Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

Like the new Toots & the Maytals album, this collaborative CD shines the mainstream spotlight on an underexposed talent. To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Hispanic rockers Los Lobos throw a party and invite a wide array of musical guests for duets, including Tom Waits, Ruben Blades and Bobby Womack. But the best feature guitarist Richard Thompson on the chilling “Wreck of the Carlos Rey,” singer Mavis Staples on the bluesy gospel “Someday” and Elvis Costello on the tender Los Lobos classic “Matter of Time.”  

Feist is Leslie Feist, a mesmerizing singer from Calgary who has graced CDs by Toronto bands Broken Social Scene and By Divine Right. She’s destined for stardom. Like expats Peaches and Chilly Gonzales, Feist has a base in Europe, where she recorded this captivating collection of songs with Manu Chao producer Renaud Létang. From the samba swing of “Gatekeeper” and the disco-ish “Inside and Out” to the Bacharach-like “One Evening” and the irresistible “Mushaboom,” it’s thrilling and absolutely addictive.

Long out-of-print, this vintage piece of Canadian soul has been lovingly resurrected by Seattle reissue label Light in the Attic. McGhie was part of Toronto’s Jamaican expatriate community that included such legendary figures as Leroy Sibbles and Jackie Mittoo. Recorded in Toronto in 1970, the album features cool covers like “Take a Letter Maria” and such stirring originals as McGhie’s instrumental “Dirty Funk.” Now remastered, it represents a fascinating glimpse into the early—and surprisingly soulful—CanCon era.

With this debut, Halifax native Fox leaves behind his years as a session player for artists from Sarah Harmer to Céline Dion. A classically trained cellist who also plays guitar, bass and possesses a warm, rich tenor, Fox has surrounded himself with strings, brass and woodwinds to create a minor symphonic pop masterpiece. His songs, from “Satisfaction’s Grace” and “By and By” to “These Fears” and “A Bit About Myself,” fit the sensitive, confessional mold. But there’s not a cringe-inducing one in the bunch.

Good has been called Canrock’s best provocateur and its biggest asshole. But give the Vancouver artist credit: he’s made a mark with his prickly nature and drawn attention to worthy causes in the process. Ultimately, Good may be a better pamphleteer than a songwriter. While he’s written prolifically and convincingly about human rights issues on his website, his latest album features angry but obvious rockers like “Alert Status Red,” in which he sings that “the only place to find freedom is in the dictionary under ‘F’.”

They once declared that they’d fight for the right to party, now they’re going to “party for the right to fight.” The Beasties’ latest is a protest party album, targeting the U.S. president on “Time to Build,” which suggests “it’s time to impeach Tex,” and “That’s it That’s All,” which states “George W’s got nothing on we/we got to take the power from he.” But the disc, a tribute to their post-9/11 New York City, also features some of the trio’s wackiest hip-hop to date, with insane samples and hilarious pop culture references.

Along with k.d. lang’s Hymns from the 49th Parallel and the recent Gordon Lightfoot tribute album, Lee’s latest represents a new trend: singers mining vintage Canadian nuggets for repertoire. Lee casts songs by Randy Bachman, David Clayton-Thomas and others in a jazz setting—with surprising results. While her version of Lightfoot’s folky “If You Could Read My Mind” swings beautifully, her takes on jazzy pop numbers like Bachman’s “Undun” and Clayton-Thomas’ “Spinning Wheel” fall surprisingly flat.

Members of Sade’s backing band, Sweetback know all about laying down seductive grooves. Guitarist-saxophonist Stuart Matthewman and company worked with neo-soulster Maxwell and other singers on the trio’s self-titled debut album. Now, eight years later, Sweetback returns with Singapore-born Aya on the romantic ballad “All My Days with You,” while ex-Digible Planet Mecca Ladybug and Toronto’s Ivana Santilli lend a sexy hip-hop and lounge feel to the dreamy “Love is the Word.” Perfect chillout music.

Ottawa’s 15-year-old may be urban music’s answer to Avril. Like Lavigne, Chante suffers from a typical preoccupation: boys. “Why you trippin’? Why you gotta be buggin’ out on me?” she asks one on “Unpredictable.” Chante has misgivings about a second guy in “Bad Boy.” And in the syncopated “Does He Love Me,” featuring guest rapper Foxy Brown, Chante expresses doubt about yet another lad she met at “the mall in the parking lot.” As long as boys will be boys, it seems, they’ll also make good subjects for songs.  

Hailing from Peterborough, Ont., Ryder channels Etta James and Janis Joplin to create something completely fresh. “Don’t you dare hold nothing back,” she sings over a chain-gang beat in the chilling acapella opener “Sing Sing,” a mission statement of sorts. She closes in the same fashion with a heart-stopping rendition of James’ “At Last.” In between, Ryder delivers a quintessential summer song with “Every Single Day,” a sultry, banjo-driven cousin to Bobbie Gentry’s Delta classic, “Ode to Billie Joe.” A future star.