Desmond's Hip City

Last updated
Desmond's Hip City
Desmond's Hip City.jpg
Studio album by Skydiggers
Released 1997
Recorded Chemical Sound Toronto, Slack Studios Vancouver
Genre Roots rock
Label Hip City, DROG Records
Producer Josh Finlayson, Ron Macey, Andy Maize
Skydiggers chronology
Road Radio
(1995)
Desmond's Hip City
(1997)
Still Restless: The Lost Tapes
(1999)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]

Desmond's Hip City is a 1997 album by Skydiggers. The album differs from the band's conventional roots rock sound somewhat, with several songs (notably "Shape of Things to Come" and "November in Ontario") adopting more of a hard rock sound and the title track incorporating electronic keyboards and Sonic Youth-style guitar feedback.

Skydiggers

Skydiggers are a Canadian roots rock band from Toronto.

Roots rock is rock music that looks back to rock's origins in folk, blues and country music. It is particularly associated with the creation of hybrid subgenres from the later 1960s including country rock and Southern rock, which have been seen as responses to the perceived excesses of dominant psychedelic and developing progressive rock. Because roots music (Americana) is often used to mean folk and world musical forms, roots rock is sometimes used in a broad sense to describe any rock music that incorporates elements of this music. In the 1980s, roots rock enjoyed a revival in response to trends in punk rock, new wave and heavy metal music.

Hard rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music that began in the mid-1960s, with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. It is typified by a heavy use of aggressive vocals, distorted electric guitars, bass guitar, drums, and often accompanied with keyboards.

Desmond's Hip City refers to a record shop in Brixton, England; band member Josh Finlayson had lived above the store for a time in the early 1980s. [2] Desmond's Hip City was the first Black record shop [3] in Brixton, south of London, England. Photographs of the storefront show it named Desmond's Hip City in the early 1970s. A later view of the storefront can be seen in the 1983 Haysi Fantayzee video, [4] "Sister Friction", where it is called Desmond Hip City.

Brixton district in the London Borough of Lambeth in South London

Brixton is a district of South London, England, within the London Borough of Lambeth. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.

Haysi Fantayzee was a British pop band of the early 1980s. Songs include "John Wayne Is Big Leggy", released in 1982 and "Shiny Shiny", released in 1983.

Guest musicians on the album include Sarah Harmer, Lewis Melville, Jim Cuddy and Anne Bourne.

Sarah Harmer musician, activist

Sarah Harmer is a Canadian singer, songwriter and activist.

Jim Cuddy canadian singer-songwriter

James Gordon Cuddy, is a Canadian singer-songwriter primarily associated with the band Blue Rodeo.

Track listing

All tracks written by Finlayson/Maize unless otherwise noted.

  1. "Desmond's Hip City" – 3:51
  2. "Only a Fool" – 3:09
  3. "Jade Hops" – 3:57
  4. "Truth About Us" – 5:17 (Garbe)
  5. "Shape of Things to Come" – 3:30
  6. "November in Ontario" – 5:08
  7. "Dear Henry" – 4:04
  8. "This New Country" – 3:30
  9. "The Gift" – 4:15
  10. "2,000 Years" – 3:43

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References

  1. Badgley, Aaron. "Allmusic review". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  2. Michael Barclay, Ian A.D. Jack and Jason Schneider, Have Not Been the Same: The Can-Rock Renaissance 1985-1995 . ECW Press. ISBN   978-1-55022-992-9.
  3. "Photograph 17". BCA. 1973. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
  4. "Sister Friction video". Youtube.com. Retrieved 2012-06-23.