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Max Webster?


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Posted

Just wondering how many of you guys have heard them? They were Canada's "other RUSH" back in the 70s-80's. Killer stuff and very progressive but I know they never made a name much outside of Canada (they were VERY large here). One of my all-time favs.

 

I apologize. Not really theory I know but just curious.

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Posted

 

Hey Jeremy!..I remember "Paradise Skies" being a hit here..top 40..they actually were on "Top of the Pops" on TV here IIRC...

 

 

Did you ever hear more of their catalogue Mo? Were any of your buddies into it?

 

I always heard people say "These guys never went anywhere outside of Canada" so I am just curious. With Kim Mitchell's awesome chops I'd be surprised if the guitar community didnt get onto it more.

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Posted

Did you ever hear more of their catalogue Mo? Were any of your buddies into it?


I always heard people say "These guys never went anywhere outside of Canada" so I am just curious. With Kim Mitchell's awesome chops I'd be surprised if the guitar community didnt get onto it more.

 

No, I didn't hear much more. They were quite highly rated by some of the press here at the time.."Sounds" magazine, which was a rival to "NME" and "Melody Maker" for a short while, championed them. But, I don't recall anyone I knew that was into them.

 

Of all the Canadian hard rock bands, apart from Rush, the only ones I recall getting much (read:ANY) attention over here were April Wine (they played the first Monsters of Rock festival with Rainbow, Judas Priest and Scorpions). Triumph were known by my musician friends pretty well, though not the general public/media..Rik Emmett is a damn fine player!..and for a while Aldo Nova was played on rock radio (of which there was 2 hours a week :freak:)...later on, VoiVod were probably the best known, killer band.

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Posted

I only knew of Max Webster from their association with Rush.

 

They didn't get much airplay in St. Louis outside of the rare play of "Battle Scar" and then later with "Go for a Soda" which received a bit more play.

 

I bought their "Best of" CD years ago and never listen to it.

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Posted

I remember in an old Guitar Player for the Practicing Musician from the 80s, Paul Gilbert named Kim MItchell the "greatest guitarist in the world that you have never heard of".

I enjoyed "Hangover", "Batlle Scars" and a few others

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Posted

I remember them Jeremy!

 

I think I saw them in concert with Rush in the late 70's . Seen Rush maybe 3-4 times back then and into the early 80's.

 

Would that be about right? I remember Max Webster but maybe I'm confused about when I saw them.

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Posted

Watch this!

[YOUTUBE]a3RJnmTwjck[/YOUTUBE]

 

[YOUTUBE]38o6t0m1yiE[/YOUTUBE]

 

I saw them several times as a teenager in the 1970's. Great band and Kim Mitchell was/is a great guitarist and performer. :thu:

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Posted

Yeah that sounds right Virg.

Floortom - Paul Gilbert is right! Kim is really great

Mo - Triumph's Rik Emmett is somewhat of a guitar institution up here. Their catalogue is great too ... a little more cheesy near the end but he is a monster player

 

Honestly, if you guys like prog at all you should check out their stuff (eyes on Mo). "Mutiny Up My Sleeve" is one of my favourite all time albums and FULL of huge playing. Their stuff is still in pretty regular rotation up here. Kim Mitchell was a HUGE Frank Zappa fan so their stuff is infused with all this witty comedy stuff (songs like Toronto Tontos). Beyond the moon is sick - check it out.

 

 

 

Deep stuff, feel/time changes, lots of synced line between keys and guitar.

 

I am always amazed by how many great acts never make it much out of Canada. The Tragically Hip comes to mind. In Canada you play one of their songs and EVERYBODY knows it and sings along.

 

Weird how regional things get.

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Posted

i`d never heard of max webster he has a great voice as well ,as regards canadian rockers wasn`t pat travers from canada pat thrall played with him for a bit i think,and someone else i used to love for his playing was frank marino not so much his songwriting, we went to see frank play a couple of years back he played for about three hours, he then came out into the club when he`d finished to chat and so on, nice guy.

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Posted

They were the de-facto warm up band for Rush in the 70's. Saw them twice with Rush in the 70's. Never heard any thing I didn't like.....I even remember thinking I need to get one of their records, just never did.

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Posted

 

They were the de-facto warm up band for Rush in the 70's. Saw them twice with Rush in the 70's. Never heard any thing I didn't like.....I even remember thinking I need to get one of their records, just never did.

 

 

Yes they and Rush were quite close as friends seeing as how they essentially played the same circuit. Which aint too large especially back then.

 

The story goes: least up here anyway.

 

At that time Rush was signed by Anthem, shortly after they signed Max. All was initially fine but before too long Anthem started having financial difficulties. So they really only had enough cash to promote one of them. So they threw their support behind Rush. Max was buried a bit without much support. They soon became frustrated and eventually split.

 

Now I dont know how much of this is accurate ... but that was a "reason" I was given by a record industry guy. There are likely many bands like this worldwide. It's always a shame.

 

What about you guys? Got any bands I may have never heard of that I should have give their talent? Let's turn this into a obscure band every guitarist should hear thread!

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Posted

Well, about a year ago I heard the best album I'd heard in a long while...it was made in 1972..:o...by a band called Mellow Candle..the album is called "Swaddling Songs"..and here's one of my favourites..it's pretty much in the progressive folk/rock kind of genre I suppose. It's the only album they made too. :(...one of the singers went on to do some work with Fripp I believe..

 

[YOUTUBE]-6Qw-J00Dek[/YOUTUBE]

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Posted

Oh..guitar wise I LOVE Be-Bop Deluxe..maybe not that obscure..but Bill Nelson..what a talented guy!...the short solo at the end of this is perfect.

 

[YOUTUBE]FzZUyTpmy3g[/YOUTUBE]

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Posted

Couldn't find let it ride but here is one we used to cover

 

[YOUTUBE]v/HWlgnqCHBWw?fs=1&hl=en_US"[/YOUTUBE]

 

Another good one

 

[YOUTUBE]v/4ogm0CFqpbA?fs=1&hl=en_US"[/YOUTUBE]

 

This one grew on me big. Cool feel and melody.

 

[YOUTUBE]v/hATnyUhHu7A?fs=1&hl=en_US"[/YOUTUBE]

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Posted

I really liked Max Webster. Much prefer them to Kim Mitchell's solo stuff. I only saw them once opening for Rush for the Farewell to Kings tour. I think they had just released Mutiny Up My Sleeve. I recently picked up High Class in Borrowed Shoes on vinyl. Excellent albums.

 

I've seen Kim Mitchell 3 times. The last was 2008 opening for Peter Frampton. Excellent double bill.

 

As for Big Sugar. Love them. Only saw them once but I have seen Grady 3 times and I'll be seeing them again Nov. 4.

 

P1000396.jpg

 

 

I think Gordie Johnson is a very underated guitarist.

 

Cheers

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Posted

I managed to see Kim Mitchell once. Right after Go for a Soda was hitting the radio and he was getting some attention in the US. Think he opened up for Bryan Adams if I remember right (which makes sense since they're both Canadian). Really wish I'd have known more about him back then (mid 80's) as I'm sure I would have paid more attention.

 

What I think is kind of cool is that on his latest album he just hooked up with some nobody on his web forum and told the guy that based on his posts he would probably be pretty good at writing lyrics. The guy ended up meeting with Kim and helped write about 90% of the album.

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