Avril Lavigne to Release First Ever Greatest Hits Album
Dee Lippingwell – Award-winning Photographer succumbs to Cancer
Jim Cuddy Announces New Solo Album and Coast to Coast Canadian Tour
Shawn Desman Announces Headlining Show at Toronto’s HISTORY

Klaatu – Calling Occupants!

Keith Sharp
Klaatu – Calling Occupants!
As the first issue of Alberta Music Express was about to roll off the presses in October 1976, an album arrived on my desk, displaying a garish Sun face. The album entitled “3:47 E.S.T” was released by a band called Klaatu. A furtive search of the album cover and LP credits revealed nothing about the band. No group photo, no... Read More

Four Dudes & A Lady

Roman Mitz
Four Dudes & A Lady
So who is the good looking singer firing up her sparklers in the country music video for ‘A Little More Work’? That would be Kira Isabella, the bubbly brunette who is presently burning up the country charts with the single from her recently released debut album ‘Love Me Like That’. Isabella has a decade of experience under her belt performing... Read More

Delving Into Blue Rodeo’s Treasure Trove

Music Express
Delving Into Blue Rodeo’s Treasure Trove
It seems like Blue Rodeo have been around forever, doesn’t it? In fact, 2012 marks the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Toronto roots rockers to Warner Music Canada. This record deal and the subsequent release of their debut album, Outskirts (also in 1987), marked the band’s transition from favourites of T.O.’s Queen Street West scene to national stardom.... Read More

Billy Talent – Dead Silence

Keith Sharp
Billy Talent – Dead Silence
(Warner Music) Yes, it’s finally here, after months of speculation, and the album actually boasts a title, other than Billy Talent ! Guitarist Ian D’Sa takes control of production and maintains the band’s punk rock drive while building on the band’s melodic lyrical flair. Yes you can call them Green Day lite, yet Billy Talent’s unpretentious rawness and powerful live... Read More

Helix – Best Of 1983-2012

Keith Sharp
Helix – Best Of 1983-2012
(Helix Records) Kitchener Ontario’s Helix is a band with a split personality. Live they are one of this country’s most dynamic on-stage performers with a heavy metal persona that rivals any major international live act. Yet on the radio; its soft rock, pop tracks like ` Gimme, Gimme Good Lovin’ and their A Foot In Cold Water’s `Make Me Do’... Read More

Ankle deep in cow manure!

Keith Sharp
Ankle deep in cow manure!
Truth is the launch of Alberta Music Express (as it was originally titled) was purely an act of revenge against my then employers, The Calgary Herald. Rolling into the summer of 1976, starting a music magazine was the last thought on my mind. Having joined the Herald’s sports department in March 1972, straight from Cambrian College, North Bay (now called... Read More

Triumph – Live At Sweden Rock Festival

Keith Sharp
Triumph – Live At Sweden Rock Festival
(Universal) When Toronto’s Triumph were inducted into Canada’s Music Hall Of Fame in 2008, it was assumed they were back together and they would return to the stage…and they did….in Sweden! Yes Triumph’s much anticipated comeback lasted just two shows; one in Sweden and one at a Oklahoma Music Festival. Fortunately the Swedish show was captured on DVD and has... Read More

Never Say Never As – Triumph Rocks Sweden

Keith Sharp
Never Say Never As – Triumph Rocks Sweden
Triumph bassist Mike Levine remembers getting the phone call. His band had just been inducted into Canada’s music hall of fame in April 2008, they were gearing up to play some summer dates when the call came through from their L.A agent that a promoter in Solvesborg, Sweden wanted them for his Sweden Rock Festival. “Did we want to go…no,”... Read More

Platinum Blonde – Now & Never

Music Express
Platinum Blonde – Now & Never
(Fontana North) Toss away any preconceptions of Platinum Blonde being another rehashed classic rock band. Fueled by the inclusion of two new members; bassist Rob Laidlaw and drummer Daniel Todd, vocalist Mark Holmes and guitarist Sergio Galli score with 10 tracks that bristle with a vibrancy that demand attention. Credit producer Murray Daigle with shaping the band’s dance/rock awareness in... Read More

The Tragically Hip – Now For Plan A

Keith Sharp
The Tragically Hip – Now For Plan A
(Universal) He’s done it again! Gord Downie will have pundits scrambling through their McNally Maps to figure out where the hell is Attawapiskat as in “Goodnight Attawapiskat”( of course it’s that Indian reserve that’s been crying for mobile housing). A trademark brainteaser in an album that reflects all the band’s positive virtues, stinging guitars swirling around Gord Downie’s poetic phraseology.... Read More

Steve DeMarchi and Freddy Curci

Keith Sharp
Steve DeMarchi and Freddy Curci
Steve DeMarchi was at home one day recently when he received a phone call from an Indonesian radio station. A deejay there informed him a track, `More Than Words Can Say” by his former band, Alias was top of the Indonesian charts and could he comment on the song’s success. “I had to tell him that song was originally recorded... Read More

Jim Foster – A Sailor’s Advice

Keith Sharp
Jim Foster – A Sailor’s Advice
(Qwest) Record seven songs with no headphones into your iPhone, run them through a Mac computer, add some stereo echo and the result is Jim Foster’s A Sailor’s Advice, as he notes, kinda like Sun Records gone digital. This amazingly efficient and cost effective recording method has produced an excellent set of acoustic guitar solos and plaintive folky lyrics, all... Read More

Cindy Church – Sad Songs Make Me Happy

Keith Sharp
Cindy Church – Sad Songs Make Me Happy
(Outside Music) As Church herself acknowledges in the album linear notes, the inspiration for this release was prompted by an acoustic session around her kitchen table when the rendition of a country tune prompted Cindy to confess that “sad songs make her happy” This prompted a very informal recording session which almost sounds like a home taping, Church’s plaintive vocals... Read More