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The Great White North (album)

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Released
  
1981

Genre
  
Comedy

The Great White North (1981)
  
Strange Brew (1983)

Recorded
  
1980-1981

Length
  
44:20

Label
  
Anthem Records (Canada) Mercury Records (U.S.)

The Great White North is a Canadian comedy album by the fictional television characters Bob and Doug McKenzie (portrayed by actors Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas), released in 1981 by Anthem Records (ANR-1-1036) and distributed in the United States by Mercury Records (SRM-1-4034). The title is a popular nickname for Canada.

Contents

Sales and charting

At least one million copies of the album were sold within North America, 350,000 of these within Canada alone which earned a triple-platinum certification from the Canadian Recording Industry Association.

The Great White North entered the RPM Canadian album charts at #3 on 12 December 1981 and rose to the #1 position the following week where it remained until 23 January 1982. Overall, RPM ranked the album #40 of albums released in Canada during 1981.

The Great White North peaked at number 8 on the American Billboard 200 album chart in 1982.

The song "Take Off" (identified on the album as "the hit single section"), featured guest vocalist Geddy Lee of Rush. (Lee and Moranis had gone to grade school together.) It was indeed a hit, peaking at number 16 on the Billboard 100 singles chart in March 1982.

Awards

In 1982, this album received the Juno Award for Comedy Album of the Year.

In 1983, it was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album, but lost to Richard Pryor's Live on the Sunset Strip

Track listing

  1. "This is our album, eh?" - 3:40
  2. "The Beerhunter" - 2:23 This sketch is a beer-drinking game based on The Deerhunter: Russian Roulette with beer cans.
  3. "School Announcements" - 1:52 This sketch features Doug (Thomas) as a school vice-principal who encourages his charges to "have a beer and talk" at his office.
  4. "The Miracle of Music" - 0:41
  5. "Peter's Donuts" - 3:02
  6. "Gimme A Smoke" - 1:59
  7. "Take Off" - 4:45 This track features singing by guest vocalist Geddy Lee of Rush
  8. "Coffee Sandwich" - 2:26
  9. "Welcome to Side Two" - 0:58
  10. "Doug's Mouth" - 3:33
  11. "Elron McKenzie" - 2:28
  12. "Black Holes" - 2:06 There is a backwards message on this track.
  13. "You Are Our Guest" - 2:14 The duo's exaggerated accents pronounce "are" and "our" as homophones for comedic effect. Listeners play the "guest" by reading the enclosed script.
  14. "Ernie's Mom" - 1:54
  15. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" - 4:42
  16. "Ralph The Dog" - 3:11
  17. "Okay, This is the End, eh?" - 1:57
  18. "Honest" - 0:31

Reviews

Liam Lacey's review of the album in The Globe and Mail concluded on a negative sentiment, noting the production was "entertaining listening - about twice. Other hosers are going to find it extremely confusing."

Track #7, "Take Off" is featured in The Simpsons Season 13 episode, "The Bart Wants What It Wants".

"Take Off" is also featured in Ash vs. Evil Dead Season 2 episode, "DUI".

Featured among other classic artists, track #15, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" also appears on a compilation album entitled, A Rock 'n' Roll Christmas II.

"The Twelve Days of Christmas" is also featured as a karaoke song in numerous versions.

References

The Great White North (album) Wikipedia
(Text) CC BY-SA