I wrote a little entry about Gowan's concert in celebration of the 25th anniversary of his album Strange Animal. It wasn't meant to trash Gowan, a talented local singer-songwriter, it was meant to point out the ridiculousness of basing an entire tour around the 25th anniversary of an okay album that spawned two Cancon hits.
That was way back in April. At some point last week, a link to that entry was posted on a Gowan Facebook fan page. That's when the Gowan diehards started dropping by to let me know I was completely wrong about their hero.
Ynnad J gave it to me good...
So typically Canadian it is to Sh*t on a Canadian artist. Funny how even 25 yrs later Canadian artists are only relevant every where else but Canada. Well at least "Toronto Mikes" Canada.
The fact that Gowan is still relevant 25 years later is enough reason to celebrate "Strange Animal".
If I'm not mistaken, there were 5 singles and 3 went to #1. But I guess that's still not good enough reason to celebrate anything these days!
Toronto Mike, your opinion fails miserably. So did your album comparisons. Good effort, but not really.
Then Stacey chimed in...
Oh Mike.. you are saddly mistaken... Gowan has many supporting fans.. long-term ones from 1985 (and earlier) along with new ones who discovered him through his gigs with Styx. The CD/DVD is actually quite impressive.. maybe you should check it out.
Then there was Joan...
Those of us who have been fans since those early days were overjoyed at the announcement of those Anniversary shows. As has been noted in other messages here, they sold out very quickly. So many of the people there were 'original' fans like me, but there were also Styx fans who went looking for his music on ebay, i tunes, anywhere they could find it, and enjoyed what they found enough to travel many hundreds of miles to see it performed live. Not one person I spoke to over those 2 days was anything but blown away by the experience.
For those of us lucky enough to have been there, both back then and in the Falls, it was more than a trip down memory lane. This music has been part of the fabric of our lives, and will continue to be. As for the man himself, he is as he has always been, amazingly talented, gracious to his fans..and seriously undervalued by Canadian music writers.
And Marjorie...
I have many thoughts about the negative things said about Gowan - What's wrong with using the 25th anniversary as an opportunity to draw attention to himself again? It probably was an opportunity to release the recording on cd. Whether it is worthy of a tour? Well, I guess ticket sales will determine that - not a critics opinion! My opinion is he's an underated artist and a great entertainer! He has enjoyed new fame through Styx and it's awesome he still focus' on his Canadian work!
There are many other comments, and I've read them all. I'm not suggesting Gowan sucks or isn't worthy of a tour, I'm just saying his Strange Animal album isn't worthy of a 25th anniversary tour. Gowan can tour all he wants, but let's not pretend Strange Animal was Pet Sounds or Dark Side of the Moon or Bitches Brew.
If Strange Animal gets an anniversary tour, so should Boy in the Box, Alien Shores, Shakin' Like a Human Being, Nice Place to Visit and The Trinity Sessions.
We have to draw the line somewhere.
