Artist: Boys Brigade, Album: Boys Brigade, Song: Melody

"And all the late night clubbers say, they can still remember the way she used to dance.  Melody danced away right into my heart.  Melody stole my heart and danced away."  Boys Brigade were a new wave band from Toronto, Ontario.  They were Malcolm Burn, Tony Lester, David Porter, Jeff Packer, Wayne Lorenz and Billie Brock.  They formed in 1981 and played underground clubs and speakeasies before graduating to the Queen Street West circuit.  The band was unique in that they had three percussionists.  They had some initial exposure through local rock radio station, Q107's Homegrown Contest which helped get their first single some airplay.  They were later approached by the lighting designer from the band, Rush, with a management proposal.  That fortuitous encounter would lead to Rush's lead singer, Geddy Lee, producing their self titled debut, in 1983 for Anthem Records.  The album spawned a couple of singles but none better than this 80's masterpiece, Melody.  You can check out the song on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvDnha9hH-g).  Unfortunately, this would also prove to be their last album as the band decided to part ways.  Malcolm Burn would relocate to New Orleans in 1988 and begin an apprenticeship in recording production with Daniel Lanois (see blog 9/16/10).  Malcolm got to work with Bob Dylan and The Neville Brothers during that time.  Since then, he has produced albums for everyone from Iggy Pop to Emmylou Harris, who he won a Grammy with in 2001.  You can follow Malcolm at http://malcolmburn.com/.  The original Boys Brigade album is long out of print these days but there were some vinyl copies trading at Discogs and Amazon between $5 and $20.  Thanks for reading and enjoy!