Never Tell Me The Odds

When I was in college I was a power pop-aholic. Anything with jangly guitars and great harmonies and hooky melodies and I was all over it. When I graduated and found a job and started earning, for me at the time, real money, I discovered the Not Lame catalog. This was a mail-order outfit that specialized in power pop. I loved going through the catalog and reading reviews that went like this: "If you like x then you are SURE to like y!" This was a paper catalog and while the internet was starting to get steam, there were not any samples to listen to online, so it was a token of faith. So CDs from bands like The Tories and The Mockers and Stonecake and This Perfect Day and Blue Van Gogh and The Mockingbirds all showed up. Rarely was I disappointed.

One of the bands I loved dearly was Canada's Odds. They stood out because they wrote catchy songs and had a unique vocal sound but they were also extremely clever in their lyrics writing. Their best record, in your chronicler's humble opinion, was 1994's Good Weird Feeling. Great tracks like "Heaven's Radio," "Truth Untold," "The Last Drink" and "Anybody Else With Me" (really there are no bad tracks on this record) make it stand up even when it's...gulp...20 years old.

In the late 90s the band went their separate ways. In the mid 2000s they reformed under the name The New Odds...some legal issues got the name held up. That record was....OK. Just yesterday I downloaded their new EP, The Most Beautiful Place On Earth, recording under the Odds name. Gone is Steve Drake (replaced by a fellow who's name I already forget...wait lemme look it up...Murray Atkinson) but Craig Northey and Doug Elliott and Pat Steward remain. The new EP is....OK. The songs aren't as memorable, though the first cut "Anything You Want" has that classic Odds sound. I can't really describe it, but like any good band, Odds have a deliberate feel, a vibe to their music. It helps that Craig Northey's voice has a distinctive nasal quality. The voice is part of what makes it OK. Maybe it's the production or maybe it's the obvious, but Craig sounds old, weary. The voice doesn't soar like it used to. Perhaps I am being mean. I am going to stop. If you like good power pop then you should download this...it's only $5. If you are an Odds fan then you most definitely get this it will make you happy.

I couldn't find any links to stuff off the new EP, so here's "Heaven's Radio" from 1994. The quality is poor but the song is still super awesome.