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ALBUMS   THAT   MATTER REVIEWS & NEWS ABOUT

Join our team of music fans on
a journey to determine if influential music
from the past has withstood the test of time

THE MONTHLY ALBUM SELECTIONS

Listen to our Sonic Collective member explain the selection for the month. Be sure to follow up the next month to hear the reviews from the group.

Lady Antebellum: Need You Now

March 1, 2021 / Scott Gregory
The Sonic Collective has decided to pick a round of influential country music artists. Member Scott Gregory explains why he chose the Lady Antebellum: Need You Now album. Listen to this selection and then join us back on April 1, 2021 to hear our review of this classic Lady Antebellum album.
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Dwight Yoakam

Dwight Yoakam: Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.

February 1, 2021 / Alain DuPuis
The Sonic Collective has decided to pick a round of influential country music artists. Member Scott Coates explains why he chose Willie Nelson's Shotgun Willie album. Listen to this selection and then join us back on February 1, 2021 to hear our review of this classic Willie Nelson album.
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Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson: Shotgun Willie

December 30, 2020 / Scott Coates
The Sonic Collective has decided to pick a round of influential country music artists. Member Scott Coates explains why he chose Willie Nelson's Shotgun Willie album. Listen to this selection and then join us back on February 1, 2021 to hear our review of this classic Willie Nelson album.
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Dolly Parton: Jolene

December 1, 2020 / Darren Scott
The Sonic Collective has decided to pick a round of influential country music artists. Member Darren Scott explains why he chose Dolly Parton's Jolene album. As we look to explore the most influential albums, a person cannot ignore that the title track Jolene, and another little song that did ok for her and Whitney Houston, I will Always Love You, have to be two of the most influential songs in our lifetime.
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M83: Hurry up, we’re dreaming

November 2, 2020 / Scott Gregory
The Sonic Collective · TSC – November – 2020 – M83 The Sonic Collective · Album Selection: M83: Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming Hi all you people out there in Collective
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FGTH - Welcome to the Pleasuredome

Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Welcome to the Pleasuredome

September 29, 2020 / Alain DuPuis
Welcome to the Pleasuredome is the debut studio album from the British synth-pop band Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Released in October of 1984, Pleasuredome hit #1 in the UK and European charts, eventually reaching triple platinum status in their home country, moving more than 900,000 units. The album found success all over the world as well, reaching the tops of many international charts.
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The Monthly Reviews

Each month our members rotate picking the artists or theme to be reviewed, dissected and discussed. Join us!

Review of Dwight Yoakam: Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc.

March 1, 2021 / Scott Gregory
For February 2021, member Alain Dupuis chose this album, not only because it had a major impact on the shape of country music in the 1980s, but because it seemed like a good pick for us to better explore evolution of the genre through the decades. Listen along and enjoy.
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Review of Willie Nelson: Shotgun Willie

January 31, 2021 / Darren Scott
For February 2021, member Scott Coates picked this legendary and transformational album from Willie Nelson. This is his first album after leaving his former record label, RCA, who Willie felt was over controlling and over producing his previous albums. At 39 years old Willie stated that the freedom his new label Atlantic Records gave him to create this Shotgun Willie album, allowed him to clear his throat, and create the album he wanted. Listen along and enjoy.
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Dolly-Parton-Jolene

Review of Dolly Parton: Jolene

December 30, 2020 / Darren Scott
Our first pick of our country music round of four influential country music artists started with member Darren Scott. He chose one of America's greatest songwriters, Dolly Parton and her Jolene album. Please go back to our last episode to listen to why Darren chose this album and then dive into this review and find out what we liked, and did not like about this classic album.
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Review of M83: Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming

December 2, 2020 / Darren Scott
For our last pick of our double-album round, Sonic Collective member Scott Gregory picked this ambient, synth-pop, adored album, M83's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming. Listen to this full review as we chat about how we enjoyed our pick for November 2020, which marks the 6th anniversary of our podcast. Have a listen to how the album impacted us and what our impressions were.
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Review of Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Welcome to the Pleasuredome

November 2, 2020 / Darren Scott
Please read Alain DuPuis’s pick, Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Welcome to the Pleasuredome, before reading and listening to our reviews below. The Summary Overall Scores Overall opinion: 2.6Would we recommend?:
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Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland

Review of The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Electric Ladyland

September 29, 2020 / Alain DuPuis
Please read Scott Coates’s pick, The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Electric Ladyland, before reading and listening to our reviews below. The Summary Overall Scores Overall opinion: 4.9 Would we recommend?: 4.8
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Musical Musings

Sometimes we just find cool music stuff on the Interwebs that we just have to share.

WiL

Getting to Know WiL

January 19, 2021 / Darren Scott
Welcome to the Sonic Collective. On this special episode we’ll get to know a very talented musician from western Canada. From early days in the Calgary bar scene, building his name as a solo artist, to playing with two supporting players, singer-songwriter WiL has built a loyal following many musicians would love to have. In this fickle business, what’s kept him going for so many years, what does he still love about music, and what’s next?
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A Chat with Sam Roberts - All of Us

A Chat with Sam Roberts – All of Us

November 16, 2020 / Darren Scott
On this special episode of The Sonic Collective, we chat with Sam Roberts, of the Sam Roberts band, about their October 2020 release, All of Us. He goes deep about how the songs were written and sharing it with the world in a time of COVID. But we start by going back in time, with Sam sharing what it feels like to have been recording professionally for almost two decades, being the son of parents from South Africa who immigrated to Canada, what it means to be Canadian, and even some of his musical guilty pleasures. Get ready to hear a very candid Sam Roberts share on multiple levels. Enjoy the musical ride!
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Albums that changed our musical tastes

Albums that Changed Our Musical Tastes

October 13, 2020 / Scott Coates
Scientists say your musical tastes are formed by what you enjoyed in your teens. You hear a song, it resonates, and that style guides your musical tastes moving forward. There’s those monumental albums you can still remember hearing for the first time, all these years later. You likely remember where you were, the time of year, perhaps even what you were wearing, who you were with, and the smell in the air when you first heard it. Today we’re going to chat about just that - albums that influenced and changed our musical tastes.
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An Exploration of Musical Supergroups

July 20, 2020 / Darren Scott
Welcome to the Sonic Collective, and another one of our exploratory podcast episodes. In this episode, we’ll explore musical supergroups. So what is a supergroup? Well, for us, it’s a musical performing group of three or more persons, whose members have successful solo careers, are members of other groups, or are well known in other musical professions. They come together to form an epic alignment of mighty musical talents. For us, this isn’t a duo and they must have released at least one full-length album. These supergroups can also come from any genre. The term can sometimes also be applied to a group that has no specific preferred genre. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and today, we’ll touch on a few that fall in both categories and some in between.
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What Makes a Great Album? Featuring Broadcasting Legend Alan Cross

May 13, 2020 / Darren Scott
There’s been one common thread regardless of genre, time period, or concept, that’s run through each of our album selections. The search for a great album. The entire package. A group of songs that work together to create more than just a few good singles, rather an experience and journey for the listener. So what makes a great album? This is the question and discussion we had with Alan Cross, an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. Enjoy.
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Boredom Cures for the Music Fan

March 22, 2020 / Darren Scott
To help you pass some time and discover some new music, here are my music recommendations for some of my favourite Spotify Playlists, Podcasts, Music Documentaries, YouTube Music Channels and even a link to my vinyl collection that I invite you to look at and you can ask me any questions about.
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The Sonic Collective Members

Meet our team of music lovers.

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Scott Coates

Bangkok, Thailand

Scott has lived in Southeast Asia since 1999, when he co-founded what became one of the region’s most respected luxury travel companies, Smiling Albino. There, he designed and led adventures throughout SE Asia and Nepal before selling out of the business in 2013 to try his hand at other pursuits. While working as a Team Building Consultant, he developed a keen interest in how people learn and grow which led him to serve as Director of People Development with one of the region's largest travel companies, EXO Travel. \An enthusiastic mountain biker, runner, and explorer, he also very much likes bobbing his head to AC/DC while sipping beers.

alain

Alain DuPuis

Calgary, Canada

Alain is a native Calgarian with a longstanding love of music. Groomed on post-grunge and 90s alternative, he seeks to expand his audio horizons ever further, exploring all the genres he once looked down upon. When he's not busy working six days a week like some sort of maniac, he enjoys gaming, obsessing about whisky, working out or frequenting seedy karaoke bars around town.

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Scott Gregory

Calgary, Canada

Scott Gregory is the newest dad of the group and brings his love of melody and music to the Sonic Collective. Scott is always full of facts and seems to have an uncanny love for the women in music. He likes to push the Collective into areas that we may otherwise overlook. Scott loves his new little family, the New York Rangers and all the music he can consume between diaper changes.

darren-scott

Darren Scott

Calgary, Canada

Darren currently lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada where he can often be found in the best live music venues in town (Palamino, Commonwealth, King Eddy's, Broken City, Cafe Koi, etc.) and he is used to being "The old guy" at the young punk shows. Darren likes to know the stories behind the music he listens to and enjoys the musical journey of it all. A "say it like it is" guy in his own words, he tends to go a little off the cuff from time to time. Ok, all the time. He loves his family, friends and Flames and has a sense of humour he thinks is hilarious.

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