Grant McLennan "In Your Bright Ray"

Grant McLennan “Do You See The Lights” (mp3)

Grant McLennan “Who Said Love Was Dead” (mp3)

By the beginning of the latter half of the nineties, I found that I had really growing tired with the whole music scene in general. I never “got” grunge when it permeated the airwaves in the early nineties but then again I never “got“ hair metal in the later half of the eighties either. To my ears the two were basically the same product in a different package; too much posturing and not enough melodic sensibilities.

I did “get” brit-pop for a bit and actually enjoyed some of the acts and their records (i.e., Gene) that comprised it but like the above, the posturing became a bit too much after awhile. And don’t get me started on the whole American alterna-scene where every band wanted to sound like Pavement but lacked any knowledge whatsoever about the bands that had previously inspired Pavement themselves.

Obviously I was feeling a bit disillusioned by this point with the whole thing and thus spent a majority of my musical recreation time listening to acts who were more concerned with both pop melodies and gorgeous harmonies the way the Beatles and the Kinks had been thirty years prior and who weren’t so, dare I say, obvious. I bought many records that fit this general description from the likes of the Pernice Brothers to Eric Matthews to Cherry Twister, all of them holding a special place in my heart as they were my personal soundtrack for when I first moved into the city.

Another record released around the same time was the fourth solo outing from Grant McLennan, In Your Bright Ray, which I snapped up and devoured in countless sittings for what was probably the next 2 years. It’s a wonderful album. I specifically remember several occasions where I was laying on the couch with the windows open and a cool breeze intruding into the apartment while this record was playing in the background. The first song presented above is probably the most melodic piece found on the album while the latter is probably the most Go-Between-ish; everything else on the album falls smack dab in the middle of those two. I’d say that this was probably Grant’s most complete sounding record with not a dud on it and I can’t describe the sadness that comes over me knowing that another one such as this won’t be forthcoming in light of last year's tragic events.