Author: Fiona McQuarrie

Love You ‘Til The Day I Die

/ Fiona McQuarrie / Leave a comment

Recently I came across a question on social media: “which musical act have you seen play live the most times”? I can answer that question very easily: Crowded House. In reading the responses to that question, it struck me that I should write something about all the Crowded House shows I’ve seen.

I first became aware of Crowded House when I saw them doing a live interview on the MuchMusic TV channel. I knew about Split Enz, the band that Neil Finn was previously part of – I actually interviewed them in 1980, when their single “Six Months In A Leaky Boat” was a big hit in Canada, and they played a show in Vancouver. The interview was at their hotel (the Holiday Inn on Broadway, for trivia fans) and I spent most of the time talking to Eddie Rayner, the keyboard player, because as soon as I arrived at their hotel suite, the rest of the band members seemed to disappear.  I remember them all being kind of shy and sweet, and somewhat overwhelmed by the publicity that was suddenly whirling around them. So when I saw Crowded House on MuchMusic, I clearly remember saying to my husband, “Oh, look, Neil Finn has a new band.”

Crowded House’s music hits me in a way that I really can’t explain. The songs are brilliant in and of themselves, but it just seems like so many of them spoke to whatever I was feeling or doing at the time I first heard them. I can’t imagine my world without that music.

It’s funny, though, that in thinking back on these shows, I don’t remember a lot of details, like specific songs that were played. That may be because every show has been incredible. There’s not a single show on this list that was boring, or a shameless money grab, or not worth the price of the ticket. Not too many bands can be that consistently excellent for nearly 40 years.

So here’s the stories of the shows I’ve seen, including a few extra ones. To shorten this very lengthy narrative somewhat, I’ll refer to Crowded House as “CH” throughout. And if this post is too long for you, don’t TL:DR me – read as much or as little as you want, it’s all good. Continue reading →

Ship of Fools

/ Fiona McQuarrie / Leave a comment

As some of this blog’s followers will know – especially those that follow my other blog – I have two careers: one in academia, and one in music writing. The two don’t often intersect, and that’s partly because I try to keep them separate. Having a Ph.D. and being a university professor doesn’t mean a lot in the music writing world, and being a music writer doesn’t mean a lot in the academic world. There might be some overlap if my degree was in a subject related to music, but although my area of study is very useful in helping me to understand how the music industry works, it’s not explicitly music-related.

This week marks the anniversary of the day I defended my doctoral dissertation – March 17, 1995. The defense comes after you’ve written your dissertation, which is an original piece of research, and your academic supervisor (supervisors, in my case) have signed off on it. You verbally present your research and your findings to a panel of professors, including an external assessor from another university. The panel members ask you questions about what you’ve done, and then you wait outside the room while the panel decides whether you’ve passed.

The defense is extremely nerve-wracking – you’re defending several years’ worth of work to a panel that has the power to say “no, not good enough, go back and try again”. However, I was exceptionally nervous about my defense. At an earlier step in my doctoral program, the progress of my dissertation was suddenly derailed because Continue reading →

Nick Lowe’s Christmas Show

/ Fiona McQuarrie / Leave a comment

Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets were on the CBS Saturday Morning TV show today, playing three songs from Nick’s classic holiday album Quality Street (here’s their performance of ‘Christmas at the Airport’). Quality Street is now 10 years old, and it will forever remind me of the Nick Lowe show I saw at Vancouver’s Vogue Theatre on December 19, 2015.

This was a memorable show for many reasons, not least of which was the excellent and exuberant music. It was also memorable because of the audience. This was my first time seeing Nick as a solo act – I had seen him in Vancouver in 1980, as part of Rockpile – but everyone I knew who had seen him on his own assured me that he was terrific. When my husband and I got to the venue and found our seats, it turned out Continue reading →

“Record Collector” Specials

/ Fiona McQuarrie / Leave a comment

Over the last few months I’ve had the opportunity to contribute to two special issues published by Record Collector magazine.

For the Elton John special, I wrote an article about Elton’s 1975 album Rock Of The Westies. This was a particularly interesting assignment, since I still have the vinyl copy of the album that I bought when it came out! You can buy the issue here, and it’s also available on newsstands in the UK.

Record Collector presents… Elton John

For the Paul McCartney special, I wrote about Wings’ 1971 debut album Wild Life, and also took a look at McCartney’s books, music, and films for kids. You can buy the issue here, and it will be on UK newsstands as of December 7.

Record Collector presents… Paul McCartney

 

 

The Night I Didn’t Meet David Bowie

/ Fiona McQuarrie / 1 Comment

During the first part of my music writing career, which lasted from the late ‘70s to the mid-‘80s, I worked at two different daily newspapers, and wrote a lot of concert reviews on deadline. This usually meant writing the review the same night as the show, sometimes while I was still at the concert venue, and getting the review to the newspaper’s editorial offices so it could go into the next day’s newspaper.

At that time, there were no cellphones and no portable computers, which meant that filing a concert review from outside the office was always an adventure. To illustrate what this was like, I would like to share with you a story of one such adventure: the night I didn’t meet David Bowie.

To set the scene for this story, Continue reading →

Shining On: Linda Hoover

/ Fiona McQuarrie / Leave a comment

[originally appeared in Shindig! issue #129)

When Linda Hoover entered New York’s Advantage Sound Studios in 1970, she was an excited 19-year-old who had never been in a studio before. Little did she know the album she made, I Mean To Shine, would never be released. But the album became legendary as the first album to feature songs by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, who were soon to become the linchpins of Steely Dan – songs that never appeared anywhere else. Not only that, but Becker and Fagen also played on the album, along with guitarists Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter and Denny Dias who also became part of the Dan. Now, after 52 years, I Mean To Shine is finally seeing the light of day.

The catalyst for the album Continue reading →

Robyn Hitchcock/Kelley Stoltz concert review

/ Fiona McQuarrie / Leave a comment

[originally appeared in Shindig! issue #139]

ROBYN HITCHCOCK, KELLEY STOLTZ

Neptune Theatre, Seattle

Friday 16th March

Robyn Hitchcock’s career has outlasted many other acts from the North American “college radio” indie music scene in the ‘80s and ‘90s. This longevity is attributable not only to his brilliant songwriting, mixing whimsical wordplay with moments of genuine poignancy and a keen psych-pop sensibility, but also to his frequent collaborations with other artists.

The value that Hitchcock places on collaboration was demonstrated by his choice of bandmates for Continue reading →