I managed to find this cassette, the “Summertime Favorites / Préférés De L’été“, during my travels through southern Ontario. Since rock compilations (or at least the concept of the rock compilation) is an influences of the Cottage Country Mixes , I thought I would post it. Plus, It doesn’t get much more Canadian and nostalgic than this. Here we have a promotional cassette by PolyGram Group Canada Inc. that was probably given away at Music World, the now defunct Canadian music retailer, in conjunction with another iconic Canadian brand, Vachon, the pastry maker. The question (and the answer) is: why?
This compilation was meant to promote A&M / Polygram’s mostly rock-oriented offerings of that summer: Soundgarden’s Superunknown (with “Spoonman”); Bryan Adams’ So Far So Good (with “Summer Of 69”); U2’s Zooropa (with “Lemon”) and inexplicably pop-reggae crossover outfit Chaka Demus & Pliers’ with their breakthrough album All She Wrote.
The compilation included a cutout coupon so you could pick up any of the albums (from which the songs were featured) for $2 off. Following that they hope, with your two dollars saved, you will run to the nearest grocery store and by a box of Half Lunes / Moons maybe while you listen to “Summer of 69“. Or maybe, they were hoping you would pop this into your Walkmans and scarf down a Joe Louis while you listen to Sting’s “If I Ever Lose My Faith In You”. Or maybe you are one of those “I listen to everything”-types and like a little reggae on the side with your rock and roll, well there was nothing bigger than “Murder She Wrote” that year, too bad that is not on here. Instead, we have Chaka Demus & Pliers’ “She Don’t Let Nobody”.
Dougie Boom's Cottage Country Mix 