''Two Headed'' is a 1995 album by
Spirit of the West
Spirit of the West were a Canadian folk rock band from North Vancouver, active from 1983 to 2016. They were popular on the Canadian folk music scene in the 1980s before evolving a blend of hard rock, Britpop, and Celtic folk influences which m ...
.
It is the band's darkest and heaviest album, with many songs directly addressing the subject of
death
Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...
.
Ken Marshall, a noted
Canadian
Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
producer of
industrial music, produced the album, giving many songs a densely layered, textured production which results in an almost
psychedelic
Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluci ...
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...
sound.
The album reached #20 on ''
RPM
Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines.
One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz.
Standards
ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...
s Top 100 albums chart the week of July 31, 1995.
"Tell Me What I Think", the album's first single, was a notable hit, peaking at #25 on the ''RPM'' singles chart the week of August 14. The song was also released on
CD single
A CD single is a single (music), music single in the form of a compact disc (CD). Originally the ''CD single'' standard (as defined in the Rainbow Books, Red Book) was an 8 cm (3-inch) "mini CD" (''CD3''); later on the term referred to any si ...
, with several remixes by Marshall. The song's video, directed by
Morris Panych
Morris Stephen Panych (born 30 June 1952) is a Canadian playwright, director and actor.
Early life
Panych was born in Calgary, Alberta and grew up in Edmonton, Alberta. He studied at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, and the Universit ...
, was choreographed around a fixed-location camera. However, despite the song's chart success, the video became their first in many years ''not'' to receive significant rotation on
MuchMusic
Much is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. It is headquartered at 299 Queen Street West in what was o ...
.
Promotion
In promotion for the album, Spirit of the West was featured on the cover of the June 11, 1995 issue of ''RPM'' magazine. The cover featured the band dressed in
drag.
Track listing
All songs by
John Mann and
Geoffrey Kelly
Geoffrey Kelly (born October 23, 1956, in Dumfries, Scotland) is a Canadian rock musician. He played guitars, flutes and bodhrán for the folk rock
Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and Amer ...
.
#"Wishing Line" – 3:49
#"Blood and Honey" – 4:56
#"Tell Me What I Think" – 3:53
#"Never Had it in Me" – 4:25
#"Scaffolding" – 5:07
#"Two Headed" – 3:52
#"Unplugged" – 3:14
#"Mildred" – 3:37
#"Pretend is Fun" – 3:24
#"Can't Accept the Saint" – 5:22
#"Pin-Up Boy" – 4:43
References
{{Authority control
1995 albums
Spirit of the West albums