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Malcolm Burn
Walk Don't Run / Josephine the Singer - 7"
Anthem - 1988
Mike Milner
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Malcolm Burn has had a successful career as a producer, working over the years with many artists including Emmylou Harris (he produced her Red Dirt Girl album, which won a Grammy in 2001 for Best Contemporary Folk Album), Daniel Lanois and Iggy Pop. Prior to his career as a producer, he was active as a songwriter and musician.
Burn moved to Toronto from his home in Deep River, Ontario in 1981. There, he joined Boys Brigade, serving as vocalist, keyboardist and chief songwriter. He co-wrote their 1983 single 'Melody', which received extensive airplay and which was featured prominently on the video channel Much Music.
In 1988, before he started producing, he released a solo album titled Redemption. While not necessarily a big seller, the record does have its devoted fans. In particular, the single, 'Walk Don't Run', stands out as a classic slice of late-eighties post-new wave guitar-driven rock.
John Whynot, who co-produced 'Walk Don't Run' with Burn, told CM that he and Burn were hanging out quite a bit at the time and decided to go into the studio to work on some songs that Burn had written. As Whynot remembers, Burn did not have an actual band at the time, so Whynot brought in future Blue Rodeo drummer Glenn Milchem and bassist Andy Curran. Rounding things out on guitar was Burn's friend Bill Dillon.
"It was kind of pick-up," Whynot explained, "but each participant was fantastic." The recording of 'Walk Don't Run' was done out at the renowned Grant Avenue Studio in nearby Hamilton, which Bob and Daniel Lanois had recently sold to Bill Doidge. "We had a kind of relationship with the people who had inherited or bought Grant Avenue Studio from the Lanois brothers, and so we went out to Hamilton to do some of the recording. Dan Lanois also got involved along the way, and he ended up remixing some of the songs we did, along with Malcolm."
'Walk Don't Run' came out in two versions, a 7" and also a 12". The song is a pretty straightforward rocker, with a catchy chorus and a wonderful finish (or 'outro', as some might put it). As one might anticipate, with Lanois involved, it is well recorded and mixed, and as a result received considerable airplay, especially on the local alternative rock station CFNY-FM (where I remember hearing it with Burn actually introducing himself over the song's intro).
Of course, soon after Redemption, both Burn and Whynot left Toronto and headed south of the border to seek their fortunes. "Right after all this," Whynot recalled with a touch of humour, "Malcolm went off to New Orleans to work with Dan on some other projects: some band called the Neville Brothers and some guy named Bob Dylan. I went to LA shortly after, too, so we weren't hanging out so much anymore. Still pretty good friends, though."
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