Billy Talent

An underappreciated Canadian band, consisting of singer Benjamin Kowalewicz, Ian D'Sa on guitar, Jon
Gallant on bass, and Aaron Solowoniuk on drums.....active in the 00's, still kicking as well I think........their sound is kind of retro-70's/80's punk/hard rock, they certainly had their moments. Honestly, vocalist Kowalewicz can be down right annoying at times, at least to me, but that is fine, the punk/pub hard rock attitude is there, I guess that is what we care about.

First release, "Billy Talent" (2003) is a fair release (their previous releases were under the name Pezz and I don't think I have anything from them), again, fans of 70's/80's punk, you ought to like these punkish, mid-tempo rockers.

A few years passed before the release of "Billy Talent 2", which is something of a more solid release imo, as at least the vocals have been toned down a bit......"Red Flag" and "Where is the Line" are sort-of standouts, but again, if you like the sound, this will be fine by you.

Little changes on "Billy Talent III", it's simply a case of you like this kinda thing, or you don't.......more hard rocking, punk-tinged alt-pop, although I will make the observation that perhaps the boys had their sights set on pop-music success as this album is much slicker and sounds more "produced for consumption" than the previous efforts.

"Dead Silence" was the fourth release from the band (2012), and it includes the fairly fab "Viking Death March" as well as "Man Alive!" and a handful of other winners......a better album than "III" in my estimation.

Those are the four "official" album releases, but do you think I'd come to the party with nothing but those? Of course not......They released a pair of EP's, both entitled "Try Honesty", see the track list below, the second EP is a special "Demos' release.

Got a bit of live material as well, the two disc "Hammersmith Palais 8/9/06" features excellent sound quality, good song selection, and energetic performances. There is also a (2 disc) "Live From Manchester Academy", from about the same time frame, fairly similar setlist but another pretty good in-concert effort.

I didn't recall having this one, but there is a more recent live effort, 2007's "666", carpet-bombed it a minute ago and it's solid, also, not that I ever saw them, but I'd say this was a band that made their money onstage, the live efforts work better (for me at least) than the studio recordings.

Only one thing left, and, like with so many other bands, it's a bit of a pain in the ass....I found a BIG stack of their singles on the Bay.....sometimes I do each single individually, sometimes I attempt to make an "album" out of the collected singles.....couldn't decide which way to go so I think I'll individualize them, because I think they will sound better that way, the way they (I assume) were meant to be  heard. So, check the info below, and grab the singles one by one if you want, and you should have a pretty complete picture of the band Billy Talent.

And, of course, once I start a larger project like this I keep finding shit on the web......I've got a couple of demo albums as well here, found em on the Bay also.....haven't heard them yet, but I'll put em up there if you are interested.......

And THAT, sir, is about all of the Billy Talent I am able to find..........pretty good band, nothing terribly unique but you know what? Not everything needs to be.

Rock N Roll, man.

BILLY TALENT-01 This Is How It Goes/02 Living in the Shadows/03 Try Honesty/04 Line & Sinker/05 Lies/06 The Ex/07 River Below/08 Standing In the Rain/09 Cut the Curtains/10 Prisoners of Today/11 Nothing to Lose/12 Voices of Violence

BILLY TALENT II-01 Devil In a Midnight Mass/02 Red Flag/03 This Suffering/04 Worker Bees/05 Pins
and Needles/06 Fallen Leaves/07 Where is the Line?/08 Covered in Cowardice/09 Surrender/10 The Navy Song/11 Perfect World/12 Sympathy/13 Burn the Evidence

BILLY TALENT II BONUS DISC-01 Beach Balls/02 When I Was a Little Girl

BILLY TALENT III-01 Devil on My Shoulder/02 Rusted From the Rain/03 Saint Veronika/04 Tears into Wine/05 White Sparrows/06 Pocketful of Dreams/07 The Dead Can't Testify/08 Diamond on a Landmine/09 Turn Your Back/10 Sudden Movements/11 Definition of Destiny

DEAD SILENCE-01 Lonely Road to Absolution/02 Viking Death March/03 Surprise Surprise/04 Runnin' Across the Tracks/05 Love Was Still Around/06 Stand Up and Run/07 Crooked Minds/08 Man Alive!/09 Hanging By a Thread/10 Cure For the Enemy/11 Don't Count On the Wicked/12 Show Me the Way/13 Swallowed By the Ocean/14 Dead Silence

TRY HONESTY EP (#1)-01 Try Honesty (Demo)/02 This Is How it Goes (Demo)/03 Cut the Curtains (Demo)/04 Beachballs

TRY HONESTY EP (#2)-01 Try Honesty (Demo)/02 Living In the Shadows (Demo)

HAMMERSMITH LIVE D1-01 This Is How It Goes/02 Red Flag/03 This Suffering/04 Line & Sinker/05 Fallen Leaves/06 The Ex/07 Cut the Curtains/08 Surrender/09 Worker Bees

HAMMERSMITH LIVE D2-01 Prisoners of Today/02 Sympathy/03 Standing in the Rain/04 Burn the Evidence/05 Perfect World/06 River Below/07 Devil in a Midnight Mass/08 Nothing to Lose/09 Try Honesty

MANCHESTER LIVE D1-01 This Is How it Goes/02 Devil in a Midnight Mass/03 This Suffering/04 Line & Sinker/05 Fallen Leaves/06 Cut the Curtains/07 The Ex/08 Nothing to Lose/09 Worker Bees/10 Sympathy

MANCHESTER LIVE D2-01 Standing in the Rain/02 Burn the Evidence/03 Perfect World/04 River Below/05 Encore/06 Red Flag/07 Surrender/08 Try Honesty

666 LIVE-01 This Is How it Goes/02 Devil in a Midnight Mass/03 This Suffering/04 Line & Sinker/05 Standing In the Rain/06 The Navy Song/07 Worker Bees/08 The Ex/09 Surrender/10 Prisoners of Today/11 Fallen Leaves/12 Perfect World/13 Sympathy/14 Try Honesty/15 Nothing to Lose/16 River Below/17 Red Flag

SINGLE 1-01 Nothing to lose

SINGLE 2-01 River Below (Album Version)/02 Lies (Acoustic)

SINGLE 3-01 River Below/02 Standing in the Rain (Acoustic)

SINGLE 4-01 The Ex (Album version)/02 Waiting Room (Live B-Side)

SINGLE 5-01 The Ex/02 Try Honesty (Acoustic)

SINGLE 6-01 Devil In a Midnight Mass (Album version)/02 Devil In a Midnight Mass (Demo)

SINGLE 7-01 Devil In a Midnight Mass (Album version)/02 Red Flag (demo)

SINGLE 8-01 Devil In a midnight Mass (Album version 2)/02 Ever Fallen In Love (Non Album)\

SINGLE 9-01 Fallen leaves (Album version)/02 Fallen Leaves (Live)/03 Prisoners of Today (Album Version)

SINGLE 10-01 Red Flag (Album version)/02 Red Flag (Live)/03 Red Flag (Live #2)/04 Ever Fallen in Love (Non LP)

SINGLE 11-01 Surrender (Album Version)/02 The Suffering (Live)/03 Devil in a Midnight Mass (Live)

SINGLE 12-01 Turn Your Back

SINGLE 13-01 Devil on My Shoulder/02 Don't Need to Pretend

SINGLE 14-01 Rusted From the Rain/02 Cold Turkey

SINGLE 15-01 Rusted from the Rain/02 Cold Turkey/03 Red Flag (Live)

SINGLE 16-01 Surprise Surprise

SINGLE 17-01 Viking Death March (important note: the fucking vikings are 3-0 and have a defense that could KILL a motherfucker!!!!!)

INDUSTRY DEMOS-01 Living in the Shadows/02 Try Honesty/03 The Ex/04 Cut the Curtains/05 prisoners of Today/06 How it Goes

BILLY TALENT III DEMOS-01 Devil on My Shoulder (Guitar Villain Demo)/02 Rusted From the Rain  (Guitar Villain Demo)/03 Saint Veronika  (Guitar Villain Demo)/04 Tears Into Wine  (Guitar Villain Demo)/05 White Sparrows  (Guitar Villain Demo)/06 Pocketful of Dreams  (Guitar Villain Demo)/07 the Dead Can't Testify  (Guitar Villain Demo)/08 Diamond on a Landmine  (Guitar Villain Demo)/09 Turn Your Back (Guitar Villain Demo)/10 Sudden Movements (Guitar Villain Demo)/11 Definition of Destiny  (Guitar Villain Demo)/12 Tears into Wine (Demo)/13 White Sparrows (Demo)/14 Pocketful of Dreams (Demo)/15 Turn Your Back (Demo)

Little bit of work involved in this one, I don't do the big posts nearly as much as I used to (recent ones: Beastie Boys, Blue Oyster Cult off the top of my head)......so do me a solid and check this out, if you are not familiar, there is some good stuff here, I think a lot of you will like it.......if you are already down with Billy Talent, then for certain there will be some stuff here you haven't heard......

Rock On, folks, and by all means enjoy.....