Jim Fidler's latest album, RPM, is a definite departure from his work with Pressure Drop, his collaborative efforts with other musicians and his solo catalogue.
It took the St. John's, Nfld. artist exactly eight months to make the 11-song, 54-minute album at his Roots Cellar studio. As in the past, he wrote, played and sang almost everything, while also producing the record. What's different, though, is the sound.
Fidler first became known as a reggae artist through Pressure Drop, embraced Celtic music in his early solo work, added sounds from other cultures to make what can loosely be described as world music, and has also mixed in pop, blues and folk to those elements to create a unique niche for himself. But RPM adds a new wrinkle, with distinct 1970s pop and rock influences.
Some of opener "Mister Man" sounds like it could have been included on Pink Floyd's The Wall, the piano introduction to "What I'm Going to Do" is reminiscent of Supertramp's "Bloody Well Right" and "Not the Thing at the End of the Line" also elicits vague memories of the decade of Watergate, oil crises and Archie Bunker.
"Mama's Little Boy" and "Dancing at the Rubber Ball" are more rhythmic, the fairly mellow "The Weed" sings the praises of marijuana and "We Need A Revolution" cites the importance of open communication. The album ends relatively quietly with the trio of "The Final Curtain Call," "Sleep" and "Dream (The Awakening)."
The other thing that sets RPM apart from Fidler's earlier work is that the lyrics came to him in a stream of consciousness after he laid down the bed for each track. There was no sitting down and jotting notes to guide him along. The result is what can be described as a concept album, as it traces the life and career of a fictitious musician named Mickey Finn.
Fidler may call for a revolution, but RPM also illustrates his continuing musical evolution.
I wrote about my appreciation for Jim Fidler's music, and the friendship between us that grew out of it, in this spot two years ago when I heard his From The Inside Out album. It became one of my favourite records of 2009 and was robbed of the best reggae album Juno Award nomination it deserved.
Jim has a new album titled Up That River coming out in December, but he's introducing it with a trilogy of EPs featuring material from the LP, dub mixes and acoustic versions. I've listened to the first two, and he's on to something good again.
All the material was recorded, mixed and mastered by Jim at his Roots Cellar studio in St. John's, Nfld. He produced, engineered, played most of the instruments and sang lead.
The first EP opens with "Intro (Joesph)," a short number featuring Jamaican-born Newfoundlander Keith (Joseph) Rickman talking about Jim in an excerpt from a forthcoming documentary about this multi-talented man being made by his wife Lillian.
Jim played me "Be Free" and "Leslie Street" in his studio when I was in St. John's for the 2010 Juno Awards. I liked them both right away and I'm glad that more people will finally be able to hear them. "Be Free" is a melodic roots reggae number with female harmonies not unlike those of Bob Marley's I Threes. It also comes in a dub version. "Leslie Street" is lyrically moving and showcases the best of Jim's voice along with some well-played guitar lines.
The EP is rounded out by "Operation Africa," which has a lighter pop funk groove along with jazz and reggae influences.
I've heard Jim perform Marley's "No Woman No Cry" before, but he'd never recorded it until recently for the 2 EP. And he goes one better by including a dub mix along with his interpretation of the reggae classic. Rory Hoffman, the only musician other than Jim to contribute to these two records, adds some sweet saxophone and clarinet to both.
The 45-second "Here Come the Katz" leads into "Cats Will be Katz," a largely instrumental number with jazz elements and the recorded debut of Lillian's voice. I prefer "Me," a rhythmic track with a fun mix of blues, pop and harmonica by Hoffman.
The third EP should be arriving soon, and all of them can be purchased from Jim's website. Each EP purchase entitles the buyer to a three-dollar coupon towards the purchase of Up That River.
Newfoundland Reggae
I received a self-titled album from a group I'd never heard of called Pressure Drop 17 years ago, and was somewhat surprised to find out that it was a reggae LP recorded in St. John's, Nfld. with a lineup of five people you wouldn't normally expect to be in a band together. I was even more surprised to find out that it was really good.
I hooked up with the band members when they came to Toronto and became friends with them, especially drummer/singer/producer Jim Fidler. I even went to St. John's and the tiny French island of St. Pierre off the coast of Newfoundland when Jim married his lovely wife Lillian in 1996 and spent a lot of time with the two of them when they briefly moved to Toronto while Jim was appearing in The Needfire at the Princess Of Wales Theatre in 1998 and the Royal Alexandra Theatre in 2000. There are lots of fun stories I could tell about spending time with these folks, but I'll save them for later.
Pressure Drop released another album called From The Inside Out in 1994 before calling it a day, and Jim embarked on a solo music and production career centred around his Roots Cellar studio. He released four fine albums that touched on Newfoundland's Celtic music roots and also explored music from around the world. Jim plays pretty much every instrument on his albums, which is all the more impressive considering that he's blind.
Jim and I have lost touch over the last couple of years, but I thought about him again today after listening to Keep Out, the new album from another St. John's reggae band, Idlers. I was given the group's Corner debut album (which was engineered by Lee Tizzard, who I know from his days working with Pressure Drop) by another friend from St. John's last year and was really impressed. So were others, as Idlers won a Galaxie Rising Star of the CBC Award, several honours in Newfoundland and was nominated for an East Coast Music Award.
Keep Out is one of the best roots reggae albums I've heard this year, and I'll hopefully get a chance to see Idlers when the band embarks on an eastern Canadian tour next month that includes a Nov. 13 stop at Toronto's Rancho Relaxo. Idlers call themselves a "reggae circus" and I have no idea how an 11-piece band is going to fit on to that club's tiny stage.
Listening to Keep Out piqued my curiosity about what Jim has been up to lately, so I went to his website and found out that he's returned to reggae again and has just released a new album titled Revolution Time. You can hear samples of each song on the record on the site, and I'm happy to say that it also sounds great and exhibits more polished and professional production than the Pressure Drop records did.
So while you may not think of Newfoundland as a reggae hotbed, Keep Out and Revolution Time show that there's certainly something happening on The Rock and both Idlers and Jim Fidler deserve to be heard across the rest of Canada and beyond.
You can find out more about Idlers here.
You can find out more about Jim Fidler here.
