Sunday, December 12th, 2010
"Eye Of The Tiger"
The Rural Alberta Advantage cover Survivor
Saddle CreekFor the longest time, despite actually being alive and conscious when it was a hit, I thought that this Rocky theme song was not by Survivor but Frank Stallone, brother to Sylvester. But in fact the song I was thinking of was “Far From Over” and was the theme song to the John Travolta vehicle Staying Alive – but you can see how I got confused – beyond the nepotism angle, both are indelibly ’80s and inspirationally anthemic. It’s just that one was inspiring underdog Tony Manero to follow his dreams and dance, while the other was inspiring underdog Rocky Balboa to follow his dreams and hit people.
Maybe both songs prompted Nils Edenloff to follow his dreams and move from his native rural Alberta to Toronto and form The Rural Alberta Advantage, and his decision to cover the Survivor tune as a b-side to the “Drain The Blood” 7″ was his way of paying tribute to that inspiration. And maybe I can request a take on that Stallone song as a b-side to one of the singles from their forthcoming second album Departing.
The Rural Alberta Advantage play a sold-out hometown show at Lee’s Palace this Thursday and Departing will be released on March 1 of next year. Neither Survivor nor Frank Stallone have done anything of note in nigh on twenty-five years but continue, I would think, to live comfortably on the royalties from the aforementioned songs and films.
MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Eye Of The Tiger”
Video: Survivor – “Eye Of The Tiger”
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