Kitschenette

Dishes | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 1, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Bullseye Canada
• ASIN: B00013T7MS
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #310,941 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Ghidra

2. Beginning With Breakfast

3. Hot Property

4. Summer Reaction (Crash & Burn)

5. Secret Storm

6. Monopolies Are Made at Night

7. Twilight Zone

8. Somebody Get Down (Do the Housework)

9. Fanmail from Some Flounder

10. A Tale of Two Plates

11. Chef's Surprise

12. Police Band

13. Fred Victor's Mission

14. Walky Talky

15. Monopolies Are Made at Night

16. Secret Storm

17. Beginning With Breakfast

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Dishes--Already a Household Word!, May 7, 2011

By 

Kasey G (Toronto, ON) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kitschenette (Audio CD)

Emerging as frontrunners in Queen Street West's alternative music scene in the mid '70s, Toronto's The Dishes lacked the rebelliousness of their contemporaries The Viletones or Teenage Head, instead opting for a quirky, colorful, proto-New Wave style that was like David Bowie at his artiest meets Roxy Music.

Visually, The Dishes were ahead of the curve as their look pioneered what many '80s New Wave bands would later adopt: sunglasses, sleeveless collared shirts, bowties and cardigans, and sometimes various civil servant uniforms.

The Dishes were part of an important musical movement occuring at the time (they even shared a bill with an up-and-coming Talking Heads) and possess an interesting and enviable history.

With lead singer Murray Ball selling their songs with an unsettling faux-British accent, The Dishes' keyboard and saxophone driven material seems simultaneously sophisticated and delightfully seedy. Many tracks seem blissfully off-kilter like playing an old 45-rpm record without the little yellow spindle adapter.

This release contains the songs from their 1977-78 EPs "Fashion Plates" and "Hot Property" as well as their 1977 performance at the University of Toronto which was filmed for telecast on TVOntario.

Their name was inspired by the fact some of the band members had background in food services and there is a recurring food/kitchen theme running throughout their lyrics. "Chef's Surprise" is a morbidly funny tale of revenge that has the titular character preparing a "ground glass omelet" to protest the takeover of his establishment by a fast-food franchise. "A Tale of Two Plates" is exactly what the title says--a tragic tale of a doomed love affair in the china cabinet ("Her attractive sheen was his every dream"; "Heaven knows she was a tasty dish"). Ball's quivering timbre actually makes the ridiculous tale melancholy. The electronic bleep-heavy "Beginning With Breakfast" explains why the morning meal is the backbone of a successful politician.

One of the best numbers is the Japanese-monster saga "Ghidra", dripping with mock-horror that would make Alice Cooper jealous and its camp sensibility surpasses anything heard on the "Rocky Horror" soundtrack ("Two heads are better than one; three big ones better than none"). Glenn Schellenberg's creepy keyboards help make this the musical equivalent of a nightmare that should have become a Halloween classic.

A few songs take a page from '60s British Invasion. The scorching "Hot Property" borrows it's infectious twangy guitar opening from The Kinks' "Tired of Waiting For You" and could have been a Top Ten hit had it been released two years later in 1980, when AM radio began embracing such acts as XTC, Split Enz and Squeeze. "Hot Property" would have fit right in alongside "Rock Lobster", "I Got You" or "Turning Japanese". "Summer Reaction (Crash and Burn)" pays homage to the Toronto club that only existed during the summer of '77 where "boys in station wagons meet girls in low-rise jeans". "Secret Storm" (named for the infamous soap opera on which Joan Crawford once stepped in for ailing daughter Christina) cleverly rhymes off daytime television staples of the '70s such as "Dinah", "Hollywood Squares", "Ryan's Hope" and "The Flintstones" with a bluesy "Honky Tonk Women"-type pace.

Another stand-out is the irressistible "Monopolies Are Made at Night" (like Freddy Cannon meets The Beau Brummels by way of T-Rex), which features Scott Davey's offbeat backing vocals. Steven Davey's drums play a bigger part than on the rest of the songs and it segues perfectly into "Twilight Zone" after Murray's cute "thank you" to the audience.

The Dishes really do get down on the jazzy "Somebody Get Down (Do The Housework)" which would not have sounded that out-of-place on TK records. A killer guitar hook that propels the upbeat "Fan Mail From Some Flounder" will get stuck in your head for days. These two songs are probably among the first the band recorded as they do have a low-rent demo feel to them, which is fine, but the vocals are especially hard to make out on these.

"Police Story", "Fred Victor's Mission" and "Walky Talky" all flow into each other like a 3-part mini-opera from the 1930s.

It's a shame the band only lasted a few years before disintegrating. The potential was there for much bigger things and I can only imagine what else they could have accomplished with a major record deal and production by someone like Mike Chapman who may have been able to help propel them to the heights of Blondie. Steven Leckie of The Viletones even stated that even though they were "a little light in the wrist" for his taste, if The Dishes had gone to London "they would have killed" (conquered the music scene).

Unfortunately, there is tape hiss running throughout the CD, although it's not as noticeable on the studio tracks. This CD would also play better if all the live tracks appeared in their original order. The track listing is incorrect as it states #9 thru 17 are from the TVOntario concert when in fact #15, 16 and 17 are actually the studio recordings.

The insert contains black-and-white photos and a bio but no lyrics, which is a bit disappointing since their songs have clever lyrics but Ball's vocals are sometimes unintelligible.

Still, this is the only collection of The Dishes on CD and based on songwriting, performance, originality and entertainment, I'd give this material FIVE STARS; the shortcomings of the sound quality and packaging errors rate it THREE STARS.

For those craving more, The Dishes have their own Youtube page and website called "therealdishes" and they also appear briefly in the 90-minute CBC documentary "This Beat Goes On: Canadian Pop Music in the 1970s", which I highly recommend.

The Dishes are an acquired taste, but like any true delicacy, are to be savoured and appreciated by those with a discerning palate. Listening to this CD makes me sad that I was born about ten years too late to experience this musical movement as it was happening. The Dishes truly were "the darlings of the avante garde art-rock scene" and are worthy of rediscovery.