I have no idea who The Bob Brooks Music Co. and Chorus were, but this album was released in 1976 by Reimer Express Lines Ltd., a Winnipeg-based trucking company. It's the soundtrack to a film produced by Reimer to tell "the story of Canada's young and vigorous trucking industry and how it functions to keep this land alive." The liner notes go on to say that "Day and night, under all kinds of conditions and during all seasons of the year, the people of the trucking industry bring Canadians the goods they need and want"...which reads a little ominously these days, as the trucking industry is getting hammered by high gas prices.

Anyway, To Keep This Land Alive was recorded at The Little Mountain Sound Company in Vancouver (other bands who recorded there: Aerosmith, Loverboy, Metallica, Prism, Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, Motley Crüe, Colin James, Olivia Newton-John, The Cult, Skid Row, AC/DC, Coverdale/Page, Poison, The Scorpions and David Lee Roth) by recording engineer Geoff Turner (R.I.P.), and was written, arranged and conducted by Bob Brooks. The film itself was written, directed and shot by Alf Bayne, with editing by Bert Bush. When I picked this record up at a flea market in Grand Bend, Ontario, I expected it to be a fairly standard country album. There is a bit of that sort of thing, but it's a surprisingly diverse LP. "The Record Setters" is a grandiose, stirring number that I'd imagine must have accompanied shots of stuff like trucks cresting majestic mountains (like on the album cover). "Reimer Country" is a folky, pastoral track performed on acoustic guitar and flute. "The Ontario Swing" starts out as another quiet tune, then swings into a jazzy section and closes with a '70s-style ending; strings, flute, a great bassline and wakka-chicka guitar. And "The Winnipeg Connection," my favourite song on the LP, is a trance-y number that sounds kind of like Stereolab, which leads me to believe that Bob Brooks must have been a fan of Neu! and Kraftwerk.

The Record Setters
Reimer Country
The Ontario Swing
The Winnipeg Connection