Melville by The Rheostatics

Melville, the Rheostatics' second studio album, landed in 1991 and put one of Canada's oddest, most restless bands on radios across the country. Michael Phillip Wojewoda produced, and Dave Bidini, Martin Tielli, Tim Vesely and Dave Clark tumble through pop and rock with an eclectic streak and a hockey stick in hand: the CD bonus track "You Are Very Star" ends with an announcer calling the band as a hockey team chasing first place against 13 Engines, Scott B. Sympathy and Tom Cochrane. "Record Body Count" was the hit, all over Canadian alternative stations and MuchMusic, and "Horses" gallops hard.

The title is a triple play: Herman Melville, the town of Melville, Saskatchewan, and Lewis Melville, a regular collaborator who sits in on the record. Canadians haven't forgotten it: in Chart magazine's reader polls of the best Canadian albums it placed 16th in 1996, fifth in 2000 and 44th in 2005, one of only 25 records to make the top 50 all three times.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.