| If you lined them up together, it would be an impressive sight and sound – Ian Tyson, Jan Arden, k.d. lang, Billy Cowsill, Diamond Joe White, The Co-Dependents, and… well, you get the picture. These are just some of the people Neil MacGonigill, founder of the Indelible Music record label, has worked with during 40 years in music.
While it is tempting to describe him as a manager, he consistently deflects the label. "I don’t like the word manager – it doesn’t describe what I do. I am a person who loves music, who loves turning people on to music. It’s like I am another band member, only I don’t need to get on stage," MacGonigill says from the basement of his Lakeview home, surrounded by historic gig posters, albums and several Juno Awards his artists have earned.
"I am a friend, a roadie, an accountant, a psychiatrist – but I don’t like the word manager."
When MacGonigill talks music, people listen. When he releases music, people snap it off the shelf. Such is the reputation for quality fostered by Indelible Music, the label responsible for some of Calgary’s best-selling albums including Live Recording Event and Live at the Mecca Cafe Volume 2 by The Co-Dependents, The Embassy Sessions by Karla Anderson and Billy Cowsill: Live from The Crystal Ballroom, all of which held the number one spot on the revered Megatunes chart.
His golden ear is the product of passion for music and years of involvement in many aspects of the industry. The Innisfail native grew up in Bowden (or Boredom as he renames it) but took off for Calgary and a job in a record warehouse as soon as he could. He recalls waiting on the steps of the warehouse every morning by 7:30 a.m., before the place was open, so eager was he to read liner notes and hear tunes. Stints as a record rep for several labels followed before he became more involved on the musicians’ end when he began organizing tour dates for Diamond Joe White in the 1970s.
He recalls being the road manager for k.d. lang in the mid ’80s before she became a huge star. Then a music writer for a national paper, he was on the tour selling merchandise to get an angle for the story. In Kenora, lang played to a small town crowd who didn’t know and didn’t care. Not a single T-shirt or album was sold. "At the end of the night, some big guy came up and asked, ‘How much for an album?’ When he found out it was 10 dollars, he bought it, took it out of its cover and smashed it to pieces right there. It was quite a tour," remembers MacGonigill.
With a collection of so many memories to choose from, it is not surprising that MacGonigill has collected the sweeter musical moments on a new Indelible album, Beautiful Dreamers – Alberta Sessions, to be released this week. Sure enough, there is a track by lang, "Busy Being Blue," from the same time period as the Kenora incident and "Tom Blasingame" by Tyson from that era as well. Alongside them are 17 other tracks by everyone from David Wilkie to Jane Hawley to The Co-Dependents. Several of the tracks are previously unreleased.
While the record is impressive in its quality and diversity of style, it does not give the whole picture of MacGonigill’s musical journey. Arden, for instance, did not respond to the request to send a song. The whole undertaking was complicated, with permissions coming from and royalties being shared equally by the artists. "I had some other really neat tracks here, but I narrowed it down to people I had worked directly with and only Alberta artists. There will be a second volume and it will be broader."
Even among the cream, there are some standout tracks. Anne Loree’s song "Happiness is Not for Sale" is given a punchy treatment by Clea Roddick. Chad Downey does a convincing portrayal of a well-travelled heart with "Shut You Down," a Chip Taylor/David Mansfield composition. Beautiful Joe’s "What’s Your Sign?," Wendy McNeill’s "Fall Girl" and "Constant Stimulation" by Steve Abma all stay in your head after the last note fades.
All in all, it’s a great album for "turning people onto music," still MacGonigill’s passion after all these years. When I confess a bit sheepishly I have a burned copy of the album in my truck’s CD player, MacGonigill actually approves. "Burned copies aren’t a bad thing. People hear it and love it and then go buy it for their friends. In my day, people took records and played them at parties, lent them to their friends. It’s all the same idea of turning people on to music, just the technology has changed." |
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