Post One-The Album.
I have been thinking about and listening to the music of my favourite fellas Great Big Sea a lot lately. I found some wonderful official videos made in 2010 that were recorded for a radio station with a small intimate audience. These songs included Safe Upon The Shore, Nothing But A Song, Yankee Sailor and Good People. They were circulated on my Google + page. These videos led me on a search to find out what else happened that year.
In 2010 the Safe Upon The Shore album was recorded and released. Great Big Sea completed a tour throughout Canada and the United States to support the album. The songs from the album Long Life, Safe Upon The Shore, Nothing But A Song, Yankee Sailor, Hit The Ground And Run and Good People have become Great Big Sea classics and are still being played today by Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies and Sean McCann on their solo tours. They are songs loved by the fans.
The Safe Upon The Shore album also has it’s own site on Wikipedia and Google which provide a wonderful selection of information, videos and articles. The album debut on the Canadian charts at number 2 and sold a massive 7 000 copies in the first week, peaked on Billboard at number 157 and the Billboard Folk Albums at number 3. An entry for the album was included the annual Billboard Book published later that year.
Attached to the Google search is a list of the songs on the album and an interesting collection of official and fan bootlegged videos from the concerts and outright pirated videos. It was on this site I found a real gem of a bootleg video of the Bob Hallett song Follow Me Back at Wolf Trap in Vienna, VA on the 22 August, 2010. Bob was singing and playing the accordion. Murray Foster was supporting him on guitar.
The bootlegger provides an explanation of the song. “Bob states that there are lots of songs about relationships and that most are about the start of relationships or the end”. This song was about the middle. Bob has a wonderful voice indeed. I have circulated the video on my Google + page for those interested.
The year 2010 was a busy year indeed for Great Big Sea. As well as an extensive tour of Canada and The United States, Great Big Sea went cruising to Grand Caymond and made the Nothing But A Song video. Nothing But A Song was the first single off the album.
Perhaps the most interesting stories and wonderful photographs come from the From The Roads (FTR) on the Great Big Sea webpage. Alan Doyle’s FTR are always a great read and have some amazing personal photographs of that time for those interested.
Alan writes about making the Nothing But A Song video “Being resourceful, as we tend to be, GBS decided to take advantage of the days in the sun to film a new video for the new CD. Nothing But A Song will be the first single off the new GBS recording and the video should feature us frolicking in the sun around Grand Cayman. Some performances and other stuff should make it in there, all things being well…” Alan Doyle FTR Tour Diary –June 7, 2010 –St. John’s NL Home. Monday, June 7, 2010.
There are some wonderful photographs attached to Alan Doyle’s FTR blog. I have also circulated a copy of the Nothing But A Song video on my Google + page.
Alan Doyle and Sean McCann with a copy of Safe Upon The Shore. This photograph is from Alan Doyle’s FTR blog post Tour Diary – July 13, 2010 Washington DC (On The Bus) (No Copyright Infringement Intended)
Warner Brothers, Canada issued a press release about the album, how it was created and the contributors. A copy of this release is posted below. The release has been edited for copyright reasons.
“Great Big Sea Charter New Musical Territory And Return With Their Tenth Release Safe Upon The Shore” June 15 2010. Warner Music Canada (no copyright infringement intended)
Great Big Sea Charter New Musical Territory And Return With Their Tenth Release Safe Upon The Shore Available July 13th Through Warner Music Canada North American Tour Dates Announced St. Johns, NL
Embarking on their 18th year as a band, platinum-selling Canadian folk rockers Great Big Sea voyage a little further from their signature Newfoundland inspired sound to land safe upon the shore with their tenth album due July 13th through Warner Music Canada.
Recorded in Fits and Starts over a six month period, the album was produced by Los Lobos Steve Berlin and Great Big Sea in New Orleans, L.A., St. John’s NL and anywhere that inspiration struck, including tour buses and various dressing rooms along their tour.
A lot of this was recorded straight onto Alan’s laptop, as soon as we had the ideas, explains Sean McCann, singer and bodhran player.
As for the rest, for a long time we wanted to record somewhere with a vibe, somewhere with an atmosphere that might seep into the songs themselves. There is nowhere on the continent, really, that has more of a vibe than New Orleans.
And the vibe is evident with the New Orleans brass on Wanna Go Home, the bayou-inspired hootenanny Hit the Ground and Run, the southern folk/rock harmonies of Good People and delicate creole/folk-infused lullaby Follow me back mix with the more traditional Newfoundland fare on Yankee Sailor and Road to Ruin.
Aside from Great Big Sea co-founders and songwriter Alan Doyle, Bob Hallett and Sean McCann, Safe Upon the Shore also includes co-writes and various acclaimed artists including Russell Crowe and Canadian singer-songwriters Randy Bachman, Jeremy Fisher and Joel Plaskett.
At this stage, we sometimes all kind of know each others ideas too well, explains multi-instrumentalist and singer Bob Hallett. Too easy to do the obvious.
Writing with a big group of people pushed everything into different directions. Of the songs we started there, we ended up using a bunch of them on the album. Some of these songs took a long time to grow up, some of them came to us ready to head out into the world, added McCann.
I have been thinking about and listening to the music of my favourite fellas Great Big Sea a lot lately. I found some wonderful official videos made in 2010 that were recorded for a radio station with a small intimate audience. These songs included Safe Upon The Shore, Nothing But A Song, Yankee Sailor and Good People. They were circulated on my Google + page. These videos led me on a search to find out what else happened that year.
In 2010 the Safe Upon The Shore album was recorded and released. Great Big Sea completed a tour throughout Canada and the United States to support the album. The songs from the album Long Life, Safe Upon The Shore, Nothing But A Song, Yankee Sailor, Hit The Ground And Run and Good People have become Great Big Sea classics and are still being played today by Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies and Sean McCann on their solo tours. They are songs loved by the fans.
The Safe Upon The Shore album also has it’s own site on Wikipedia and Google which provide a wonderful selection of information, videos and articles. The album debut on the Canadian charts at number 2 and sold a massive 7 000 copies in the first week, peaked on Billboard at number 157 and the Billboard Folk Albums at number 3. An entry for the album was included the annual Billboard Book published later that year.
Attached to the Google search is a list of the songs on the album and an interesting collection of official and fan bootlegged videos from the concerts and outright pirated videos. It was on this site I found a real gem of a bootleg video of the Bob Hallett song Follow Me Back at Wolf Trap in Vienna, VA on the 22 August, 2010. Bob was singing and playing the accordion. Murray Foster was supporting him on guitar.
The bootlegger provides an explanation of the song. “Bob states that there are lots of songs about relationships and that most are about the start of relationships or the end”. This song was about the middle. Bob has a wonderful voice indeed. I have circulated the video on my Google + page for those interested.
The year 2010 was a busy year indeed for Great Big Sea. As well as an extensive tour of Canada and The United States, Great Big Sea went cruising to Grand Caymond and made the Nothing But A Song video. Nothing But A Song was the first single off the album.
Perhaps the most interesting stories and wonderful photographs come from the From The Roads (FTR) on the Great Big Sea webpage. Alan Doyle’s FTR are always a great read and have some amazing personal photographs of that time for those interested.
Alan writes about making the Nothing But A Song video “Being resourceful, as we tend to be, GBS decided to take advantage of the days in the sun to film a new video for the new CD. Nothing But A Song will be the first single off the new GBS recording and the video should feature us frolicking in the sun around Grand Cayman. Some performances and other stuff should make it in there, all things being well…” Alan Doyle FTR Tour Diary –June 7, 2010 –St. John’s NL Home. Monday, June 7, 2010.
There are some wonderful photographs attached to Alan Doyle’s FTR blog. I have also circulated a copy of the Nothing But A Song video on my Google + page.
Alan Doyle and Sean McCann with a copy of Safe Upon The Shore. This photograph is from Alan Doyle’s FTR blog post Tour Diary – July 13, 2010 Washington DC (On The Bus) (No Copyright Infringement Intended)
Warner Brothers, Canada issued a press release about the album, how it was created and the contributors. A copy of this release is posted below. The release has been edited for copyright reasons.
“Great Big Sea Charter New Musical Territory And Return With Their Tenth Release Safe Upon The Shore” June 15 2010. Warner Music Canada (no copyright infringement intended)
Great Big Sea Charter New Musical Territory And Return With Their Tenth Release Safe Upon The Shore Available July 13th Through Warner Music Canada North American Tour Dates Announced St. Johns, NL
Embarking on their 18th year as a band, platinum-selling Canadian folk rockers Great Big Sea voyage a little further from their signature Newfoundland inspired sound to land safe upon the shore with their tenth album due July 13th through Warner Music Canada.
Recorded in Fits and Starts over a six month period, the album was produced by Los Lobos Steve Berlin and Great Big Sea in New Orleans, L.A., St. John’s NL and anywhere that inspiration struck, including tour buses and various dressing rooms along their tour.
A lot of this was recorded straight onto Alan’s laptop, as soon as we had the ideas, explains Sean McCann, singer and bodhran player.
As for the rest, for a long time we wanted to record somewhere with a vibe, somewhere with an atmosphere that might seep into the songs themselves. There is nowhere on the continent, really, that has more of a vibe than New Orleans.
And the vibe is evident with the New Orleans brass on Wanna Go Home, the bayou-inspired hootenanny Hit the Ground and Run, the southern folk/rock harmonies of Good People and delicate creole/folk-infused lullaby Follow me back mix with the more traditional Newfoundland fare on Yankee Sailor and Road to Ruin.
Aside from Great Big Sea co-founders and songwriter Alan Doyle, Bob Hallett and Sean McCann, Safe Upon the Shore also includes co-writes and various acclaimed artists including Russell Crowe and Canadian singer-songwriters Randy Bachman, Jeremy Fisher and Joel Plaskett.
At this stage, we sometimes all kind of know each others ideas too well, explains multi-instrumentalist and singer Bob Hallett. Too easy to do the obvious.
Writing with a big group of people pushed everything into different directions. Of the songs we started there, we ended up using a bunch of them on the album. Some of these songs took a long time to grow up, some of them came to us ready to head out into the world, added McCann.
