Thursday, November 4, 2010

Artist: The Chains, Album: On Top Of Things!, Song: Her Name Is Love

"I got a new girl, she keeps hanging around. You know she comes from the bad side of town.  Said she knew where to have a good time.  She said take it easy, let go of your mind."  The Chains were a 5pc from Montreal.  They were Alexandre Boivin, Eric Boulanger, Frederic Charest, Jean-Philippe Cournoyer and Sebastien Hould.  They recorded their debut, On Top Of Things!, in 2002.  Their sound would make you think otherwise though.  They perfected the Garage Rock sound of the 60's on this recording and were signed by the coolest indie label on the planet, Get Hip Records, in Pennsylvania.  I heard the band for the first time on Little Steven's Underground Garage.  A syndicated radio program that a lot of regional stations picked up to broadcast on Sunday nights.  He liked to play a real blend of rock music from all decades and he was a big fan of Indie labels like Get Hip.  The song, Her Name Is Love, is the lead off track to the album.  It was written by Boivin and Hould.  Unfortunately, there isn't any easy information to find on the band and it looks like they may have broken up.  Get Hip's website, http://www.gethip.com/, still carries the album but it doesn't appear they are currently working with the band.  There are also a few other bands with the same name which can complicate things.  Nonetheless, if you like your rock straight up, this disc is for you.  It is also available on Itunes.  You can hear the song, Her Name is Love, on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWg_jRBpiNo).  As always, you can hear this song as well as others that I blog about each day on Live 365 (http://www.live365.com/stations/raisedoncndnradio).  Thanks for reading and enjoy!
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1 comment:

  1. Henry R. KujawaFebruary 8, 2012 at 1:39 PM

    I was lucky enough to see The Chains perform live in late '02 at The Balcony Bar (upstairs in The Trocadero) in Philly, a place with notoriously BAD sound, recurring technical problems, and, just before they finally passed that long-overdue "no smoking" law, the 2nd-worst air circulation problem of any bar I've ever been to in Philly. I saw The Minks (girl group) and was there to see Philly's Mondo Topless (AGAIN!), then stayed to see these guys (who were on 3rd-- I was forced to leave before the headliners came on, because I was afraid I was gonna literally choke to death on the amount of cigarette smoke in the place).

    What struck me first and foremost was, HOW DAMNED GOOD THEY SOUNDED in that wretched place. I just knew I had to get the CD. Sure enough, the sound on the disc was as good or better than what I heard in person, and I wound up playing the thing HUNDREDS of times since. It's simply one of the BEST rock albums I bought that year. Pretty impressive from a group I never heard of until they walked onstage.

    I have a follow-up 45 they did 2 years later, "Till You Come Back Home" / "The Boy Who Took My Place", and it's just as good as the rest of the songs. Have these guys done anything since?? (And if so, why not???)

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