Catch Stevie Nicks at Rama June 21-22
By JANE STEVENSON, SUN MEDIA




Stand back, stand back. Stevie Nicks is coming.

The sometime Fleetwood Mac singer pulls into Casino Rama on June 21-
22 with tix, $85 and $100, on sale Tuesday at the Rama box office,
all Ticketmaster locations, by calling 416-870-8000 and online at
casinorama.com.

A limited number of advance tickets for Players Passport Club
Members go on sale Sunday in person at the Casino Rama box office.

Here's the rest of the June lineup at Rama, with the same on-sale
information as above: America, June 1-2 ($25, $30); The Music of Led
Zeppelin: A Rock Symphony featuring guest Conductor Brent Havens &
vocalist Randy Jackson, June 8-9 ($30, $35); Tony Bennett, June 12-
13 ($50, $60); Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, June 14-15 ($35,
$40); Chicago, June 19-20 ($37, $42); Reba McEntire, June 25-26
($60, $70); and Travis Tritt, June 29 ($35, $40).

In other concert news:


- Simply Red plays the Hummingbird Centre on April 30 in support of
a new album, Stay. Tix ($85.50, $59.50, $45.50 and $25.50) are on
sale Monday at the Hummingbird Centre box office, Ticketmaster, by
phone at 416-872-2262 or online at ticketmaster.ca or hob.ca.

- Ben Folds visits Kool Haus on April 6 with tix, $32.50, on sale
today at Ticketmaster, Rotate This, Sonic Temple, by phone at 416-
870-8000 or online at ticketmaster.ca or hob.ca

- Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance fame touches down at the Music Hall
Theatre on May 13 with tix, $35, on sale next Thursday at the above.

- Nas bring his Hip-Hop Is Dead tour to Kool Haus on April 17 with
tix, $44.50, on sale now at Ticketmaster, Play De Record, Rotate
This & Soundscapes.

- Hellogoodbye, in town for a special CMW showcase at the Reverb
tomorrow night, return to play Kool Haus on April 19 with special
guests Boys Like Girls and The Hush Sound. Tix, $18.50, go on sale
today at Ticketmaster, Rotate This, Sonic Temple, by phone at 416-
870-8000 or online at ticketmaster.ca.

- Joseph Arthur & The Lonely Astronauts play The Mod Club Theatre on
May 25 with tix, $18.50, on sale today at the above.
http://torontosun.com/Entertainment/Music/2007/03/09/3719818-sun.html
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Husband-and-wife duo crafts dreamy pop record
By: ERIC MARTICH
Staff Writer
Issue date: 3/14/07 Section: A & E
PrintEmail Article Tools Page 1 of 1
[Click to enlarge]


Back Numbers
Dean and Britta
Rocks like: The Velvet Underground, Luna


out of



Male/female musical duos are often a dicey proposition.

Fleetwood Mac singers Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks gave the
band a romantic tension that propelled them into the spotlight, but
the ensuing affairs between members also tore the band apart.

Listeners looking for that sort of dynamic in Dean Wareham and
Britta Phillips' sophomore release Back Numbers will be left wanting
more, though the album does often resemble the sort of ethereal pop
that made Fleetwood Mac famous.

A more appropriate comparison for Back Numbers might be The Velvet
Underground's '67 debut, The Velvet Underground and Nico. For one,
Wareham's voice bares a startling resemblance to that of The VU's
Lou Reed. Like Reed, his singing is so intimate and relaxed (not to
mention atonal) that it sometimes sounds more like beat poetry than
rock. Phillips' sweet, airy vocals sound nothing like Nico's
Teutonic crooning, but both singers serve as a dreamy contrast to
the earthy voice of their male counterpart.

Also like The Velvet Underground and Nico, Back Numbers largely
finds Dean and Britta taking turns singing rather than harmonizing.
The album opener, "Singer Sing," sung by Phillips, is driven by both
her sparse keyboard playing and an understated beat that sounds
borrowed from The Postal Service.

On the other hand, songs dominated by Wareham's vocals, like "Words
You Used to Say" and "White Horses" center more around his acoustic
guitar playing than studio wizardry. Overall, though, both musicians
contribute immensely to each track on an instrumental level if not a
vocal one.

Not surprisingly, Back Numbers shines most when Wareham and Phillips
share vocal duties. The song "The Sun is Still Sunny," on which the
two spend the most time harmonizing, possesses a beauty that far
surpasses the rest of the album. The wonderfully complementary
quality of their voices, combined with wistful lyrics like "The sun
is still sunny/The grass is still green/And I haven't forgotten your
name" give the song an intimacy that the rest of the album only
hints at.

Likewise, the final song, "Our Love Will Still Be There" finds the
two singers sharing chorus duties. There's nothing particularly
outstanding about the song, but it's one of the few moments when the
duo acts like a couple. Their voices interweave to deliver the
line "I'll even love you if the world stops."

It's a moment where they come closest to combining all of their
strengths: gentle acoustic guitar, dream-like production and voices
that were made for each other. What's more, the lyrics actually
start to capture that Buckingham/Nicks quality that's bubbling under
the surface of the other songs.

As a whole, there are few weak spots on Back Numbers. The
songwriting, the musicianship and the production are consistent
throughout. The only thing the album comes up relatively short on
are moments when the two sound as one. Both artists shine immensely
on their own terms, but the few transcendent moments in which their
voices combine leave the listener hungry for more.
http://media.www.pittnews.com/media/storage/paper879/news/2007/03/14/
AE/HusbandAndWife.Duo.Crafts.Dreamy.Pop.Record-2774765.shtml