CD Odyssey Disc 1967: The Tragically Hip

Welcome back to the CD Odyssey. Before we get to Disc 1967, here are a few records I heartily recommend from the year 1967:

• Jimi Hendrix, “Are You Experienced?” (Disc 1928)
• Leonard Cohen, “Songs” (Disc 522)
• Albert King, “Born Under a Bad Sign” (Disc 1862)

OK – on with the album review…

Disc 1967 is…We Are the Same

Artist: The Tragically Hip

Year of Release: 2009

What’s up with the Cover? Some fellas (presumably the band) stand around an outdoor fire. At least I hope it is outdoors, because the sparks coming out of that chimney will definitely damage the ceiling.

How I Came To Know It: I heard the song “Coffee Girl”. This was years after this album was released and I wasn’t really focused on the Tragically Hip at the time, but I liked the song and was intrigued by what the Hip had been up to all these years.

While not my favourite Hip record, it did return me to them and caused a second round of exploring their discography from the other end of their career, so that was cool.

How It Stacks Up: I have eight of the Tragically Hip’s thirteen studio albums, which is a goodly amount, but not at the level of super fan this band tends to attract. Of those eight, “We Are the Same” comes in at a #7, which sounds bad, but it isn’t – it is just a tough field.

Ratings: 3 stars

For the most part, I am an “early Hip” fan, and all my other records span from their eponymous EP debut in 1987 through to “Phantom Power” in 1998. “We Are the Same” is the exception to that rule, a full decade later returning me to a band and making me ashamed that I had left so soon.

“We Are the Same” is a slightly softer, gentler record overall in its arrangements, but the key ingredients to the Tragically Hip are all there. The superior musicianship - more orchestra of sound than individual showboating, and melodies that draw you inward to a beauty that emerges more fully only after repeated listens. Along with all of that, the thoughtful Gord Downie lyrics, masterfully phrased out into the song.

Downie’s vocals on “We Are the Same” are less aggressive on this record, but just as emotive. His voice has a natural hurt in it, and on “We Are the Same” it surprised me with just how soothing hurt can be, when done right.

This is most notable on the lilting beauty of “Coffee Girl” which paints the perfect picture of the neighbourhood barista, recasting that person you see for five minutes a day as a three-dimensional human. Downie’s artistry is showcasing the “why” of the character, with half-painted scenes that honour the character while reminding the listener that no, you don’t really know this person like you think you do.

I didn’t love all the lyrics on the record as much as “Coffee Girl” but that’s a feature of a Tragically Hip record, where often you’re not sure what Downie is singing about fully, catching his poetry like phrases of passing conversation, or gusts of wind blowing leaves. Evocative in the moment, but fleeting, and a bit mysterious.

Musically, my favourite is “The Last Recluse” which has Downie delivering a sublime set of high notes that lifts your spirits while simultaneously leaving you uncertain just where you are being lifted to. Best line:

“When the wind comes up and the surface of the water scuffs

-      Enough! Enough! – the ferry whistle cried.”

“The Depression Suite” holds down the end of Side One with a deep exploration of depression. The theme is that even when we are down and feel alone, someone else is feeling just as depressed as you are: the Hip’s answer to R.E.M’s “Everybody Hurts”. Observant readers will note later that despite this praise it does not feature in the “best tracks” summary. That’s only because the song is over nine minutes long and could probably accomplish the same magic in five or six.

The record has a pastoral quality to it. The first song features the still imagery of an overly quiet early morning with “Morning Moon” and the final track bookends it nicely with “Country Day”. In both cases, the quietness around him has Downie thinking Deep Thoughts (this is a common state for him).

The songs still manage to rock out in places, but they feel rounded around the edges in the production, and you get the sense of a veteran band that has settled into their sound and are comfortable letting it unfurl without having to press. Still thoughtful, still creative, but all with a greater sense of calm. Is it better or worse than the groove-filled rock of their earlier work? It’s neither. It’s just the exploration of a different facet of the band’s sound, and while not my favourite, still a worthwhile entry into their impressive catalogue.

Best tracks: The Last Recluse, Coffee Girl, Queen of the Furrows, Country Day

CD Odyssey Disc 1925: The Tragically Hip

Today’s long weekend Monday finds our Humble Author confronted by a great many chores. Many a task lays before me, but none more important than to advance the CD Odyssey journey by one more record. Here it is.

Disc 1925 is…Phantom Power

Artist: The Tragically Hip

Year of Release: 1998

What’s up with the Cover? Some kind of industrial electrical panel. I’ve worked on lots of industrial sites where there are panels like this one and I can tell you one thing with certainty – I do not touch these buttons or dials. That’s for folks with proper training only.

Having said that, the one indicator light situated centre-right labelled “MALF” would sorely test my resistance. What does MALF do?

Then I realized that the entire row is dedicated to MALF. You can choose your synchro levels of MALF and pick a MALF between one and twenty (I would choose 11) and then flick that switch and then see what lights up out in the yard, baby!

And then be escorted out of the gate by the foreman, because there’s no room on a construction site for an untrained guy messing with the MALF settings.

How I Came To Know It: I know this album from when it was released, but I’ve only recently been filling out my Tragically Hip collection. I’ve been pretty cagey (you might even say…bobcaygey) about it, knowing there are more than a few copies of nineties Hip record floating around on CD.

Case in point: I bought “Phantom Power” at a thrift store for one lowly dollar. The CD looked a little bit scratched but I figured for a $1 it was worth the risk and sure enough, a quick clean and the whole thing played without a hitch.

How It Stacks Up: I now have eight Tragically Hip albums. When I wrote my first Hip review I only had four, so the rankings through time don’t make a lot of sense. All I can say is I recalibrate each time while honouring my original “what’s before what” determinations in earlier reviews.

“Phantom Power” is a good one, but the Hip have a lot of good ones. I put it #5 out of 8.

Ratings: 3 stars

Canada’s house band, the Tragically Hip, are a bit of a big deal up here in the true north, strong and free. The rest of the world may shrug, but when the Hip put out a record in Canada, the tundra quaked with excitement.

I like the Hip, but my journey to them was slower and more meandering, and so while I knew all the hits off of Phantom Power, it took a while for it to echo its way into my heart. Finding it for a $1 didn’t hurt either.

The Hip are a hard rock band and while “Phantom Power” has exceptional melodies and song concepts, they tend to be dressed up in the saturated arrangements and production of the mid-nineties treatment of that genre.

This should have immediately turned me off, but like so many Tragically Hip records, the complex layers of sound on each song are masterfully pulled together. It creates a three-dimensional soundscape where you can focus on a single instrument if you wish, but it is even better when you find that sweet spot in your focus where everything comes at you even in the mix.

Sitting at that nexus point, I dug down past Gord Downie’s high vibrato vocals (where I started) and found Rob Baker’s sublime guitar work, sometimes laying down a gentle bird song on the slow songs, and cranking out tsunami-sized riffs on the heavier tunes.

The record had a number of hits back in the day and won a bunch of awards (Canadians – I know you know this. That part was for the international audience). The best song is “Poets”. As a person who identifies as a writer all the time and a poet some of the time, “Poets” always gives me a good chuckle, with its narrator’s broad disparagement of the occupation. Best line:

“Don’t tell me that they’re antisocial
Somehow not antisocial enough.”

Yup – give that moody guy on the deck half an opening, and he’ll be reciting to you his latest effort in blank verse before you have a chance to say “sorry, my cab’s here”.

“Poets” has that early Hip sound, digging down in the grime of the blues and then blasting through it with rock and roll crunch. The Hip could stay in that space for a whole record and leave the audience satisfied, but instead they have a few songs that break can also break it down, and later on “Thompson Girl” Downie and the lads do just that.

“Thompson Girl” is a sweet tune, made sweeter by the addition of some timely mandolin, and Downie’s high head voice warbling. Downie approaches “Thom Yorke alien voice” in a couple of places here, showing his sneaky range that often goes unnoticed while the band is just rockin’ out.

In the end, there was nothing on “Phantom Power” that negatively pushed it down to fifth best in my Tragically Hip collection. Maybe just fewer “higher than high” points than some of the records in front of it.

This is a solid collection of songs, with an urgent lean in the delivery that is good for driving and some subtle fireworks of sound, arrangement and the evocative poetry of Downie that makes it just as fun on headphones.

But there I go again, telling you what the poets are doing. Go listen for yourself.

Best tracks: Poets, Something On, Bobcaygeon, Thompson Girl, Fireworks, Vapour Trails

CD Odyssey Disc 1415: The Tragically Hip

From country on our last review we swing back to good old classic Canadian rock and roll.

Disc 1415 is…. Day for Night

Artist: The Tragically Hip

Year of Release: 1994

What’s up with the Cover? It appears to be a dreamscape of some kind, with a full mon glowing over some crazy trees. This feels like a scene out of an Oscar-nominated animated short.

How I Came To Know It: I know a lot of Tragically Hip albums, but this one comes from my friend Chris, who was parting with a bunch of his CDs and passed this one along to me. I have two friends named Chris who both love the Hip, and combined they are responsible for me having almost half of the Hip albums in my collection.

How It Stacks Up: I have seven Tragically Hip albums. Of those seven, “Day for Night” comes in at #3, so a respectable bronze medal.

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

“Day for Night” is a record that takes some time to get to know, but it will be worth your while. There are a lot of layers of sound here, creating a wall of sound. That approach to music isn’t usually my jam, but the Hip make it work.

The biggest reason for this is the songs have great bones. These songs could be just guitar/vocal acoustic numbers and would still be good, and that solid underpinning shines through on almost every track. Some of the bluesy structures reminded me of their earlier records, with a natural groove that plays well off of all that thick reverb guitar and crunch.

It also helps that the production keeps everything very even in the mix. I feel this is a common aspect to many a band that stays together as long as the Hip did (ultimately they only split due to Gord Downie’s tragic illness and death in 2017). I expect letting everyone shine like they do on “Day For Night” is a big part of that longevity. It’s more fun to be in a band where your part matters just as much as the guy beside you.

As a listener, this evenness lets your ear wander from element to element easily. Sure the guitar is great, and the vocals are compelling and poetic, but more often than not I found myself sinking down to the great bass work of Gord Sinclair. Sinclair really pins their sound down, letting the melody fly over him without ever being overwhelmed by it with lots of extra nuance beyond the song’s basic rhythms

And of course Gord Downie is a natural frontman, with a hypnotic quaver in his voice and a gift with words that is positively poetic. When the music is stripped down, Downie’s vocals are like a mournful wind through a canyon, and when the wall of sound goes up, he blows like a hurricane. It is fun both ways.

People sometimes complain that they don’t know what Downie is singing about, but on “Day for Night” I found it was easy if I paid attention. I didn’t always want to pay attention (see: “letting your ear wander” above) but when I did, it was worth it.

A lot of the songs have an undercurrent of anxiety in them, but it is a very energetic anxiety; the kind that makes you want to absorb your problems into yourself rather than ignore them. He can turn a phrase with the best of them, like this opening of “Thugs”:

“Everyone’s got their breaking point
With me, it’s spiders. With you it’s me”

But more often than not the songs’ lyrics stand best when taken in their totality. The sad but defiant eulogy of “Inevitability of Death” or the stripped raw existential dread of “Scared” are both standouts but quoting a line or two seems to drain their power a bit.

Of all the Tragically Hip records in my collection, this one is the heaviest and that denseness took some work for me to dig through. At times it felt like it was sidling up against metal. It was definitely shaking hands vigorously with stoner rock. This is a record you don’t fall into so much as dig your way through. It was a bit tiring at times, and on a few songs, I gave up before I reached the chewy centre.

Also at issue is that common mid-nineties malaise of being too long. At 14 songs and almost a full 60 minutes, “Day for Night” needed a few well-placed bits of editing. You could probably lop the last two songs off the end and have it done. They aren’t bad songs, but by then my brain was full, and they weren’t interesting enough for me to want to shoulder aside all that good stuff I’d heard prior. Also, with song titles like “Titanic Terrarium” and “Impossibilium” you would be right to suspect a bit of self-indulgence.

That’s a minor quibble though (and the killer bass work on “Impossibilium” reminded me favourably of Blue Oyster Cult’s Joe Bouchard at his best). Overall, this record was a nice late addition to my collection, and I’m glad I gave it a chance, albeit a good 25 years after its release.

Best tracks: Greasy Jungle, Yawning or Snarling, Nautical Disaster, Thugs, Inevitability of Death, Scared

CD Odyssey Disc 1257: The Tragically Hip

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

CD Odyssey Disc 717: The Tragically Hip

Whew! That was a long day of working, followed by more working, but I’m finally home and after five (mostly enjoyable) days with this album it is time to write this review and move on down the road.

Disc 717 is…. Fully Completely

Artist: The Tragically Hip

Year of Release: 1992

What’s up with the Cover? A collage of boobs, bloomers and people kissing fish, horrifically pressed together to create a chimera of truly bad art.

Despite the awfulness of this cover, the band decided to make the CD sleeve so it can fold out into a poster version of the same thing. You know how when you see a great piece of art in its original size in a gallery how much nicer it looks? It doesn’t work with bad art.

How I Came To Know It: This record did very well in Canada, and had multiple singles so it was hard to not hear it (more on that later). I also knew the Hip from their two previous albums, but it was really my friend Chris D. who made me finally appreciate this record by playing some of the deeper cuts. He may have even bought it for me. Either way – thanks, Chris!

How It Stacks Up:  I have four studio albums by the Hip. Of the four this one is near the top. It is hard to choose between it and “Up To Here” but I’ll put “Fully Completely” second because of the cover. Hey – there have to be consequences.

Rating: 4 stars

Over the years I’ve had a love-hate relationship with the Tragically Hip (or as we call them north of the 48^th, “The Hip”). Unfortunately when “Fully Completely” came out I was really heavy on the hate side of the ledger.

That’s because in 1992/93 when “Fully Completely” was ‘fully completely’ dominating the radio, I was stuck in a nowhere job, sorting bottles for minimum wage at a recycling depot. It was the first job I ever landed with a university degree, and I had to fight to even get that. I remember finding the irony of the situation decidedly unfunny. Years later I’ve come to appreciate the humour of it all but at the time it was much tougher to just give it the old shrug n’ chuckle.

At that time the bottle depot I worked at blared the local rock station (100.3 “the Q”) through the warehouse to keep us energized. The “Q”s arbitrarily adopted house band was the Tragically Hip, and they got played what felt like every 15-20 minutes. It was like being Malcolm McDowell in “A Clockwork Orange” being forced to listen to the old Ludwig Van; great at first and then it just made me want to puke.

More than twenty years have passed since then, and while I long ago abandoned the Q I’ve come back around to loving the Hip again. Very recently I came to realize the album of my scorn back in 1992 was actually one of their great achievements.

“Fully Completely” was a much more complicated album than the blues-riff feel of their previous two records, “Road Apples” and “Up to Here.” The groove is still there, but the band has adopted a lot more of a layered sound. It could be the influences of grunge at this time, but I think it is just a sign that the band were coming into their own as songwriters and not afraid to make their music a bit more complicated.

After modest success many bands fail at this stage by getting too wrought up in all the extra production they can suddenly afford in the studio (I’m looking at you, “Crash Test Dummies”). “Fully Completely” avoids this fate by using the production to reinforce and thicken the themes already in the songs, rather than drown them. The Hip don’t lose the groove, but they learn to stretch it in new directions.

On this listen, I found myself enjoying “Pigeon Camera” more than usual. I like the way the song meanders around its centre in a very dreamy manner until it hits the chorus and then it settles down strong into a perfect little refrain. Kind of like a bird fluttering about before deciding to land.

Of course this song is not about pigeons. Lyrically, I’m never entirely sure what lead singer Gord Downie is going on about, but like any good singer he sells it so well I don’t get overly concerned about my confusion. “Pigeon Camera” doesn’t feel like it is about a camera either, although according to Wikipedia (which is never wrong), pigeon cameras were a thing.

“Wheat Kings” is also highly evocative with its imagery, “where the walls that are yellow-grey and sinister/Hung with pictures of our parent’s prime ministers.” I think it might be about some sort of serial killer, but I can’t be sure. Like “Pigeon Camera,” I just know I like it.

“Locked in the Trunk of a Car” feels similarly sinister, capturing the combination of restrictive claustrophobia and terrible forward movement that is really only present when locked in the trunk of a car.

My favourite lines on the album comes from “At the Hundredth Meridian,”:

“If I die of vanity, promise me, promise me

You’ll bury me someplace I don’t want to be

You’ll dig me up and transport me, unceremoniously

Away from the swollen city breeze, garbage-bag trees,

Whispers of disease and acts of enormity

And lower me slowly, sadly and properly

Get Ry Cooder to sing my eulogy

At the hundredth meridian, where the great plains begin.”

Again, I don’t know for sure what this is all about (although the idea of burying someone who dies of vanity where they don’t want to be is kind of awesome). What matters is the song evokes a mood so well, and fills your head with images and concepts to held set that mood.

There are minor quibbles for me on this album. The title-track is unfocused and vagule shouty, and “Lionized” doesn’t really land for me, despite the great groove guitar in it. However neither song is bad enough to spoil the party. As much as I love “Up to Here,” “Fully Completely” may be the true gateway album to the Tragically Hip, crappy cover art and the terrors of working-poor bottle sorters notwithstanding.

Best tracks: Courage, At the Hundredth Meridian, Pigeon Camera, Locked in the Trunk of a Car, Wheat Kings, Eldorado