Three Three Three Part… II
Listening to: Three by Joel Plaskett (obviously!), but mostly to Through & Through & Through on repeat.
The first time I heard Joel Plaskett’s music I was in Grade 10. My super-cool record executive aunt had brought me a new CD to listen to, called Truthfull Truthfully. I didn’t really think much of it - she was always giving me CDs - but popped it into my CD player anyway. I liked the riffs and I liked the band’s sound, so I went out to HMV and picked up two of JP’s other records - Down At The Khyber and In Need of Medical Attention. For the longest time, I loved DATK and absolutely hated INOMA. I’ve since come around to INOMA and seen the errors of my ways.
Because of the aforementioned record executive aunt, I’ve had the opportunity to go to a number of JP/JPE shows (four? maybe 5? I lost count a long time ago), but one stands out in my mind in particular. It was just after the release of La De Da, and Joel was playing a solo show at Hugh’s Room in Toronto (lies: Pete Elkas opened for him and played electric on a few songs). He played Light of the Moon as an encore, just him and his acoustic guitar. It was haunting - I’ll never forget it.
Anyway, enough about me - onto the music!
Three feels a lot more personal than JP’s last solo album, La De Da. It seems much more Nova Scotian, less produced, and a lot more… raw? I don’t know. There’s a lot of nostalgia here, but it never becomes maudlin.There’s nothing on Three that breaks my heart like Before You Leave, but that’s OK. Not much will, to tell you the truth - which is probably more a function of what the music has grown to mean to me than it is of anything inherent to the music itself. The album’s a little folksier than JP’s earlier solo offerings, but you still get that signature cheekiness, movement, and killer guitar work. And, man, Joel: keep it up with those harmonies! More more more! They’re awesome and add a whole new dimension to the music. I love ‘em.
The moral of the story is: go out and buy Three. Or don’t go out, and just buy it online. It’s only $20.00 - which, when you consider that it’s a triple-album with 27 songs in total, and that it’s Joel Plaskett and they’re all awesome -is a pretty good deal.
Time to go work on my philosophy of science essay.
April 4th, 2009 at 20:28
I can’t wait to read your blog on May 24th, after Joel Plaskett has changed our lives with his Massey Hall performance.