: Eulogies – “One Man”
MySpace: Eulogies

I have to thank the NME for helping me cover for my inability to get my New Pornographers review up today, as I’d originally intended but simply didn’t have the time to finish (or start). Because as it turns out, the “big Verve news” that they’ve been touting over the past week actually is newsworthy, as opposed to this non-item about a Smiths reunion (“Exclusive! Still Not Happening!”).

What they unveiled yesterday morning is “The Thaw Session” is a 14-minute excerpt from their first recording session and – shockingly – it sounds pretty damn good. As you’d expect from a 14-minute excerpt, it’s long, jammy and more than a little meandering but it sounds like The Verve – not solo Ashcroft – and even more than that, it sounds like early Verve. Obviously if this unnamed track makes it to a finished song it’ll be somewhat more concise, but there’s no denying there’s still some of the old chemistry present and any misgivings about the fruits of the reunion are, if not put to rest, somewhat allayed. Reports back from their first reunion gig at the start of November are now eagerly awaited.

Also announced last week was the news that Swervedriver were going to be coming out of mothballs next year for a world tour. The timing of this announcement was interesting as Adam Franklin is in the midst of a North American tour (stopping at the Drake Underground on Thursday) and while this certainly raises interest in what he’s doing, it kind of takes the steam out of any interest in his new solo record Bolts Of Melody. But for those who’ve been waiting a decade to see the Swervies live again – your last train to satansville has come in.

And I just want to say that as the reunions keep piling up, the fact that Ride isn’t getting back together just seems more conspicuous every day. They’d still have it if they did – check out the footage from their one-off reunion jam from a few years back. Electric.

MP3: Ride – “Coming Up For Air (Pt 7 of 8)”
Video: Ride – “Coming Up For Air” (RealVideo)

Magnet has an interview with Richard Hawley – North American tour dates are trickling out and tickets for the December 5 show at the Horseshoe are available now.

Le Blogotheque has got a Takeaway Show with Malajbue, though if you want the proper experience you should read it en Francais. Malajube are at Lee’s Palace on November 3.

…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead return to town for a show at Lee’s Palace on November 20, tickets $20 on sale Thursday. Full dates at BrooklynVegan.

The Seattle Post Intelligencier, The Stranger and BeatRoute converse with Owen Pallett of Final Fantasy.

Wilco press clippings – Jeff Tweedy talks to the Pittsbugh Post-Gazette and John Stirratt to The Daily Progress.

The Lexington Herald-Leader talks to Jason Isbell about leaving the Drive-By Truckers, Patterson Hood doesn’t talk to the The Daily Iowan about Jason Isbell leaving.

Spoon speaks – Jim Eno to The Student Operated Press, Britt Daniel to The New York Daily News.

Drowned In Sound interviews Land Of Talk, who released their expanded Applause Cheer Boo Hiss in the UK yesterday. Maybe they’ll have some copies for sale here when they play the El Mocambo on Monday night.

“The success of Harvest and “Heart Of Gold” had put me right in the middle of the road. So I decided to head for the ditch. It was a rough ride but I met more interesting people there.” – Neil Young

Possibly Neil Young’s most famous quote (and he’s a quotable guy), it was originally uttered in the context of explaining why he followed up his most commercially successful works in the mid-70s with some of his most difficult (though arguably his best), the so-called “Ditch Trilogy” – Time Fades Away, Tonight’s The Night and On The Beach. But it’s also applicable to his entire storied career – winding, meandering, doubling back and stumbling forward for over 40 years now.

So when it comes to assessing his latest album Chrome Dreams II, out tomorrow, I think it’s best appreciated in the broader context of where it comes in his career. Because taken strictly on its own merits, it’s a slightly above-average Neil record – maybe his best since 1994’s Sleeps With Angels – but there’s nothing that would stand up against his best material. Reminiscent of, perhaps, but not even close to equaling let alone surpassing. But considered relative to where Neil’s mindset might be at this stage in his life, it’s a much more revealing and, for all its flaws, appropriate release.

Unlike much of his classic rock brethren, Neil has always indulged his creative muse wherever it takes him, regardless of who it alienates or confounds. In some ways, his “ditch” years have never ended. And though he’s steadfastly resisted for a long time, that muse has recently led him to look back on his career and celebrate all that he’s done. The long-delayed Archives series is finally coming to light (though when I picked up the Live At Massey Hall 1971 CD this weekend, I had to laugh at the “coming Fall 2007!” flyer in the slipcase for the first volume), last year’s Heart Of Gold concert film may as well have been shot in sepia it was so steeped in nostalgia and Chrome Dreams II, though ostensibly new material, is also planted firmly in the past.

Firstly, it’s named as the sequel to an album that was never released, Chrome Dreams, but on which some of his most classic songs were originally slated to appear. Further, the first three songs date back decades in his repertoire and in the case of “Ordinary People”, even uses a 19-year old recording. And while the rest of the record is all newer material, you don’t have to look too hard to find musical or thematic analogues in his back catalog. File “Dirty Old Man” alongside “Piece Of Crap” and “Sedan Delivery”, you’d have to double-check the credits on “Spirit Road” to confirm that it’s not Crazy Horse backing the man and album closer “The Way” features a children’s choir – a recurring device in his last few records. And of course, there’s the two epic-length numbers in the aforementioned “Ordinary People” and “No Hidden Path” – not quite as ragged or glorious as some of his ’70s marathons, but still vintage Neil.

It’s like a stylistic best-of, only consisting of new songs. So for long-time Neil fans, Chrome Dreams II is instantly familiar and welcoming, yet still sufficiently challenging and possessed of his iconoclastic spirit to prove he’s not getting soft. Neil may not be leading us through the ditch on his ongoing journey through the past, but makes sure to remind he still knows where it is and that a hard, sudden detour is never out of the question.

To mark the release of Chrome Dreams II, An Aquarium Drunkard has gone digging through his own archives and posted the bootleg version of Chrome Dreams which has circulated amongst collectors for decades now – almost every song has been released in some form but to hear them in the context of that record and in the simpler, more embryonic versions that were slated for that release makes for fascinating listening. He’s also got a set of what he’s calling Chrome Dreams companion tracks, more Neil rarities from around 1976/ Seattle Weekly also contemplates Chrome Dreams II relative to Neil’s output for the past decade or so and Metacritic has collected all the major reviews online so far.

Neil kicked off his Fall tour in support of Chrome Dreams II last week and judging from the set list from the opening show in Boise, this theatre tour – including the three shows at Massey Hall – especially the three shows at Massey Hall – at the end of November – is going to be something very special indeed. Just don’t call it a victory lap within earshot of Neil, or he’s likely to opt to play Re-Ac-Tor in its entirety, just to spite.

MP3: Neil Young – “Ordinary People”
Video: Neil Young – “Dirty Old Man” (YouTube)
Video: Neil Young – “The Believer” (YouTube)
Video: Neil Young – “The Way” (YouTube)
Video: Neil Young – “Spirit Road” (YouTube)
MySpace: Neil Young

The Nova Scotia Chronicle-Herald talks to the author of the just-released The Top 100 Canadian Albums about reactions to his book. I’ve only seen part of the results but it’s predictably Neil-heavy – three of the top 20 including #1 – but I can think of at least seven of his albums that can and should be in there. And that’s me speaking impartially.

And tangentially to the 100 greatest list, The National Post attempted to compile a list of the top 10 overlooked Canadian albums of all time, but instead mixed that up with the author’s “top 10 albums I listened to a lot in the 90s and man, weren’t they great?” list. Moxy Fruvous? No.