Christmas colours

How can you tell that Christmas is coming? Well, record companies are beginning to talk up their new releases, special CDs, concert DVDs and other "products" they hope will wind up in Christmas stockings all across the land. If you read my Monday post, you'll remember me talking about the new Rush Retrospective III. I'm not an expert, but we can all agree that the pre-Christmas timing of all of this sure is suspicious.

Anyway, I got an email today from the folks at Listen Harder (see below) that talks about a special issue of Dallas Green's Bring Me Your Love, which was released earlier this year to rave reviews. It's a really neat, moody record with some well-written songs. The Tragically Hip's Gord Downie appears as a guest.

Green has a high profile here in Regina - his Friday night after-hours show at the Regina Folk Festival a couple of years ago was a big hit. I remember interviewing him a couple of years back when we chatted about his other job as lead singer of Canadian punkers Alexisonfire. I liked that his enthusiasm for music and performing seemed really genuine. "I get to get up on stage, scream and jump around like an idiot. What better way to learn a living is that?" he told me before a Buffalo Days show a couple of years back.

Anyway, here are the details about the new release.... Sounds like it's a little much for your average fan, so maybe the original version might make a better gift.


Platinum-selling City and Colour is set to release a limited edition version of the sophomore album "Bring Me Your Love" on Dine Alone Records, December 2, 2008.

The Special Limited Edition of "Bring Me Your Love" features revamped album artwork, all new packaging, and includes two discs. Disc one will include the original Gold-certified album "Bring Me Your Love", plus two unreleased tracks. Disc two includes demos of all the BMYL album tracks, including demos of the two unreleased songs from disc one. The demos are especially unique as they are a collection recorded over a year during the writing process of BMYL. All of the demos were recorded personally by Dallas Green, whether on the road in venue dressing rooms, on the back of a tour bus, in friends' basements, and at his home. Guest appearances by friends Dan Romano (Attack in Black) and Dan Smith (Dear and Departed) are featured. The demo version of Constant Knot also features Dan Stoppelman from Big D and the Kids Table on horns. A beautifully handwritten 28 panel booklet with behind-the-scenes photos captured by photographer Vanessa Heins rounds out the package.

A special digital bundle package of both discs will be made available through all of the usual digital outlets, and for those fans who already own "Bring Me Your Love" , the bonus demo CD will be available as a stand-alone digital bundle. Only 5000 copies will be manufactured and available to fans in North America, with an additional 1000 available on Dine Alone/Shock in Australia and its territories.

Tracklisting | Disc 1 | Studio Recordings

1. forgive me
2. confessions
3. the death of me
4. body in a box
5. sleeping sickness
6. what makes a man?
7. waiting...
8. constant knot
9. against the grain
10. the girl
11. sensible heart
12. as much as I ever could
13. faithless (previously unreleased)
14. I don't need to know (previously unreleased)

Tracklisting | Disc 2 | Demo Recordings

1. forgive me (demo)
2. confessions (demo)
3. the death of me (demo)
4. body in a box (demo)
5. sleeping sickness (demo)
6. what makes a man? (demo)
7. waiting...(demo)
8. constant knot (quiet demo)
9. constant knot (horns demo)
10. against the grain (demo)
11. sensible heart (demo)
12. as much as I ever could (demo)
13. faithless (previously unreleased demo)
14. I don't need to know (previously unreleased demo)

For more information on City and Colour,
visit: www.cityandcolour.ca | www.myspace.com/dallasgreen