Information/Write-up
Produced by John Leckie, the album found the band attempting to expand their traditional folk rock sound in a more guitar-heavy alternative rock direction.
Although the album sold well, and spawned the hit singles "You May Be Right" and "I Am Here", it was not as popular with audiences or critics as its predecessor, 1989's Now and Again. Guest musicians on the album included Phil Comparelli and members of XTC (credited as the Dukes of Stratosphear.)
To promote the third single "A Fishing Tale", the band held a contest on Canadian music video channel MuchMusic entitled "Fishing with the Grapes of Wrath". To be eligible to win, viewers had to submit the name of the magazine that Tom Hooper picks up in the video to win a fishing trip with Tom Hooper, Vincent Jones and MuchMusic VJ Terry David Mulligan.
These Days was the band's final album of new material for almost a decade. Following the album, Kevin Kane left the band, citing creative differences. The remaining members carried on under the new name Ginger.
Kane and Tom Hooper reunited in 2000 to record Field Trip under the Grapes of Wrath name, although the other band members did not participate in that project.
In 1992, the band released a VHS video collection entitled Those Days. The collection comprises all of their promotional videos, with the exception of "A Fishing Tale", since that video was released just after the release of this collection. It begins with the audience from a concert at Massey Hall in Toronto screaming in unison, "The Grapes of Wrath present Those Days". Between each video, there is rare footage of the band, some when they are children.
The collection was re-released on DVD in 2001 under the name Seems Like Fate - The Videos, along with "A Fishing Tale", all of the Ginger videos and Kevin Kane's solo video for "The Sinking Song". The DVD does not include any material from the 2000 reunion record Field Trip.
Kevin Kane: guitar, vocals
Tom Hooper: vocals, bass
Chris Hooper: drums
Vincent Jones: piano
Written by Tom Hooper, Kevin Kane, Chris Hooper, and Vincent Jones
Produced by John Leckie
Engineered by John Leckie, assisted by Ric Arboit
Mixed by Gareth Cousins, assisted by Ashley Alexander
Recorded at Mushroom Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia
Mixed at Abbey Road Studios
Mastered by Steve Marcussen at Precision Lacquer and Greg Lee Processing – L-38381
Photography by Kevin Westenberg
Limited to 800 marble copies
No Comments