In honor of Blue Rodeo’s U.S. jaunt happening this week, I’ve decided to celebrate with Blue Rodeo Week. Here’s where we’ve been so far:

Day One: T is for The Days in Between
Day Two: What am I doing here?
Day Three: Five from Greg Keelor
Day Four: Five from Jim Cuddy
Day Five: Six from two + U.S. tour starts this week!

The tour starts tonight! Go! Go! Go!

SEPTEMBER
17 w Ferndale, MI ~ Magic Bag w/ Catfish Mafia
18 th Chicago, IL ~ Martyr’s w/ Micah Walk
19 f Chattanooga, TN ~ Chattahippie Festival
20 sa New York, NY ~ Highline Ballroom w/ The Sadies!

Alright folks, today let’s talk about career albums. I’m thinking of albums like The Jayhawks’ Hollywood Town Hall, Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville, Springsteen’s Born To Run, Soul Provider by Michael Bolton…..wait, scratch that last one.

Anyway, you get my point. I’m talking about albums that really hit the mark, and provided that moment where everything finally paid off. The artist/band finally make that album that everybody and their brother knew they could make. The record label is smiling, because finally they feel like they might make some money on their investment, or at the very least, not lose any more money. The band is smiling, knowing that they hit it, or sometimes, they might be totally unaware, later blinded by unexpected record sales and success at a point they thought that surely they were about to be dropped.

In 1993, barely a year after the release of Lost Together, the members of Blue Rodeo were plotting their next move. Frontman Jim Cuddy, one-half of the BR creative brain trust placed an important phone call to vocalist/guitarist Greg Keelor:

Jim called me in April ’93 and suggested that we bring the Comfort Sound Truck out to the farm to demo our new stuff, I thought “Great!”; we’d be able to rehearse and record everything live on track and I’d get to stay at home. Great idea.

The farm is a comfortable place to hang out. It’s about an hour’s drive Northeast of Toronto, close enough to be accessible but it feels a world apart. It’s a big old farmhouse with lots of bedrooms, a pond, fields, the moon, the trees and the stars with fireflies and Northern Lights. So in June of ’93 we all moved out to the farm – the band, families and friends. We set up in the living room – Mimi and Mark cooked, people hung out and we played music. It was great to make music in this atmosphere, people always walking around and the sun coming in the windows.

Bazil was in charge of quality control and each day when we finished, we’d listen back to what we had recorded. It quickly became apparent that the quieter songs (the songs where Glenn was playing with brushes, James was pounding away on an upright piano built in 1906, Kim was in his corner on Dobro or Dreamsteel, Bazil on rock steady bass and Jim and I on acoustic guitar), those were the songs that captured the spirit of what it felt like to be sitting in that room playing music.

So we decided, forget the demo, forget the EP, this is a record! At first we thought we’d get real fancy and record an acoustic record, and then an electric record and release them a month apart. But we reconsidered and decided to concentrate on the record before you now. This album was recorded in 5 days, between July 5 and July 9, at the pace of two songs per day (except “Dark Angel” and “Tell Me Your Dream”, which were recorded in Manta Eastern Sound’s studio 3 with Sarah McLachlan on August 16).

With the polished sound of Casino and Lost Together, Five Days in July came as more than just a bit of a surprise to me as a fan. Cuddy counts the band in to the opening moments of “5 Days in May,” for what seemed like it was going to be a stripped down beginning to the new Blue Rodeo album. Interesting stuff I’m thinking, and it’s a cool way to start things off, before the rest of the album kicks into full gear. The next track begins, Keelor’s “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet,” and I’m starting to realize that something was up.

As I scanned the liner notes noticing a variety of special guests, including Sarah McLachlan on four tracks, I knew that I had stumbled upon a very special album. It was as if Blue Rodeo had come over to my house, set up their gear, and invited a few special friends to stop by to jam.

2008 marks 15 years since the release of Five Days in July, and it remains one of the most powerfully moving albums that you’ll ever hear. Recorded under unique circumstance ala The Cowboy Junkies’ Trinity Session album, this is the stuff that dreams are made of for a music fan. Five Days in July is as real as it gets.

Some bands struggle to repeat their success after an album like this. For Blue Rodeo, Five Days in July marked a major change for the band. On the farm, Blue Rodeo found a new way of doing things that would become a blueprint for the recording process of the albums that they would make after Five Days in July.

If you’re looking for a good starting point in the Blue Rodeo catalog, Five Days in July is a sure winner. I hesitate to call this the finest album they’ve ever made, because I think that is an unfair statement to make against the rest of their body of work. They’ve made quite a few good albums, and while Five Days in July is certainly one of them, it is merely one of many. No worries – if Five Days in July gets its hooks into you, you’ll figure out the rest of the Blue Rodeo catalog at your own pace – there’s lots of good listening, and plenty of it!

Here are a few songs from Five Days in July, and also a few videos. I would have freaked out, getting the chance to see Blue Rodeo perform “Know Where You Go/Tell Me Your Dream” live. I did experience a similar thrill when the band pulled out “Dragging On” from Tremolo at a New Year’s Eve show in Hamilton, ON at the end of 2006.

She whispered something softly
And stepped into the light
Can you help me out she said
I’m a little lost tonight
One day love just hits you with a flash
Lights go off around you like some photograph

“Photograph” from Five Days in July

And I wonder if you think of me
As I dream of you
Do you hear the song
That I sing
From this hotel room
‘Cause I see you in the stars above
And in every setting sun
And even though you’re fifteen hundred miles away
I hear you howling at the moon

“English Bay” from Five Days in July

Sun breaks I can’t wait
Til I’ll be on my way again
I’m sick and tired of waiting
With nothing to do
Watching the rain through a crack in the window
It’s the little things that get you through
Like the same sun rising on me
Is rising over you

“Head over Heels” from Five Days in July

Nothing can compare
To how I feel
When I’m by your side
And nothing can compare
To the world
I see in your eyes

“Know Where You Go / Tell Me Your Dream” from Five Days in July

Blue Rodeo – Know Where You Go (2008 live)

Blue Rodeo – Dark Angel (performed live for the CBC in 1993)

Blue Rodeo – Hasn’t Hit Me Yet (live in Ottawa, 2008)

The above video isn’t the greatest quality (i.e. I could have linked a television performance instead,) but is a good visual representation of where “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet” has gone since it was originally recorded for Five Days in July – I get goose bumps every time I see Keelor perform this one live.
Relevant Links:

Read the liner notes for Five Days in July

Purchase Five Days in July – CD or MP3

Blue Rodeo official site