If You Only Knew

It was 1977 and I was just 17…
I had answered a newspaper ad for “songwriting talent” posted by Art Snider, head of A&R at Periwinkle Records. My dad helped me record a two song demo tape on his SHARP 1/4″ reel to reel tape deck. Dad took it upon himself to drop the tape off to Art personally at the record company offices. Art must have liked what he heard as he had me in Sound Canada Recording Studio later that month. We recorded “Just A Silly Song” and “The Alien”. Dave Betts of Honeymoon Suite fame (we were school chums at the time) played drums. Most of the songs on this album were written around the same time in 1977. Adding a few new songs written in 1978-79 we released “If You Only Knew”. As a recording, it’s unlistenable to me now, but I can certainly appreciate what Art must have heard in some of the songs. A few of which I think hold up pretty well.

Joe Thomson: keyboards, guitar, vocals
Steve McNee: drums, vocals
Tom Lewis: bass, vocals
Russ Walker: guitar, flute

Produced by Russ Walker and Joe Thomson
Engineered by Chad Irschick
Recorded at Inception Sound, Pyramid Sound and Sound Design
Mixed at Inception Sound

Art direction and photography by Geoff Campbell

Museum of Canadian Music Musée de la Musique Canadienne Calgary Vinyl Music Museum Canada Museum of Recorded Sound Canada Music Museum Calgary Music Museum