Staff Picks: "Héritage" and "Live at Massey Hall 1971"
By Amy Terrill on Oct 02, 2012
Each week, Music Canada will be opening up our blog to members of our staff, as well as our neighbours at AVLA, to share their musical picks of the week: one new release and one classic cut. This week's picks come from Amy Terrill, Vice President Public Affairs at Music Canada.
New release:
Maia - "Héritage"
Every once in a while an album reaches right to my soul. It's usually a combination of intelligent lyrics and interesting, often haunting, melodies. Leonard Cohen's Old Ideas did it earlier this year. But that was too long ago to be called a "new" release and too recent to be from the "vault". So I was thrilled to discover the new solo release by Maia Davies. Maia may be best known as a member of Ladies of the Canyon. With her first solo effort Maia has assembled a collection of songs that combine evocative story-telling, delicate melodies and skillful arrangements, beautifully delivered by Maia in collaboration with a talented group of musicians. Thank you Maia.
Available via iTunes
From the Vaults:
Neil Young - "Live at Massey Hall 1971" (March 2007)
This remains one of my favourite albums of all time. I don't know what it is about live albums but they tend to endure for me in a way that studio albums do not. And there is no more enthusiastic audience than the one that assembled in Massey Hall in 1971 to witness an acoustic performance by Neil Young. The performance was part of a tour during which Young debuted many new songs including Old Man, in my opinion, one of Young's absolute best.
Available via iTunes
Music Canada Editor: Like what you hear? Check out some more of our team's recommendations in our Staff Picks blog series!