''Music Inspired by the Group of Seven'' is a 1995 album by
Rheostatics
Rheostatics are a Canadian indie rock band. They were formed in 1978, and actively performed from 1980 until disbanding in 2007. After a number of reunion performances at special events, Rheostatics reformed in late 2016, introducing new songs a ...
.
The album was commissioned by the
National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...
to accompany its
Group of Seven
The Group of Seven (G7) is an intergovernmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union (EU) is a "non-enumerated member". It is official ...
retrospective show. The album has twelve pieces, most of which are instrumental music. However, snippets of recorded dialogue from the Group of Seven artists, and other contemporaneous figures such as
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was the l ...
,
Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A Li ...
and
John Diefenbaker
John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electio ...
, are mixed in.
None of the twelve pieces are titled on the album cover. However, track 7 is a reworking of "Northern Wish", from the band's 1991 album '' Melville'', and a Rheostatics fansite has compiled a set of unofficial titles for the other tracks which is commonly accepted by the band's fans. Many of these alternate titles were taken from the band's actual set lists, when available.
It is also the band's first album to feature
Don Kerr
Don Kerr is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is the drummer, lead singer and front man of Toronto band, Communism. He plays in Ron Sexsmith's band,Dave Clark on drums. Kerr also interviewed artist Winchell Price, a landscape painter, whose comments on the link between music and visual art open the album as the introduction to the first track."Beloved Canadian band Rheostatics to reunite at Art Gallery of Ontario" ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'', 3 September 2015.
Track listing
All tracks credited to Rheostatics and
Kevin Hearn
Kevin Neil Hearn (born July 3, 1969) is a Canadian musician who is a member of Barenaked Ladies, and his own group, Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle. He primarily plays keyboards and guitars. He is also a member of Rheostatics.
Early life
Hearn was ...
. None of the songs are officially titled; the names given below are unofficial titles from the website "Rusty Spell Dot Com".
#"Kevin's Waltz" – 1:45
#"Earth (Almost)" – 7:36
#"Boxcar Song (Weiners and Beans)" – 6:35
#"Landscape and Sky" – 0:40
#"Blue Hysteria" – 3:29
#"Cello for a Winter's Day" – 6:24
#"Northern Wish" – 4:04
#"Snow" – 1:12
#"Biplanes and Bombs" – 5:09
#"Lightning" – 5:40
#"Yellow Days Under a Lemon Sun (Kevin's Waltz Reprise)" – 4:05
#"Bye, Bye" – 0:55
Personnel
*
Dave Bidini
Dave Bidini (born September 11, 1963) is a Canadian musician and writer. Originally from Etobicoke, Ontario, he was a founding member of the rock band Rheostatics, and currently performs with Bidiniband. In addition, he has published several boo ...
–
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
,
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
,
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
*Kevin Hearn –
organ
Organ may refer to:
Biology
* Organ (biology), a part of an organism
Musical instruments
* Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone
** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument
** Hammond ...
, guitar,
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
cello
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...
, drums, vocals,
noise
Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference arise ...
,
double bass
The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...
*Dan Kurtz –
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
*The Snowflakes – vocals
* The Subliminal Kid – tree trembler
*Douglas Tielli –
horns Horns or The Horns may refer to:
* Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells
* The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain
* ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...
*
Martin Tielli
Martin Tielli is a Canadian singer-songwriter. He was a member of the Rheostatics, and has also released material as a solo artist and with the side project Nick Buzz. As well, he has appeared as a guest musician on albums by Barenaked Ladies, ...
– guitar, vocals
*
Tim Vesely
Tim Vesely (born 10 December 1963) is a Canadian musician and songwriter. He is best known as a founding member of the indie rock band Rheostatics, in which he shared vocal duties with bandmates Dave Bidini and Martin Tielli. Vesely wrote much ...