man aren't the rheostatics great.

[mrwalkerb]

casue they are, I just bough their double live album and it's fantastic. Dave Bidini is super cool, and a great author as well, Canadian music kicks ass

[Astird]

Nice post! Definetely an underrated band. I don't have their double album, but I have just about everything else. I think I'll go put on 'Bad Time to be Poor'

[bubbamackdaddy69]

casue they are, I just bough their double live album and it's fantastic. Dave Bidini is super cool, and a great author as well, Canadian music kicks ass


Yeah I've been getting into them lately... They are good !

[mrwalkerb]

Nice post! Definetely an underrated band. I don't have their double album, but I have just about everything else. I think I'll go put on 'Bad Time to be Poor'

I was kind of upset that that song wasn't on the live album. but I do have the tag by the hip on live between us

[mrwalkerb]

k so I went and saw them Sunday night and monday went out and ordered a few or thier cds from work. SO much fun can't wait till they come back, so shamess bump for the Rheos

[mookie blaylock 10]

the rheos are an inspiration to many canadian bands and have influenced a number of them. the double live cd is fantastic. i once got to hold the double neck maple leaf guitar on the cover!

i love tunes like "bad time to be poor" (as mrwalkerb said...too bad it's not on the double live), "claire" (one of the best canadian tunes ever), "horses", "the ballad of wendel calrk I & II (canadiana eh?), "saskatchewan"...yeah the rheos rock! good thread...:)

[Astird]

The movie 'Whale Music' is worth watching just for the soundtrack done by the rheostatics.

[smarchee]

This thread inspired me to put on the Tragically Hip's live album where the lead signer sings the only Rheostatics song I know of "Bad Time To Be Poor" during the end of the song, my favourite Hip song, Nautical Disaster. Love that song, and the live version from this CD

[mrwalkerb]

This thread inspired me to put on the Tragically Hip's live album where the lead signer sings the only Rheostatics song I know of "Bad Time To Be Poor" during the end of the song, my favourite Hip song, Nautical Disaster. Love that song, and the live version from this CD


I had that Nautical Disaster tag in my head for months and slowly it convinced me to check out the Rheos, you should do the same I'm so glad I did.

[mookie blaylock 10]

it is a bad time to be poor cause we don't give a shit no more...if you want help, don't look next door, the line's been drawn and staked outside...

haven't i done enough to burn out...
haven't i been there to help out...

...the wherewithal...

[mariposa]

I stumbled upon a live version of "Every Irrelevance" by Gord with the Rheostatics a year ago. I think that version is really great...

But I haven't had the chance to listen to any of their albums. Hmm, I really should check out that double live album then. :)

[mookie blaylock 10]

I stumbled upon a live version of "Every Irrelevance" by Gord with the Rheostatics a year ago. I think that version is really great...

But I haven't had the chance to listen to any of their albums. Hmm, I really should check out that double live album then. :)

the double live is a great place to start! a live version of "bad time to be poor" would have been great to hear on it, but it's too bad it's not on there. there are a lot of other staples though...like "claire", "horses", "dead is the drunkest you can get", and "saskatchewan"...just to name a few faves...

[mariposa]

the double live is a great place to start! a live version of "bad time to be poor" would have been great to hear on it, but it's too bad it's not on there. there are a lot of other staples though...like "claire", "horses", "dead is the drunkest you can get", and "saskatchewan"...just to name a few faves...

Thanks Mookie, that's good to know! :) Seeing I don't really know which of their albums I should check out first.

[mookie blaylock 10]

like mrwalkerb, the lines on nautical disaster were what got me intrigued about the rheos, so i started checking them out...i started with the double live. i've seen them live a few times now so i've delved a little deeper into their discography...some of it is "experimental" to say the least, and to be honest i don't care for a few of those tunes, but that's a good reason to listen to double live first, in my opinion.

[Deeve]

casue they are, I just bough their double live album and it's fantastic. Dave Bidini is super cool, and a great author as well, Canadian music kicks ass


I can actually say I have never heard their music before. But Tropic of Hockey was quite possibly one of the best books I have ever read, Hockey related or not. He really has a way with words that grips you and makes you keep on reading. I just got his newest book for christmas, havent started reading it yet. Soon as I am done my current book.

Anyways. Bidini is pretty cool :)

[smarchee]

I can actually say I have never heard their music before. But Tropic of Hockey was quite possibly one of the best books I have ever read, Hockey related or not. He really has a way with words that grips you and makes you keep on reading. I just got his newest book for christmas, havent started reading it yet. Soon as I am done my current book.

Anyways. Bidini is pretty cool :)

Hey, was that the book about hockey in Italy ??? Or Mexico ?

[Deeve]

Hey, was that the book about hockey in Italy ??? Or Mexico ?

Tropic of Hockey?

It was mainly about hockey in Siberia, Japan, UAE and Eastern Europe.

Great book.

[mrwalkerb]

so I just got melville and it is one of the best albums of the nineties in retrospect, I mean this. Such a bloody travesty they are breaking up.

[Todd76]

so I just got melville and it is one of the best albums of the nineties in retrospect, I mean this. Such a bloody travesty they are breaking up.


WOW - a Rheos thread (I started one a couple months back about their FINAL show and it dropped off the face of the earth pretty damn fast)

.....one of my favourite bands (see the "Top 10" thread) - best Canadian band ever IMO

.....Melville is definitely an amazing album - Christopher is probably one of my top 5 fav Rheos tunes

.....only a few more weeks until their swan song at Massey Hall - gonna be a surreal night

[Tek Money]

The Music inspired by the Group of Seven is just amazing.

I bought my boyfriend Maple Serum not too long ago and I must say that I love it sooo much. And my favorite songs are Introducing Happiness and Shaved Head.

Bidini's book 'Five Hole Stories' is fucking brilliant.

[mrwalkerb]

WOW - a Rheos thread (I started one a couple months back about their FINAL show and it dropped off the face of the earth pretty damn fast)

.....one of my favourite bands (see the "Top 10" thread) - best Canadian band ever IMO

.....Melville is definitely an amazing album - Christopher is probably one of my top 5 fav Rheos tunes

.....only a few more weeks until their swan song at Massey Hall - gonna be a surreal night

I'm so choked that they are breaking up I only got to see them once, I'm doubly mad because they were in Calgary for a week in Janurary and despite being on thier mailing list I didn't know baout it till after the fact. I wish I could go to that farewell but I guess I'll just have to hope for another record or maybe a live dvd.

[Todd76]

I'm so choked that they are breaking up I only got to see them once, I'm doubly mad because they were in Calgary for a week in Janurary and despite being on thier mailing list I didn't know baout it till after the fact. I wish I could go to that farewell but I guess I'll just have to hope for another record or maybe a live dvd.

Every winter they played a week at the Horseshoe in Toronto (a historic little club) and every year we would go check out at least a couple of the shows....every night had a different theme (ie. covers night, audience request night....one night they even had a huge wheel with many of their songs on it and they would spin it and play whatever it landed on).....I have seen them live more than any band (at least 20 times) - I am really going to miss my Rheos shows, Tielli live is something that every true music fan should experience at least once.

[direwolf74]

Every winter they played a week at the Horseshoe in Toronto (a historic little club) and every year we would go check out at least a couple of the shows....every night had a different theme (ie. covers night, audience request night....one night they even had a huge wheel with many of their songs on it and they would spin it and play whatever it landed on).....I have seen them live more than any band (at least 20 times) - I am really going to miss my Rheos shows, Tielli live is something that every true music fan should experience at least once.

No kidding. The guy is a f**king genius. Personally I think he's one of the most innovative guitarists in rock, and he's a pretty damn good songwriter as well. Too bad he'll never get the recognition he so richly deserves, but I think I'm ok with that. The Rheos will forever be Canada's little secret. I was lucky enough to see them at least 10 times over the years, and they blew my mind every single time. Best show was a gig at the University of Calgary a few years back. For the last song of the night they jumped off the stage with their acoustic guitars and proceeded to walk through the crowd while singing "Legal Age Life at Variety Store". As they finished up the song, they ran down the center aisle and disappeared out the front doors of the theatre. Everybody was sitting there going "I guess the show's over." It was hilarious. Another thing that sticks out about that particular show is that the opening band was The Weakerthans. They weren't very well known at the time, but they were amazing. They impressed me so much that I picked up their first album "Fallow" at the merch table right after their set was over.


"This is for the Rheostatics. We're all richer for having seen them tonight."

-Gord Downie, Detroit, 11/23/96