Music Inspired by the Group of Seven is a 1995 album by Rheostatics.

The album was commissioned by the National Gallery of Canada to accompany its Group of Seven retrospective show. The album has twelve pieces, most of which are instrumental music. However, snippets of recorded dialogue from the Group of Seven artists, and other contemporaneous figures such as Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Mackenzie King and John Diefenbaker, are mixed in.

Music Inspired by the Group of Seven

None of the twelve pieces are titled on the album cover. However, track 7 is a reworking of "Northern Wish", from the band's 1991 album Melville, and a Rheostatics fansite has compiled a set of unofficial titles for the other tracks which is commonly accepted by the band's fans. Many of these alternate titles were taken from the band's actual set lists, when available.

Music Inspired by the Group of Seven

It is also the band's first album to feature Don Kerr. Kerr replaced Dave Clark on drums. Kerr also interviewed artist Winchell Price, a landscape painter, whose comments on the link between music and visual art open the album as the introduction to the first track.

Music Inspired by the Group of Seven

Track listing

All tracks credited to Rheostatics and Kevin Hearn. None of the songs are officially titled; the names given below are unofficial titles from the website "Rusty Spell Dot Com".

"Kevin's Waltz" – 1:45

"Earth (Almost)" – 7:36

"Boxcar Song (Weiners and Beans)" – 6:35

"Landscape and Sky" – 0:40

"Blue Hysteria" – 3:29

"Cello for a Winter's Day" – 6:24

"Northern Wish" – 4:04

"Snow" – 1:12

"Biplanes and Bombs" – 5:09

"Lightning" – 5:40

"Yellow Days Under a Lemon Sun (Kevin's Waltz Reprise)" – 4:05

"Bye, Bye" – 0:55

Personnel

Dave Bidini – guitar, drums, vocals

Kevin Hearn – organ, guitar, piano, vocals, sampling

Don Kerr – cello, drums, vocals, noise, double bass

Dan Kurtz – violin

The Snowflakes – vocals

The Subliminal Kid – tree trembler

Douglas Tielli – horns

Martin Tielli – guitar, vocals

Tim Vesely – guitar, vocals, double bass

References

1995 albums

Rheostatics albums

Instrumental rock albums