{"id":8023,"date":"2013-11-28T16:14:29","date_gmt":"2013-11-28T16:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=8023"},"modified":"2013-11-28T16:14:29","modified_gmt":"2013-11-28T16:14:29","slug":"mushroom-records-2013-reissues-from-linus-entertainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2013\/11\/28\/mushroom-records-2013-reissues-from-linus-entertainment\/","title":{"rendered":"MUSHROOM RECORDS – 2013 Reissues from Linus Entertainment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"doucette\"<\/a>
\nCHILLIWACK \u2013 Dreams, Dreams, Dreams<\/em> 1977<\/strong>
\nCHILLIWACK \u2013 Lights From The Valley<\/em> 1978<\/strong>
\nCHILLIWACK \u2013 Breakdown In Paradise<\/em> 1979<\/strong>
\nDOUCETTE\u00a0 – Mama Let Him Play<\/em> 1977<\/strong>
\nDOUCETTE – The Douce Is Loose<\/em> 1979<\/strong><\/p>\n

In early 2013, Linus Entertainment acquired the the rights to the defunct Mushroom Records catalogue, updated and re-mastered, and is now re-issuing out-of-print albums, starting with Chilliwack and Doucette.\u00a0 All five Mushroom releases have stood the test of time, with singles from each album still in rotation on classic rock radio.<\/p>\n

If you weren’t a fan of late 70s CanCon arena rock before, you won’t likely be converted. But if you are, the re-issues are a real treat, the sound quality is so vastly improved and so clean you can hear the strings ring like it were a live performance.\u00a0 Sound quality alone is enough to justify owning the re-issues.<\/p>\n

Chilliwack had a string of hit albums and singles between 1970 and 1983 for a variety of ill-fated indie labels, including Mushroom. Their first two albums for Mushroom, 1977’s Dreams, Dreams, Dreams<\/em> and 1978’s Lights From The Valley<\/em> both went platinum and made the band a CanCon radio staple. 1979’s Breakdown In Paradise<\/em> was released as the label sank into bankruptcy and suffered from lack of support, but still managed a Canadian hit with “Communication Breakdown.”<\/p>\n

The bonus material is limited to a conservative two tracks per album, and while not album-worthy, especially with the rough demo tapes, they are good enough to avoid being skipped.\u00a0 New liner notes from Bill Henderson provide his perspective on the band, songs, albums, label and bonus material.<\/p>\n

Released in 1977, Doucette’s debut Mama Let Him Play<\/em> went platinum backed by a pair of hits, “All I Wanna Do” and the title track.\u00a0 The 1979 followup, The Douce Is Loose<\/em> could only muster a single hit, “Nobody,” but still went gold.\u00a0 Though wonderfully re-mastered, they are packaged in jewel cases and without any updates, save a bonus song or two. “Mama Let Him Play” features the bonus instrumental “Catwalk” that is typical of Doucette’s sound while The Douce Is Loose<\/em> contains a pair of excellent but quite different songs, the multi-layered psychedelic-tinged “Follow Me” and “All Around You,” a rocker with a disco flair. Quality pieces, but they didn’t fit the overall sound of the album. Again, the main reason to own these albums is the much improved sound quality and near complete absence of background noise.\u00a0(Mushroom,\u00a0linusentertainment.com<\/a>)\u00a0 Broose Tulloch<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHILLIWACK \u2013 Dreams, Dreams, Dreams 1977 CHILLIWACK \u2013 Lights From The Valley 1978 CHILLIWACK \u2013 Breakdown In Paradise 1979 DOUCETTE\u00a0 – Mama Let Him Play 1977 DOUCETTE – The Douce Is Loose 1979 In early 2013, Linus Entertainment acquired the the rights to the defunct Mushroom Records catalogue, updated and re-mastered, and is now re-issuing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8023\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}