CBC Music wrapped its multi-week blog series last week with the final instalment in its “100 greatest Canadian albums ever” countdown.
Neil Young’s Harvest came out on top, followed by Glenn Gould’s Goldberg Variations, Joni Mitchell’s Blue, Arcade Fire’s Funeral and Oscar Peterson’s Night Train.
While the list as a whole offers a unique grouping of albums — showcasing the panascopic range of artists Canada has produced to date — the results have a distinct Vancouver Island flavour to them.
The list, decided by an all-star panel of musicians, writers, actors and artists, put French-Canadian and classical music albums solidly in the mix. Also present alongside the usual suspects was a collection of new-schoolers and left-field choices, which further freshened up the list.
But for music fans who live here, eyes were likely peeled to the musicians who emerge each year from Vancouver Island. It was an impressive lot as four born-and-bred local acts cracked the list.
Wolf Parade’s Apologies to the Queen Mary charted highest at No. 27, well ahead of Diana Krall’s The Look of Love, which made it to No. 75. Nomeansno’s Wrong (No. 79) and Nelly Furtado’s Whoa, Nelly! (No. 83) also made the cut.
A number of musicians from the region made the list with others in tow.
Arcade Fire (featuring Courtenay’s Sarah Neufeld) hit the list twice, No. 4 with Funeral and No. 22 with The Suburbs.
Bachman–Turner Overdrive (featuring Saltspring Island’s Randy Bachman) reached No. 40 with Not Fragile — well ahead of Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass (featuring Victoria’s Ian McDougall), who landed at No. 59 with Big Band Jazz.
The self-titled outing by 54-40 (featuring Victoria’s Neil Osborne) made it to No. 90, one spot ahead of Celebration Rock by Japandroids (a duo featuring Nanaimo’s Brian King) and two ahead of Rhythm of Youth by Men Without Hats (who are fronted by Victoria’s Ivan Doroshuk).
The local motion carried through to the voters as well. Included as judges alongside Our Lady Peace’s Raine Maida, actor Russell Crowe, the Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson, hockey commentator Don Cherry, author Ian McEwan, rock band Metric, and the Hold Steady’s Craig Finn were a number of Victoria natives.
Kathryn Calder of the New Pornographers waxed poetic over Joni Mitchell’s Blue (No. 3); Aidan Knight shone a light on the Constantines’s Shine a Light (No. 35); Steve Bays from Hot Hot Heat/Mounties/Fur Trade penned praise for Sloan’s One Chord to Another (No. 44).
The bottom half of the list featured yet more praise from performers with local ties: Hannah Georgas, who wrote in tribute of Sarah McLachlan’s Surfacing (No. 72); Alex Cuba upped Nelly Furtado’s Whoa, Nelly! (No. 83); Grapes of Wrath singer Tom Hooper tipped D.O.A.’s Hardcore 81 (No. 86); and Zaki Ibrahim covered The Weeknd’s House of Balloons (No. 87).
