Skip to main content

Maverick Ad

Home

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Cover Stories
  • Features
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Cashbox Legacy Awards
  • Past Covers
  • Weekly Archive
Toronto’s Rock-Revivalists Original Pairs Warn Us About The Dangers Of Aging Out On “Not Grow Old”

Breadcrumb

  • Home
  • Toronto’s Rock-Revivalists Original Pairs Warn Us About The Dangers Of Aging Out On “Not Grow Old”
Original Pairs
Fri Mar 15, 2024
Cashbox Canada

When you hear a band has penned a concept album about the natural flow of a grand love affair, your instinctive reaction might be “Aww, how sweet.” Now meet Original Pairs. The Toronto rock-revival outfit have chosen to herald the arrival of their new collection, Long Play (OPLP), by releasing “Not Grow Old,” a relationship inventory with a—shall we say—quirkier bent. Check it out on YouTube here:

Lyrically, the song finds a smitten narrator rattling off a series of things his woman could do that he promises wouldn’t scuttle their union—from staying out all night to putting him on hold to talking with her mouth full. But the loping, dark-rockabilly menace of the music hints that there’s going to be a crucial exception:

Don’t say you ain’t been told
You better not grow old

You better not grow old

Alllll righty then. This isn’t “I Will Always Love You”; it’s more like the answer to “When I’m Sixty-Four” McCartney was always dreading.

The song is the stealth-bomb Valentine of OPLP, which traces the evolution of a partnership from its earliest days in a Toronto apartment (“Concord Avenue”) to its inevitable rough spots (“Love Collision”) to the panicky prospect of living out the sunset years together (yep, that selfsame and troublesome “Not Grow Old”).

“The ‘Long Play’ of love isn’t always pretty, but it’s never boring,” the group understates.

And this bunch should know. When they met nearly two decades ago, the group’s Andrew Frontini and Lisa Logan decided to be not just a singer/guitarist and his drummer but a committed couple as well. Lest you assume, though, that OPLP represents some sort of twisted catharsis for the duo—well, they already mined that terrain on Original Pairs’ first album, Forbidden Fruit, whose romantic pop rock documented their “scandal-ridden” courtship.

The real scandal is the way Original Pairs have been setting the Toronto scene on its ear since 2008 with their electrifying brand of rock ’n roll, which incorporates elements of folk, country, pop and psychedelia. Over the years, they’ve settled into a winning lineup of Frontini, Logan, bassist Lynda Kraar and keyboardist Jon Loewen—the perfect vessel for the off-kilter yet accessible songs that flow from Frontini’s pen.

For this third album, the band chose to replicate its in-concert sound by recording “live off the floor” at Lincoln County Social Club, laying down all eight tracks in a frenzied four days. The aim was to recapture the feel of the early-’80s rock scene in Frontini’s native Kingston, Ontario, where he played in a band with Gord Downie, later of The Tragically Hip. It was a time, Original Pairs recall, when the revival of ’60s rock and rockabilly was dovetailing with the development of punk into new wave and postpunk. OPLP attempts to ape that synthesis by harkening simultaneously back to what the group pronounces “rock’s greatest years” of 1965 and 1980.

Listen on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/track/2U28ALvLlVhGRR5V3zRWO3

You can absolutely hear it on “Not Grow Old,” an endearingly retro number that sounds like the mutant cousin of a theme song a surf-garage band would have written for a TV spy show. Webb Wilder cultists will be in twang-guitar heaven. So the question has to be asked: Is the real love affair here the one between the star-crossed paramours on the album? Or is it with rock itself?

Take your time answering. As long as you’re thinking about it, you truly haven’t gotten old.

originalpairs.bandcamp.com

Reviews
Album
Original Pairs
Month: Jun 2022
Pop Sensation  Andrew Cassara Shows He’s “Better Off” & Moving On with Dancy New Single Pop Sensation Andrew Cassara Shows He’s “Better Off” & Moving On with Dancy New…
Rockers Arsenal Mills Unleash Release Supercharged New Single, “Give It Up” Rockers Arsenal Mills Unleash Release Supercharged New Single, “Give It Up”
Durham County Poets Are “Back at the Groove Shack,” Leading the Soulful Way ‘Out of the Woods’ with New Album & Single Durham County Poets Are “Back at the Groove Shack,” Leading the Soulful Way ‘…
Canadian Songsmith Christina Martin Drops Blistering New Single, “In Control” Canadian Songsmith Christina Martin Drops Blistering New Single, “In Control”
Salt Lake City, Utah Pop-Country Artist Elliott Novak “Why Does Everyday Start With Goodbye” Salt Lake City, Utah Pop-Country Artist Elliott Novak “Why Does Everyday…
Heather Charlottetown, PEI Heather Releases Unadulterated Rock ‘N’ Roller“ Sucker Punch…
Janel Rae Explores Inner & Outer Wreckage with Radically Honest “Sometimes” Janel Rae Explores Inner & Outer Wreckage with Radically Honest “Sometimes”
Morgan x Barrie Explores Human Connection & the Search for Our Place in the World with New Album, Lines Morgan x Barrie Explores Human Connection & the Search for Our Place…
Summerside, PEI's Alt-Rocker Soul Filter Say “The City Knows” with New Single Summerside, PEI's Alt-Rocker Soul Filter Say “The City Knows” with New Single
Windsor, ON-Born, NYC-Based Leah Harris’ New Single “Shine” Climbing the Charts Windsor, ON-Born, NYC-Based Leah Harris’ New Single “Shine” Climbing the Charts
Winnipeg's Pop/R&B Artist Stanley Battles With Ego Vs Love In New Single, “Twisted” Winnipeg's Pop/R&B Artist Stanley Battles With Ego Vs Love In New Single, “…
Chris Antonik Blues-Rocker Chris Antonik Explores the Hurt of Being Shut Out in Roaring “…
Frida Maria Encapsulating Every Emotion & Beyond, Pop-EDM Artist Frida Maria Creates “…
Flowshine Calgary Alt-Rockers Flowshine Say “Give It A Go” on their Release of New Single…
Christian Artist Ileen Laura Brings Needed Awareness Scleroderma with “Fight Left In Me” Christian Artist Ileen Laura Brings Needed Awareness Scleroderma with “Fight…

Pagination

  • First page « First
  • Previous page ‹ Previous
  • …
  • Page 69
  • Page 70
  • Page 71
  • Page 72
  • Current page 73
  • Page 74
  • Page 75
  • Page 76
  • Page 77
  • …
  • Next page Next ›
  • Last page Last »

CEO/PUBLISHER/EDITOR IN CHIEF
SANDY GRAHAM

email:sandygrahamemg@gmail.com 

Canadian Journalists:

Contributing Journalist - Canada and Global
Don Graham
email: dongrahamwriter@gmail.com

Contributing Journalist - Canada and Global
Lisa Hartt
email: lisahartt87@hotmail.com

Contributing Journalist - Canada 
Michael Williams
email: greydread@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

International Journalists:

Contributing Journalist - Sweden
Malin Osth
email: malin@musicdays.se

Contributing Journalist - Sweden
Jonas Tancred
email: jonas@musicdays.se

Contributing Journalist - USA
Rob Durkee 
email: rockster2746@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Web Developer/Technical Support
Chris Wardman

email: info@chriswardman.com
website: chriswardman.com

Cashbox Cover Design and Graphic Artist
Jain McMillan

email: jainmcmillan@gmail.com

Contributing Photographer 
Tracey Savein - South Paw Productions
southpawproductions@rogers.com

 

 

 

Footer menu

  • Home
  • Features
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Cashbox Archive
  • Issue Archive
  • Past Covers