Canadian Music History Radio
Before Loose made Nelly Furtado an international pop powerhouse, there was Whoa, Nelly!. Released in 2000, Furtado's debut sounded remarkably difficult to categorize. Acoustic instruments sat alongside programmed beats. Pop melodies collided with folk, R&B, hip-hop and musical influences reflecting her Portuguese-Canadian background....
There are albums that refine an artist's sound, and others that reveal an entirely new one. For k.d. lang, Ingénue was the latter. Released in 1992, the album represented a significant departure from the country and western influences that had defined much of lang's earlier work....
Sometimes the circumstances surrounding an album become inseparable from the music itself. Blue Rodeo's Five Days in July is one of those records. Rather than entering a conventional recording studio, the Toronto band gathered at keyboardist James Gray's farm near Peterborough, Ontario. Over five days in...
By the time Sarah McLachlan released Surfacing in 1997, she had already spent nearly a decade building a devoted audience. Then everything became much bigger. Released during the same period that McLachlan was helping launch Lilith Fair, Surfacing brought together deeply personal songwriting, atmospheric production...
Some albums make an artist famous. Others change the direction of an entire genre. Shania Twain’s Come On Over did both. Released in 1997, the album built on the enormous success of The Woman in Me and transformed the Timmins, Ontario-raised singer into a global...
Some jazz albums demand that listeners understand the music before they can fully appreciate it. Night Train does the opposite. From its opening moments, Oscar Peterson’s 1963 album invites you in. Recorded with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen, Night Train showcases Peterson’s extraordinary...
When Anne Murray released Snowbird in 1970, she was still near the beginning of a recording career that would eventually span decades, cross musical genres and open doors for generations of Canadian performers. Its title track changed everything. “Snowbird,” written by Canadian songwriter Gene MacLellan,...
Released on July 1, 1968, Music from Big Pink introduced The Band with a sound that seemed almost completely removed from the psychedelic experimentation dominating rock music at the time. Earthy, collaborative and deeply rooted in folk, blues, country and gospel traditions, the album helped...
Released on December 27, 1967, Songs of Leonard Cohen introduced the wider music world to an artist unlike almost anyone else of his generation. Sparse, intimate and deeply poetic, Leonard Cohen’s debut album transformed his literary voice into songs that would eventually become standards. Cohen...
Released on January 18, 1974, Gordon Lightfoot’s Sundown marked a defining moment in the career of one of Canada’s greatest songwriters. Blending folk, country and soft rock, the album brought Lightfoot extraordinary international success while preserving the thoughtful storytelling that had already earned him widespread...
