Can-Con 45 Of The Day - May 26

Can-Con 45 Of The Day - May 26

Postby radiofan » Fri May 25, 2018 9:31 pm

Today's Can-Con 45 is from 1973 ... Tom Middleton and his version of Todd Rundgren's "It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference" ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZWnNN8DfNY

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Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
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Re: Can-Con 45 Of The Day - May 26

Postby Richard Skelly » Sun May 27, 2018 1:44 am

If he’d emerged a year later, Victoria native Tom Middleton could well have been one of the first artists on Mushroom Records. He certainly recorded at Mushroom Studios in 1973, either just before or just after it changed names from Can-Base.

Around 1970, a stock-market listed company had purchased the bunker-like Aragon Studios on West 6th Avenue from longtime owner Al Reusch. The new owners upgraded the facility, renamed it Can-Base and installed ex-Americans Mike Flicker and Howard Leese to handle sessions and artists respectively.

Both Flicker and Leese get credits on It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference. By choosing a less-known Todd Rundgren song for Middleton, the Can-Base/Mushroom techies set a precedent they’d soon follow with studio band Songbird. One of the very first releases by the new Mushroom Records was Dirty Work by Songbird, a project to which multi-instrumentalist Leese also contributed musically. As Middleton relied on a Rundgren cover, Songbird chose a Steely Dan album track never released by the Becker-Fagen band uas a single.

Still lacking the Mushroom Records label, Flicker and Leese, along with studio management, likely negotiated a deal for Tom Middleton to sign directly to Columbia Records Canada. Future Middleton releases on Columbia included One Night Lovers and I Need A Harbour For My Soul. Released in 1976, both singles and accompanying album were overseen by Bob Gallo, the in-house producer for Columbia Canada.

Before cutting Tom Middleton loose, Columbia re-released It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference. It didn’t. Tom eventually quit the biz and hired on at Canada Post.
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