Unrepentant

Good King Wenceslas – The Skydiggers

Canadian band The Skydiggers managed to gather a substantial following in their homeland, and they had the distinction of being the first (only?) Canadian act signed to the Enigma record label in 1989. Enigma was distributed by Capitol Records/EMI in those days, and so I had something of a hands-on relationship with the band. Their vocal-harmony, semi-acoustic rock sound was quite popular in the day (the band often being compared to early REM), and the band did well.

In the early ’90′s Capitol/EMI released a radio-only CD sampler of Christmas Music, and I managed to get a copy of that limited edition run, which included this Skydiggers track. The song, highly sought out by fans due to it’s rarity, was finally released commercially in 1999 on the album “Still Restless: The Lost Tapes”, a different recording of the band’s 1992 disc Restless (both which appear to be out of circulation today, although you can still purchase this single). The 1996 bankruptcy of FRE Records had left the original album, the band’s 2nd and most popular, unavailable in record stores due to legal uncertainties aound the ownership of the master tapes. When the band failed to regain control of those master tapes, they chose to release the rehearsal tapes they had made prior to the recording of Restless, as well as 2 additional tracks, including this one.

And so take a step back to 1991, and a glimpse into the Canadian music scene of that era: “Good King Wenceslas” by The Skydiggers

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The 12 Days of Christmas Music

1. Call Collect on Christmas – James King Band
2. Christmas Day – Oscar Jordan Band
3. Baby It’s Cold Outside – Leon Redbone and Zooey Deschanel