Blue Rodeo: Casino [WEA]

Why you'll love it

This remastered 180g pressing comes with a lyrics inner sleeve and a small band poster. Casino went double platinum in Canada and was the ninth best-selling Canadian album of 1990, despite being in shops for just the last month of the year.

This edition

• 180g vinyl
• Remastered
• Lyrics and credits inner sleeve
• Poster included
• Stereo mix

About the album

For their third album, Toronto's Blue Rodeo went looking for a bit of California twang and found it in Pete Anderson, the guitarist and producer behind Dwight Yoakam's records. Anderson tightened the band's country-rock sound without losing the heart of it, and added his own guitar and mandolin along the way.

Every song is a Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor original, and the two trade the spotlight beautifully. "Til I Am Myself Again" is the big one, a rolling, harmony-rich singalong that still fills arenas, while "Trust Yourself" rocks a little harder and "After the Rain" is a tender slow burner. "5 A.M. (A Love Song)" and "Montréal" show off the band's softer side. Bob Wiseman's organ, piano and accordion colour the arrangements, and it was drummer Mark French's one album with the band. Lenny Castro adds percussion, and the whole thing has the easy, lived-in feel of a band at the top of its game.

It also sold 80,000 copies in the US by 1993. At 37 minutes it's just about the right length for a drive from Queen West to the Danforth, traffic permitting, which it rarely does.

Also at Kops: more Blue Rodeo on vinyl · browse CDN Pop / Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On WEA (cat# 1-130382), a reissue of the 1990 album.