Whale Music (album)

Whale Music is a 1992 album by Canadian rock band Rheostatics. It should not be confused with the soundtrack to the film Whale Music, which was also composed by the band and released in 1994.

A performance from their concert tour to support this album was released in 2005 as The Whale Music Concert, 1992, a download-only album from Zunior Records.

The album cover is part of a painting by guitarist Martin Tielli.

Honours

In 1996, the Canadian music magazine Chart conducted a reader poll to determine the greatest Canadian albums of all time. Whale Music placed fifth in that poll (behind only Sloan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and The Tragically Hip.) When the magazine conducted a follow-up poll in 2000, Whale Music placed fourth (behind Mitchell, Young and Sloan), and was followed in fifth by the band's 1991 album Melville. In the magazine's third poll in 2005, Whale Music placed tenth. It is one of six albums to have ranked in the top ten in all three polls.

It was ranked 19^th in Bob Mersereau's 2007 book The Top 100 Canadian Albums.

Covers

Barenaked Ladies, who had been guest musicians on the album, also covered "Legal Age Life at Variety Store" on the 2007 Rheostatics tribute album The Secret Sessions. Their version also included guest performers Jason Plumb and Tim Mech. On the same album, The Inbreds covered "Dope Fiends and Boozehounds" and By Divine Right covered "Shaved Head".

Track listing

1. "Self Serve Gas Station" (Martin Tielli) – 4:51
2. "California Dreamline" (Tielli) – 4:21
3. "Rain, Rain, Rain" (Tielli) – 4:20
4. "Queer" (Dave Bidini, Dave Clark) – 5:30
5. "King of the Past" (Bidini, Tim Vesely) – 4:51
6. "R.D.A. (Rock Death America)" (Bidini, Clark) – 2:32
7. "The Headless One" (Vesely) – 3:27
8. "Legal Age Life at Variety Store" (Bidini) – 2:33
9. "What's Going on Around Here?" (Tielli) – 4:13
10. "Shaved Head" (Tielli, Bidini) – 5:06
11. "Palomar" (Vesely) – 4:20
12. "Guns" (Clark) – 1:49
13. "Sickening Song" (Tielli) – 2:54
14. "Soul Glue" (Vesely) – 3:44
15. "Beerbash" (Bidini) – 3:50
16. "Who?" (Vesely) – 3:02
17. "Dope Fiends and Boozehounds" (Tielli, Bidini, Janet Morassutti) – 6:33

Personnel

• Dave Allen (credited on some tracks as "De Vallion String Quartet") – strings, violin, backing vocals
• Barenaked Ladies (credited as "Scarborough Naked Youth Choir") – chorus
• Joey Bechta – tambourine, backing vocals
• Dave Bidini – bass, guitar, rhythm guitar, vocals
• Chris Brown – organ, piano, trombone
• Richard Burgmann – power tools
• Dave Clark – percussion, drums, vocals, power tools, alarm clock
• Matt DeMatteo – producer, engineer, power tools
• Kevin Gould – arranger
• Gene Hardy – saxophone
• Ormond Jobin – producer, engineer
• Tim Martin – accordion, vocals
• Tim Mech – electric guitar
• Lewis Melville – banjo, pedal steel, electric guitar, steel guitar
• Peter Moore – mastering
• Michael Phillip Wojewoda – guitar, tambourine, backing vocals, Egg shaker, Moog synthesizer
• Neil Peart – percussion, arranger, drums
• Pyramid of Stupidity Singers – vocals
• The Raindrops – backing vocals
• Tannis Slimmon – backing vocals
• James Stewart – producer, engineer
• Martin Tielli – guitar, vocals
• Dutch Toko – classical guitar
• Tim Vesely – acoustic guitar, bass, guitar, percussion, piano, accordion, vocals, string arrangements, power tools, mini moog