Headstones

TrackAlbum
Smile And WaveOne In The Chamber Music
Tweeter And The Monkey ManOne In The Chamber Music
When Something Stands For NothingOne In The Chamber Music
Three AngelsOne In The Chamber Music
Cubically ContainedOne In The Chamber Music
Change My WaysLove + Fury
Far Away From HereLove + Fury
Bin This Way For YearsLove + Fury
Midnight Of This LifeLove + Fury

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Contributor: Jerry Tenenbaum

Headstones are a group out of Kingston, Ontario who rose to fame in the early 90s with a series of excellent rock (I hate the term ‘punk’) albums. They came up at the same time as The Tragically Hip and in fact I heard their lead singer, Hugh Dillon (of TV fame now – Flashpoint and Durham County as well as a recurring role in The Killing and also the lead in Hard Core Logo by director Bruce McDonald) say in an interview that he and Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip went to school together in Kingston.

I am pleased to write about Headstones as I have been a fan since the first albums were released. I became attracted by their cover of Tweeter And The Monkey Man (Traveling Wilburys). They had a run of albums into the early 2000s and then disbanded. Apparently, Dillon had been in rehab many times and realized that part of his problem related to the lifestyle and that he and his family were in trouble if something radical didn’t happen.

And so, Hugh Dillon cleaned up and then came the evolution of a superb acting career that garnered success and awards. A couple of Dillon albums followed; one with a band called The Redemption Choir, and Works Well With Others that was released under his own name in 2009.

Headstones reformed as a band thereafter and released an album, Love + Fury, in 2013 (more excellent rock) and another, One In The Chamber Music, in late 2014. This recent release appealed because it is a creative acoustic representation of some of the older songs presented in a very different way than the originals. It got me to listen to both versions of the same songs side by side and again reminded me of the excellence of this band. Without going into great detail, I present this Canadian creative musical ensemble to you for your consideration here at Toppermost.

 

 

Headstones new album

 

Headstones perform Tweeter And The Monkey Man in concert (above) and in the studio (below).

 

Headstones official website

Hugh Dillon official website

Headstones – It’s All Over (1993) video

Headstones – Unsound (1995) video

Headstones biography (AllMusic)

Jerry’s selection comes from the two recent Headstones releases. These tracks can all be heard on the Spotify playlist. The first five tracks are from this year’s collection of fan-requested new arrangements of old favorites. Follow the video links above for some of the earlier singles.

TopperPost #391

2 Comments

  1. Marilyn Sowa
    Dec 20, 2014

    Definitely Canada’s Finest no matter which way it spins. …Storm before the Calm 🙂

  2. Karon
    Dec 21, 2014

    I travelled over from the UK for the fourth time in 16 months to see the guys play live and was one of the original 20 pledgers of the unplugged gig that was the catalyst for One In The Chamber Music.

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