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Gord Downie & Bob Rock - Greyboy Says

Wailing guitars and an uplifting message make this a winner.

Gord Downie & Bob Rock - Greyboy Says

By Kerry Doole

Gord Downie & Bob Rock - Greyboy Says (Arts & Crafts): The much-discussed collaboration between Canadian rock hero Gord Downie and superstar producer Bob Rock (Metallica, Motley Crüe, Bryan Adams) finally reaches full bloom on May 5, with the release of their double album, Lustre Parfait.


Advance tracks already out have fuelled the excitement, and now here's Greyboy Says, the opening cut and the last the pair created. In a label press release, Rock explains that "Because of what Gord wrote, I had to make the music better. That says a lot about the way that Gord wrote the lyrics. I can't interpret them, I only have what I hear in his words.

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"The first line of the chorus is 'Greyboy says – do what you love,' and I think that sums up the song. Greyboy is somebody that has wisdom, that brings positivity, and belief in the future, to go out and find it, to not be scared or sidetracked by all the things life throws at you.”

The track is a bona fide winner, with a wall of wailing guitars behind Downie's typically lusty and expressive vocals. Both the song's tone and the lyrical mantra of "you can do it, and if you can't, I'm here" are uplifting, and footage of the band in the studio cutting the song enlivens the video.

Assisting Downie and Rock on the song are guests Dexter Holland and Noodles from The Offspring, along with Abe Laboriel Jr., the longtime Paul McCartney drummer, and bassist Jamey Koch on bass, who both feature on the album. 

Links

Gord Downie online

Lustreparfait.com

Website

Twitter 

Facebook

Instagram

Publicity: Ken Beattie, Killbeat

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Johnny Neel during Johnny Neel in Concert at Wetlands - 1992 at Wetlands in New York City.
Steve Eichner/WireImage

Johnny Neel during Johnny Neel in Concert at Wetlands - 1992 at Wetlands in New York City.

Music News

Johnny Neel, Songwriter & Allman Brothers Band Keys Player, Dies at 70

The musician joined the Allman Brothers Band in 1989.

Johnny Neel, songwriter and former member of the Allman Brothers Band and the Dickey Betts Band, has died. He was 70 years old.

His former bandmate Warren Haynes confirmed the news of Neel’s death in a heartfelt social media post. No cause of death has been given. “Aside from being an amazing musician and singer, Johnny was one of the funniest people on the planet — a true character. ‘Johnny Neel stories,’ as we refer to them in our little chunk of the music world, are legendary,” he wrote. “There was always music in his head. It was his savior. Whenever we were writing together, he was an endless fountain of ideas, and the same on stage or in the studio. His uncanny ability to draw from so many musical styles and genres was amazing and his gift for improvisation was unmatched. We wrote a lot of music together, we played a lot of music together, and we traveled the world together, and maybe most importantly, we had a lot of fun times and created a lot of beautiful memories. Hence the stories. Johnny’s music and his legend will live on forever. Miss you Neely.”

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