Some "New" Bachman-Turner Overdrive is out!

My copy of the the latest BTO release arrived in my mailbox a week ago.  It's called "Bachman-Turner Overdrive 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition".  It's a two CD set, and contains not only two previously unreleased songs, it also has the complete "Japan Tour - Live" album on it with two bonus tracks from their Japan Concerts that were not on the vinyl release of 1977......and that release was only available in Canada.

The two until now unheard songs are "Rough Ride", a Fred Turner composition that didn't make the 1984 album, and "West Coast Turnaround" which was recorded in 1975 for the Head On album, but didn't make that one.  Also is a rehearsal version of "Another Fool".

As a longtime fan it's great to hear "new" material, even if that material has been languishing in the vaults all these years.  It's also great that the well known songs are on as well, even if "Madison Avenue" didn't make this one.

I must also comment on the "Japan Tour Live" material.  I first got this album in 1979 as an import, and couldn't understand why Mercury didn't release this one stateside.  I also couldn't understand why this one never came out on CD.  When Robbie Bachman had his board up, we asked him about this one, and he told us that the master tapes to this one had been lost or accidentally destroyed.  For a long time this was the "holy grail" of BTO material; unobtainable on CD.  It finally made the CD format last year but you had to order it from England, and a snippet of one of the songs was missing.....not to mention that it sounded like a bootleg (the bass was lacking).

This new anthology collection brings us "Japan Tour Live" complete, and with it adequately capturing the bass.

If you're into BTO, you'll want to get your copy as that these days CDs don't seem to stay in print as long as they used to.

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Some odds and ends.

Work has been going well, and I've had the full weekends off again.  I'm not sure how much longer that will last as that I'm being asked about my willingness to work overtime again next year.  2013 will be very busy for us, and my sense is that we'll be busier than we were last year.

These days, that's a good thing.

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With some sadness I have to report that the April Wine official website has taken their forum down.  From what I can gather all interaction between the band and us fans will be via Facebook from here on out.  That's a shame, as that I won't do the Facebook thing, and Myles Goodwyn came out of his shell to start interacting with us in the final six months of the webforum.

I hope that they'll decide to bring back the forums.  I wasn't much of a participant there this year but I sure had fun getting to chat with the fans, as well as with Myles and Brian.

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Weather in southern Arizona has been gorgeous these past few weeks!  I take this as an indication that we're in for a milder than usual winter.  I think we're in for some rain next weekend though.

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That's going to be it this evening.  My sinuses have been killing me this weekend, and I'm turning in early for some rest.

I'll need it; I'm in for a busy week.