Celebrating 25 years of Tricky Woo's self-titled 4-song EP

Hard to believe 25 years have passed since Montreal's Tricky Woo recorded this whumpin' EP with Sir Ian Blurton. Have a listen.

Here's the scoop...

By the time Montreal's Tricky Woo finished their tour promoting their Juno-nominated third album, Sometimes I Cry in 1999, their sound was already moving away from a MC5/Stooges-inspired twin-guitar attack towards a much looser Southern rock onslaught which can be heard on the group's next album, 2001's Les Sables Magiques. 

While some Tricky Woo fans who hadn't seen what the group had been doing on stage in the two years between albums might've experienced whiplash, their was a transitional release which pointed to the group's new direction. The missing link, Tricky Woo's self-titled 4-song EP – recorded at Toronto's Chemical Sound with Ian Blurton – was largely overlooked when it was released as a 10" by the Mag Wheel label. It's unfortunate because that sound would've fit perfectly with what Nashville Pussy, Antiseen, REO Speedealer, The Hookers, Tunnel Rats, and Hellstomper were doing at the time. 

Sez Ian Blurton: "I feel like it was just a continuation of the work we had begun on Sometimes I Cry although it was missing Daryl Smith's input. I think we recorded 5 or 6 songs and if I remember correctly they wanted it more blown out than Cry. Loved the originals and really loved the Johnny Winter jam they did. Maybe it should've been released as a 7-inch instead of a 10-inch?"

One of the reasons why Tricky Woo's 10" EP didn't sell well back in 2001 is likely due to the same four songs "Anibis", "Fool For Your Loving", "Love Narcosis" and "High On A Mountain" appearing alongside tracks by The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs, Black Halos, Gaza Strippers and ADZ on the Triple-X Records multi-artist compilation CD "The Five Fingers Of Dr. X a few months earlier. At the time, the conventional wisdom was, "if it's available on CD, why get it on vinyl?" 

In any case, quite a few copies of that record went unsold,  sitting in a box in the basement of Mag Wheel mainman Woody Whelan for the past 24 years. The good news is Woody will be selling the last remaining copies of Tricky Woo's "lost" 10" artefact on pristine midnight-black vinyl, making them available at a very reasonable price (much cheaper than Discogs or Ebay!) through Toronto record stores Rotate This (186 Ossington) and Gord's Back Room (2227 Dundas St. West at Roncesvalles). Grab a copy while you can – once they're gone, they're gone for good! Have a listen to three songs below.