I had planned to review this tomorrow morning,
but I have a lot of chores tomorrow and with Sheila watching some Project
Runway the time is now.
Disc 1257 is… Trouble at the Henhouse
Artist:
The Tragically Hip
Year of Release: 1996
What’s up with the
Cover?
A dog with a murderous look on its face, looks to make some trouble…at the
henhouse. We don’t know what the chickens might have done to bring the nasty
out in this dog. However, I have raised chickens and can attest that they can
be pretty dumb and even downright insensitive.
Dogs aren’t the sharpest minds either, and we can only hope that a
sensible cat will come around and sort this situation out before things get any
more out of hand.
How I Came to Know
It: I
think Sheila bought this in a bargain bin years ago. I could be wrong, since
she doesn’t buy a lot of CDs. Then again, she does love a bargain…
How It Stacks Up: We have five of the Tragically Hip’s 13 studio
albums. Of the five, I must reluctantly place “Trouble at the Henhouse” in last
place.
Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4
It’s not often I enjoy wall-of-sound production, but “Trouble at the Henhouse”
made me a believer. This record is rock and roll, with reverb and sustain
painted all over it. Unexpectedly, I liked it.
The Hip are a Canadian icon, but despite this record climbing to #1 and spawning
five top 40 singles, I mostly remember it for its biggest song, “Ahead by a Century.” That song is a
gorgeous and wistful rock journey with a slow steady build and a lighter touch
on the production than you might expect from my lede above. I liked this song
when I first heard it over twenty years ago and it still stands the test of
time.
However, I also appreciated when the music gets lush and dense. “Gift Shop” opens the record with layer
upon layer of brilliance from guitarists Rob Baker and Paul Langlois. I’m not a
big enough Hip fan to know who plays which parts, but I love the way the guitar
on this song cuts through the thick production like a shark cruising deep
water.
Even “Flamenco” which is a
quieter song, still has an ambience to it that makes you feel like you’re
floating. “Flamenco” also shows off the
genius of lead singer and chief lyricist Gord Downie. Downie sings with a light
otherworldly vibrato that makes you feel like he’s tapping into some other
wavelength that you can’t hear. This effect is magnified by his propensity to
write lyrics that are non-linear yet somehow metaphorically compelling. There
are many great lines on the record, but these ones from “Flamenco” called out to me on this listen:
“Walk like a matador,
Don’t be a chicken-shit
And turn breezes into rivulets
“Flamenco-sweep the air
And weave the sun
And stamp your feet for everyone.”
The song doesn’t follow a narrative so much as it paints a picture, makes
you see its subject matter as a series of images, each one speaking to a complicated
character.
For all this cleverness, “Trouble at the Henhouse” never forgets that at
its core it is just good old-fashioned Canadian rock and roll. The songs are
complex but at their core are guitar by relatively few chords and some electric
guitar. While Downie is not a traditional rock crooner, he sits in the pocket while
he does his thing, which the songs require. The Hip’s earlier albums have a
much stronger blues-rock groove, and while “Trouble…” dresses that up in a lot
of complexity, that core groove continues to provide a base upon which the band
builds.
Near the end the record gets a bit droney and experimental, but while I liked these songs less I still liked them, and they provided a nice mellow finish to what was an enjoyable overall experience.
When I rolled this album I had a feeling I was going to part with it when
I was done. I rarely put it on, and when I do play Hip albums I tend to pick
different ones. Instead on every listen (there were several) I liked this record
more and more. Even now, with three consecutive play-throughs under my belt I
feel like I owe it a lot more time. It is music that demands an immersive experience
and some patience, but it is worth the time invested.
Best tracks: Gift Shop, Springtime in Vienna, Ahead by a
Century, Flamenco, Butts Wigglin, Apartment Song
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