THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Loverboy guitarist Paul Dean is excited about the recent release of the long-lost debut album by his band The Fox (later changed to Canada-Fox), formed in 1969 in Vancouver, a full decade before Dean would co-found Loverboy with Mike Reno and Doug Johnson.
The other members of Canada-Fox on the previously unreleased album were vocalist organist, songwriter and arranger Clyde Harvey, bassist Brian Newcombe and drummer, vocalist and songwriter Billy McBeth.
Ten songs were recorded by the group in 1970 in a Toronto studio after getting picked up by RCA Canada, an event Dean only recalls by seeing pictures of them “signing something” with the label boss. The band got dropped after two singles, leaving the original lacquer acetates of the album with drummer McBeth, who copied it onto a CD and sent it to Paul. Dean then isolated the vocals and instruments from the original two-track stereo. “I polished those suckers for literally months, restoring them with these new software programs, much the same way The Beatles reconstructed Now And Then. It was a great learning experience, and yeah, I’m a real tech nerd,” says Dean.
“I was blown away by these songs that I hadn’t listened to in over 50 years, and then I dove right in, looking for ways I could update them, from a technical point of view. I wanted to clean up all the little flaws, rebalance the instruments, make it loud and clean with no outside noise, so — on with my producer/mixer hat.”
Remixed and remastered, Canada-Fox offers a compendium of blues, soul, R&B, funk and psychedelia that both recalls those halcyon times, but also remains timeless and modern, sounding as if it was recorded yesterday. Highlights include a spirited mash-up of The Beatles’ Day Tripper and James Brown’s Licking Stick, which has Dean aping a classic George Harrison guitar lick, then taking it to the bridge. “That’s my favorite track on the record,” says Paul. “It’s just so funky, and Clyde really nails it.”
Coochy Coo is a blues-rocker with a cheeky, sensuous backbeat, while Livin’ My Life has a country feel and a classic Dean guitar solo. These, along with a gloriously funky take on Sly Stone’s Sing A Simple Song, were recorded in 1971 in Vancouver and Edmonton, respectively. Dean’s sole writing and lead vocal credit, Mr. Tall, shows him vamping like his idol Jimi Hendrix, which can also be heard on the heavy instrumental, The Fox. “We‘d listen to Hendrix on our PA system, which we unpacked and set up in the basement of our band house,” says Dean. “In fact, we used to cover Foxey Lady and Voodoo Child in our set.”
The Fox toured extensively through the country, making a name for themselves opening for Steppenwolf in Calgary, then at the Orange County Rock Festival in Edmonton. The band also appeared at the local Calgary date for the famed Festival Express, the train-touring music event which crossed Canada featuring Janis Joplin, The Band and Grateful Dead.
To mark the occasion, the band’s manager Lou Blair, who later went on to the same position for Loverboy, suggested the boys cut their long hair as a publicity stunt, which was duly noted in the local paper to mark their three-night stand at Calgary’s Apollo club. “They gave us these pointy sideburns, which was even more ridiculous,” laughs Paul, “Lou turned it into big news, but the downside was all the people who knew us thought we were narcs.”
As for what’s next, Dean says, “Everyone is still alive and kicking. My manager Jonathan Wolfson suggested putting the band together and touring, and well, maybe. It was a pretty rockin’ band back in the day. But for now, we want to put this album out as a service to our fans, who might find some interest in what we were doing more than 50 years ago. It’s a labour of love really, a way to say thanks for the decades of support.”
