Search - Doug & Slugs :: Cognac & Bologna / Wrap It

Great little band-that-mighta-been (and sometimes still is)

Allan MacInnis | Vancouver | 03/20/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A great album, and a sort of sad story behind it... Last weekend (March 2003) I watched Doug and his current Slugs play a tiny little club, packed, for this evening, with balding men in baseball caps ("whenever you see a guy in a bar with a baseball cap on, he's probably bald" -- D. Bennett) and trashily "dressed-up" suburbanized women with big hair, threatening cleavage and tight jeans. It was a fun, tuneful evening, but I gotta admit -- Doug seemed tired. His voice is still passionate, unique, and a delight to listen to; he still put a lot of energy into his performance; and he knew how to get the crowd laughing, dancing, and enjoying themselves. He emceed an impromptu twist contest, told abundant jokes (mingling with the audience as he always does in such venues), even did a singalong encore of the Stones' "Satisfaction" -- a tune well-suited to his voice. There was, tho', a cynical edge to a lot of his patter, and some of his jokes were flat out hostile; it was softened by the fact that he often poked humour at himself (at one point he told a member of the audience to stop complaining about his monologues, because "half our routine is me talking about how fat I am..."). But sometimes it stopped being funny. He did a routine about how at various points in his career he thought he'd be able to "stop playing in p---holes like these," called himself a "fat a--hole" at various points in the night, bitched about his divorce a few more times than one would've expected, said a few things about audience members that could have gotten him decked, and, when he wasn't singing, generally just wandered off into the corner to wait things out, expressionless. He's a really GOOD showman, and so these things were really no problem -- and none of the bald guys or trashy gals he poked fun at started a fight with him, much to my relief -- but it seems like the years without success have worn him down a bit; while he made sure the audience had fun, I'm not sure that he did. It's too bad -- no pun intended -- because he OUGHT to be one of Canada's patron saints of music, OUGHT to be appreciated more. If Stompin' Tom is our Woody Guthrie, then Doug Bennett is our Frank Sinatra (or Tony Bennett or -- fill in your own blank). This album OUGHT to be in every self-respecting Canadian music fan's collection, just out of sheer loyalty to real Canuck art -- and out of respect to the band for surviving so long, when really they only ever put out one GREAT recording (COGNAC AND BOLOGNA). The reality, though, is that this album -- like the rest of the Slugs' backcatalogue -- isn't even for SALE in Canada; if you want to get it -- and if you like tuneful, smart, cynical pop stuff, like the idea of Raymond Chandler doing standup while a 50's jukebox plays in the background, then you SHOULD get it, by all means -- the only option that I know of is this very site, Amazon.com. The only bit of good news from the March show: it sounds like the Slugs have a current recording contract. Maybe there'll be another disc coming sometime. Who knows; there's life in the man yet, battered about tho' it may be. Like Buk says, "One learns survival by surviving...""

5 stars isn't enough

Allan MacInnis | 12/02/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Cognac & Bologna is one of the all-time unknown gems in pop music. I had the vinyl in 1980, enjoyed it throughout the '80s, and have now rediscovered it on CD a decade later. I don't know how I got through the '90s without it! Brilliant music, brilliant lyrics, great variety - everything just about right. Long live the music of Doug & The Slugs! Viva Vancouver!"

Doug & The Slugs Are On TV!!!

Allan MacInnis | 05/03/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I can't tell you whether you'll like the show, but all Slug fans have got to tune in for the opening credits of "The Norm Show" - Norm McDonald's new sitcom on ABC, following Drew Carey. If you miss this, well, all I can say is: "Too Bad""