Great Canadian bands

From Vancouver, Sons Of Freedom were a breath of fresh air when they appeared in the late 80's. They were a big forerunner of the 'grunge' sound that was soon to explode from the neighbouring pacific northwest in a few years. 

This is their first album from 1988 and has a raw energy to it that punches you in the face, in a good way. Very much a soundtrack for what was coming out of the Vancouver underground at the time, Jim Newton's voice just has a little something to it that stands out. He's not rough, he's not depressed and he's not trying to sell you anything. He's just got a haunting howl that tells you stories about a world you knew existed, but were too afraid to ask about. Even the instrumental, "Super Cool Wagon", which has the best song title ever, tells you more than most songs with lyrics.

"The Criminal" was featured on Much Music and it looked like this band was on their way to much bigger and better things. The next album "Gump", released in 1991, is even better and debuted ahead of Nirvana's "Nevermind" on Canadian campus radio when it came out. 
The band broke up in 1992 and disappeared until a brief 1995 reunion tour for the rarities collection, "Tex".