This came out in 2002 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
The title sounds like a cross between a Robert Mitchum movie, a Tom Waits song and a ’50s pulp novel. That’s the mark of retro-boho-jazzbo poet Ralph Alfonso, who compiled this equally charismatic cavalcade of late-night mood music, superb songcraft and obscure Canadiana.
For the pop fans, there are gems from former Junkhouse master Tom Wilson (the low-wattage boogie Sleep), ex-Payola$ co-founder Paul Hyde (the jazzy electro-soul When Love Dies) and Soft Boys / Katrina And The Waves pop journeyman Kimberley Rew (the jangly Restless Ocean). For historians, there are unearthed treasures from late new waver B.B. Gabor (the classical instrumental Celtic Cross), Teenage Head case Dave Rave (the strummy pop ballad All Over the World) and Rew’s Katrina and the Waves (the bluesy rock waltz That’s Just the Woman in Me). For those with more current tastes, there’s the neo-psychedelic beauty Opiate from up-and-comers Orchid Highway. There are even a couple of Alfonso’s beatnik raps for the hipsters. In other words, almost everything you need. BYO rain, car and insomnia.
